[Greenbuilding] [BULK] Re: cardboard gardening -- off topic

[Lawrence Lile]

If you want to buy barrier mulch you can plant through a roll of blank newsprint or butcher paper.  Like Dan says, mulch as you go to keep it from blowing away.  If you have loose dirt available you can shovel that over the edges to hold it down. I've seen a system for strawberries that has a roll of paper and little plows on either edge to roll up some dirt.  

One summer I rented a place that backed up to three other gardens.  I put down newspaper and leaf mulch, under the skeptical watch of the other four gardeners, who were all over 60 and thought mulching was wierd.  That summer was the hottest and driest on record, and all the tomatoes but mine dried up despite persistent watering.  The next summer, all four gardens had sheet mulch. 

Old carpets work, too.  I don't mulch over them, but do put them down in garden paths.  It is wonderful to walk out in the garden on a carpet, barefoot, and pick your stuff. Keeps the weeds down, allows earthworms to work, holds down soil compaction, and I think really fits with mulch gardening. Eventually the carpet rots, and you find another old carpet in the trash and lay it on top.  After 10-12 years you might not find the carpets, or you might drag what is left of them into the trash depending on your bent. 
 
Lawrence Lile, P.E., LEED AP



-----Original Message-----
From: greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of YankeePerm at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 3:44 PM
To: Greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
Subject: [BULK] Re: [Greenbuilding] cardboard gardening -- off topic
Importance: Low


In a message dated 3/26/07 10:16:08 PM, dickgallien at msn.com writes:


> Have any of you
> tried that on a larger scale and how did you keep the cardboard from blowing
> away?  The irrigation gun could keep them moist enough.  Would appreciate
> any opinions.  Thanks,  Dick
> 
> 
I've sheet mulched on just about every scale except planetary and 
interplanetary.   The bigger the sheet of cardboard the better.   We don't use spoiled 
hay because we'd have to buy it, but we do use organic refuse from the city, as 
the city is where the most organic wastes are found.   We also use a chipper 
shredder to pulverize fallen palm fronds.   On woody plants, such as 
blueberries, or in permanently mulched gardens, I've used wood chips from the tree guys 
to keep the electric right of way open (It's our wood, after all.) or from 
municipal dumps.   It helps if you have two people, one laying down cardboard and 
the other covering it with mulch.   My wife and Bill Mollison each like to 
wet the sheets first, apropos your idea, but I don't want to be bothered. 
(Mulching practices and knowing me are about all they have in common.) If you live 
where there are rocks, you can use them to hold sheets in place.   In other 
places, I've used jugs full of water (any liquid).   Once the mulch is applied 
over the sheets, you remove the jugs. If you are going into mass production, an 
acre of sheets and then the mulch, you are asking for trouble.   Just cover 
the sheets as you go, leaving enough uncovered to overlap the next layer of 
sheets.   Since we have a shortage of mulch material, always, we may mulch larger 
areas over weeks or months in this manner.   Of course if there are chickens 
around, they will scramble the mulch.   In this case, I make 'boxes' of logs 
around the planting and mulch the inside.   Sheets are unnecessary then because 
the chickens scratching in the mulch suppress most weeds.   The logs are very 
beneficial to agroforestry, forest garden and other tree crops situations 
(rotting logs, not just brush, are required for forest health), but we just 
arrange them spatially to contain the mulch.   This is a marvelous system, providing 
free chicken food, extra fertilizer for our crop trees and shrubs, and 
continually improving soil conditions.

Dan Hemenway




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