The front garden & an easy way to keep weeds away.
The weeds in the front garden are slowly but surely being eliminated. The problem? They'll come back! So in an effort to keep them to a bare minimum, I'll be placing about 4 inches of mulch over top of the beds as I get them done.
Unloading the truck was a ton of work, but the mulch smells amazing. Ok - you have to really like the smell of warm dirt - but if you do, it smells amazing! Haha!
If you have an area that has a weed problem, adding a super thick layer of mulch will help. The key is to eliminate the light from hitting the soil where the weed seeds are. This eliminates the need for laying plastic (that is not going to get recycled) down, and adding to our plastic problem. For an extra bit of help, you can add a layer of cardboard down first, then mulch over it.
The weeds will be snuffed out and, as an added bonus, the decomposition of the cardboard and mulch will improve the soil in the area.
NOTE ABOUT CARDBOARD - This is a great way to keep cardboard out of the landfills, but there are some things you need to check / do before using your boxes.
- Remove all plastic tape (good news for you Amazon lovers - the tape that Amazon uses is paper and biodegrades just fine.
- Check for a plastic coating - if the box is shiny and full off color images, it most likely has a plastic coating. You have two choices here - you can peel off the plastic coating layer and throw in the recycle bin, and use the rest of the box - or just send the box for recycling elsewhere and don't use it in your garden.
- Remove any staples - they will rust and no one likes to pull a carrot or pick a root and find a staple running through it!
- Remove shipping and identity labels - most of these are made with a plastic coating (including those from Amazon). It's best to remove them all, to be on the safe side.
- There are some people who are very careful about the type of ink used - if you are, you may want to use only pieces that have no ink on them. Some inks are petroleum based. While the affect on your garden would be minimal - there would be an affect.
- More good news for those that have an Amazon issue....they use a plant based ink - so no worries!
- Last thing - after you lay down your cardboard, give it a good soaking with the hose - then add your mulch.
As discussed prior, I spend and hour or so per day doing something towards my goals. Today it was purchasing a truck bed full of mulch, and getting it unloaded into the front garden. Here's a peek of the mulch. I'm thinking at least 2, possibly three more of these loads to do the front. I'll keep you all posted on the total number of truckloads needed!
