- Author: Trisha E Rose
Published on: February 11, 2019
Almost every time I volunteer at the Vallejo Farmers Market someone asks about removing weeds from their new to the garden. As you have undoubtedly read or heard on the news, Vallejo real estate is a relative bargain compared to almost every other town in the bay area. Many of these new-to-Vallejo homeowners find that a weed patch comes with their new home, and frequently the new yard is pretty good sized. These new homeowners find themselves overwhelmed with the chore of getting rid of so many weeds or unwanted lawn.
Yesterday during our brief stint at the market we had 2 new homeowners ask for help in getting rid of weeds without using herbicides. We offered the option of sheet mulching using cardboard covered with wood chips. Initially, the new homeowners look inspired then their faces contort as they realize they will need a lot of wood chips, a common mulch used in this process. Not to worry, we offer that local tree removal firms will actually deliver this “waste” product to your home free of charge.
Right now is a good time to start a sheet mulching project. These rainy days will keep the cardboard and mulch in place and help to start the decomposing process. The process is quite easy and you can get simple step-by-step instructions on “how to sheet mulch” with a Google search. Starting out with a small patch is a good way to try out the process and gain confidence with this easy method.
The wood chips may work depending on the weed species. Probably fail on Bermuda grass and it is failing on burr clover at our house. We had a fire here, first year ok, second year not very good. Chips are about 3 inches deep. Good luck!
BillLp
A few years ago when I redesigned my front yard, I sheet mulched all the planting areas. I was fortunate to have a good source of cardboard and I had a truck load of mulch delivered to weigh the cardboard down. One secret is to make sure the cardboard is overlapped so no light gets trough to allow weeds to grow. it has worked really well. The plants are happy and there are very few weeds!