How-To Sheet Mulch, No Landscape Fabric
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2016
- Landscape Fabric gets tattered and exposed, its hard to weed and harder to remove and dispose when you change your landscaping style.
There is a better way!
Try Sheet Mulching for a sustainable and cleaner way to block weeds and grasses in new planting beds, whether its for flowers, vegetables or your own food forest.
Read more here abundantdesigniowa.blogspot.co...
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO!! I JUST BOUGHT NEW HOME WITH ROSE BEDS AND LANDSCAPING AND WEEDS ARE COMING THROUGH BLACK MULCH. I WAS GOING TO USE FABRIC MULCH BUT SOOOOO GLAD I WATCHED YOUR VIDEO BEFORE DOING ANYTHING!!! AGAIN, TY!! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
This is wonderful! I had no idea how to do this
Great natural way to make a garden. Thank you for the information.
Great video. I have been using sheets mulching since I’ve moved to my house six years ago. 50% of my yard is now mostly native plants and it is a wildlife sanctuary. It is small but mighty. Each year I destroy more of my lawn and convert it to native plants, shrubs and trees.
Thank you! Keep up the good work!
Hi do you have to replace the cardboard every year? I tried this but the weeds just come throw eventually...
@@samuraioodon Likely the weeds are growing from seeds that are deposited in the mulch, instead of up from underneath. You could do it every year, but staying on top of weeding would be a better choice.
I haven’t had any problems with weed or grass coming through.
THANKS, great vid... simple easy to understand... though I wouldnt wast time turning the sod,,, just put extra layers of cardboard...
I started mine about 5 years ago, and due to injury, could turn sod... but due to laziness and having researched I didnt need too... I now have an awesome garden,,, HOTCH POTCH, no design... next will be thinning out and giving plants away,, and making walking paths with old fence pales, cement and crushed rock and concrete..
Should be fun especially around the truck tyre beds.... Most of mine are flowers... Gardener is starting the vegie as the is on a stee incline, so making chinese layered riced beds, and keeping fingers crossed....
Good thing I have a supermarket right next door, who supplies me with tons of cardboard, newspaper..
i even take the coloured magazines, to put under the lowest edges of rocks, bolders etc, kils off everything and nothing grows from that ink...
Thanks again and enjoy
thank you. started this today.
Love wood chips! When I do this to a large area I rent a hydraulic roto tiller to just rip up and shred that grass, then scatter some steer manure and chicken manure to make it try and grow underneath the cardboard and die out faster. It helps the wood chips start breaking down better.
This is really a good video. You covered everything in order for me to say, I can do this and more importantly, do it right way! I am excited!!!! Thank you!
Thanks for commenting! Good luck with your project!
Thumbs up. Liked. Subscribed. And I got my boxes!
Me too , I was watching alots of other video , but it didn’t help me , if I had seen your video first , it wouldn’t be so sad ,
But still so glad saw this video , U your cover everything I needed to know , but sadly I had started over the plantings and it all done now, but I didn’t do it right ,
Watching from Trinidad and Tobago
Great ideas👍
Thank you!
Thank you
I was going to use the fabric for the landscape in my front yard and glad I watched this 1st. Your video saved me from wasting money and time. My question is I already planted all shrubs and plants I would like in my landscape but wanted to know if I can just use the cardboard to cover the top of soil ( cut out a portion for water to reach roots of each plant ) and then cover with the mulch I would like to use or best recommended to keep out weeds?
Itz Reece yes, that's exactly what we did at a job this afternoon. This will work great for bare soil, or if you're are already getting some weeds germinating or grass recovering near your new plants you can remove those first so they don't find the hole.
We have flower beds next to our sidewalk. Rain causes the mulch to wash out. Wouldn’t cardboard be slippery and cause mulch to wash out if there is no border in place?
Very informative video, thanks! 👍 Is sheet mulching also recommended if you plan to plant a rock garden with succulents/river rock?
Thank you! If you plan to walk on the area much or when the ground is wet, you should probably use fabric to keep the stone from sinking into the mud
I am currently researching this, glad I found your video. Question-how long does 1 layer of cardboard last before it brakes down and have to do it all over again? I’m looking to put mulch on top in all my beds. Thx
Thanks fpr watching! The cardboard will break down in one maybe two seasons, however you will not need to redo it if you keep a good layer of mulch on top to keep weed seeds somothered or if you plant a good spreading ground cover. I typically use white clover (to feed fruit trees) or Pennsylvania Sedge as a backdrop for other plants. A good ground cover will act as a ground cooling mulch, suppress weeds and look nice on its own.
Thanks a lot. I understood that any type of cardboard box can do the job; is that right?
Ines Zohni the best cardboard to use is non glossy, without tape or staples.
My question would be does woodchips draw termites.
What about stopping fireants?
Hi. Liked your video and will be using cardboard. But it was a little vague on how to plant new plants on it. When you want to plant on it, do you cut a hole in the cardboard for the roots of the new plant to go into the soil? Thanks.
Yes, to plant just cut a whole to put your plant into. You can cut an X and fold or just cut a circle.
Can I put sheet mulch, then gravel? I'm landscaping around my air conditioner; surprised that I can't find much about this anywhere.
With gravel, actual landscape fabric works better so over time the rock doesn't sink into the soil. This is especially true in high traffic areas, go with the best quality you can find.
Hi there, I am from Sikkim and I have a lot of weed problem in my farm. I just spotted your video and i really liked it. However, I have a question. We dont get woodchips here. Any alternatives? What if I just apply a layer of soil on top of the cardboard? Will the weed grow from that top soil?
Is straw or tree leaves available? You could add (weed seed free) soil on top that would help smother the weeds as well, but organic matter would hold soil moisture in better, keep the soil cooler and feed your beneficial soil life too.In all honesty if you have rocks or some other way to hold the cardboard down, you could just use cardboard and add fresh layers when it starts to wear through.
Should I plant a snow fountain weeping cherry tree on a mound?
If you have wet or poorly drained soil it would be a good option
before putting the gravel and then cover it with cardboard, would you recommend using chemicals that stop grass from growing back ?
Ines Zohni I do not recommend most herbicides but you could kill most of the grass by spraying this
abundantdesigniowa.blogspot.com/2015/07/alternative-homebrew-herbicide.html
on a sunny day a few days prior to doing your work
Covering the grass and weeds with the cardboard keeps the sunlight from "feeding" what's underneath. In that regard, there's no need to use any poisons first.
so I did this today. I'm concerned with roaches being attracted to the cardboard and mulch moisture. any feedback on that??
It would be a nice moist environment, but it hasn't been a problem for us in Iowa/Zone5. I remember moving a feed sack in a barn in Mississippi years ago and was amazed at the roaches, number and size. Probably because there really isn't a winter like we have. If you live in the South it might be a bigger issue.I don't know if they would use it or not as there will also be spiders and birds that might find them fairly easily. I have gotten bagged wood chips before that were infested with earwigs (probably like the same environment) but before long I noticed we also had wood louse hunter spiders. Always in motion is the Force ;)Best of luck and please send me an email in a few months and let me know how it's going. Thanks!
Wouldn't cardboard break down faster than the weed tarp, and isn't rain porous?
Yes, and you'd find yourself doing it time, and time, and time again if you believed this works. Just keep your beds clean with preemergents in spring.
Yes, the point is roots can grow through even fabric which will tear when pulling, both will smother plants below. The point is to prepare new beds and build healthy soil. Cardboard disappears, fabric will be a mess to remove years later if needed.
Great video. I can attest - weed fabric stinks!! Can you use cardboard under gravel? Thank you!
Thank you :)Yes, it works under gravel. I would double+ it up so that when you add your gravel it is less likely to tear both layers. Any remaining grass will take advantage of any opening if it can.
Spookylady I would add that if you're are using it as a mulch around plants it works. If it's for a walking path, fabric will help keep the rock from sinking into the soil with traffic over time.
Would cardboard work also for gravel?
What the hell are you putting gravel in your landscape beds for? Because you're too cheap to remulch yearly? Pisses me off, here in Michigan all the MIddle Eastern people think it's a great idea to use white crushed rock in their landscape. They're so smart to only do it one time and you NEVER have to do it again. OK I'm done ranking again, but rock doesn't ever belong in a bed where you're trying to get plants to grow.
@@lostinmyspace4910 i dont like the look of mulch! And what is it your problem what we use???
@@taniag4264 OK you asked, I'll reply. Gravel is just the opposite of what mulch is supposed to do...what mulch actually does. Mulch prevents photosynthesis in the landscape, in that it blocks out the sunlight from the weeds, and thus keeps the weed population down. Weeds need sun to grow. Some persnickity weeds still bust through, BUT if you have no mulch, it's 10 times worse. Mulch also keeps moisture in the ground by preventing evaporation...it holds moisture longer hopefully between rainfalls, but everything is relative. When you have mulch in a landscape bed, if you ever put your hands under the mulch deep, you will feel such a coolness as that's the environment the plants can thrive in. When mulch breaks down, it adds additional nutrients to the soil, kind of like what peat moss is made out of..broken down leaves, sticks, and greens. In the winter, a good bed of mulch helps prevent frost from attacking the roots of trees, evergreens, and perennials. Now for the dreaded STONE. In the summertime, stone gets heated by the sun, and transfers the heat from hot rocks, and sucks out the moisture from the plants, and bed. Light goes thru the stone, and you'll get more weeds from photosynthesis. The landscape fabric you put under the stone still does not prevent weeds from developing, and growing thru. In the winter, stone allows no barrier to the plants, and is much easier for the frost to attack the plants. Don't use stone in your landscape.
@@lostinmyspace4910 Seeing as you appear to know something, and are quite verbose (lol). What are your thoughts on my idea to transform about 1000 square feet into a 'dog park'. I can't seem to grow any decent grass out there because of the dogs, so I was thinking of removing what little grass is still there and laying down pea stones. What gives me the best chance at the least maintenance, fabric, cardboard, nothing and roll the dice...?
@@IRequireMedication Depends on how many dogs and how much urine. Section off 50 percent of the area, to keep the dogs off the soil, and start growing grass. Keep the dogs off the grass long term until you get a good stand of turf. Then switch and do the other side. It may be difficult though dependng on how many dogs. Their urine will destroy and burn. I have one dog, and he's got a dog park that's 8800 sq. feet. 80 X 110. For you it may not be possible to have grass. Lawns should be continually overseeded as they thin out. Try neutralizing the urine spots. For me, I let my dog pee outside the dog park, then he comes in. No burn spots.
Why put soil on top of the cardboard Seems like that is a great place for weeds to take root.
Good thinking, but hopefully any compost you add on top is weed/seed free. The point of this to smother the vegetation below, eventually soil will build up on top anyway through degrading woodchips, leaves or grass clippings plus any dust, etc blown in on the wind.
But cardboard deteriorates just like organic mulch, but much sooner than fabric. The right fabric lasts for many years. Weeds won't grow through the bottom of the right fabric. The cardboard will break down and then the weeds start again. Weeds won't grown on top of fabric if you use Preen to prevent weed seeds from sprouting.
We don't use chemical herbicides so Preen is not an option for us
Or you can use that turf grass you just dug up and put it some place that needs grass😀
Yes!
What the hell! did you get that idea from the ghetto? And of all things, a pizza box? Who does this crap? I mean, today is April 2, so was this video put out yesterday in celebration of April Fool's Day?
This would never work in any upscale neighborhood. How much mulch would you have to lay down to keep your garbage dump boxes in place? What happens if the homeowner doesn't mulch yearly and the winds are so strong his trashy landscape is blown all over the neighbors' lawns? I'll bet some subdivision bylaws would ban this practice if it ever got hold...they'd just not allow it. OK, I'm done ranting. It's a good way to recycle, and keep trash out of the dumps. Can you tell I'm in the professional landscape business?
Keep overcharging your "upscale" customers moron!
Can I ask the professional what kind of matting you use before laying down mulch? I'm not sold on the cardboard idea, but haven't had luck with the landscape fabric either.