Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Problem: Grass or weeds where you wanted your garden >>> transplant into the cardboard sections:

How to transplant into the cardboard sections:

Call me lazy but I've been using cardboard or newspaper in gardens for at least 15 years. It's a quick and easy way to stop whatever was growing in the spot from taking over your new planting area, whether its grass, weeds, or other ground cover. It becomes a decomposing weed barrier that lasts long enough to kill everything beneath it but then, like magic, becomes part of the soil. It has an added benefit of being great food for earthworms, which are wonderful aerators in you garden, loosening the soil for your more desirable plants' roots. It's also a very green way to recycle cardboard and green goes hand in hand with gardening. Overlap your cardboard pieces a little. You know those weeds are persistent and will fight their way through any crack or crevice.But once you have that nice smooth cardboard weed barrier which you spread with rich compost, how do you plant into the bed? Ideally one would wait until everything is decaying beneath the layers but who has that kind of patience.
If you're like me you want an instant garden so you plant your perennials shortly after the cardboard is layed and the mulch is spread . I would not recommend planting on top of the cardboard. It's usually too shallow and tends to dry out very quickly. Allow the cardboard to soften from the dampness of the soil beneath it or speed the process a little by watering the area.
Then with your spade it's "X marks the spot" for creating a little access point to the soil beneath. Use your spade or garden knife to cut through the cardboard in an x-shape,
folding back the cardboard to expose the soil and probably the undesirable plants you were hoping to eradicate.
Since you need to dig a hole for your plant anyway remove the grass, weeds, or other plants, making sure you don't leave any with access to the sun and open air. Fold points of cardboard under.
Plant your new plant, amending the soil if necessary and neaten up the mulch cover in the area. Repeat as needed.
Et voila, a no muss, no fuss instant garden. Spend your time and energy on the fun. Save some time to enjoy what you've done.


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