Info on Cardboard and Newspaper weed barrier

tabletopper 6/2/2012, 4:46 am

Does this system really work?...I have so much trouble here in Southern Calif with Bermuda Grass ......cardboard and 15 sheets of newspapers is what I remember someone said was the way....and maybe putting bark on the top?????...Ruth

cheyannarach 6/2/2012, 9:49 am

I would say yes, I have used it and it has worked for me!! Many many people put cardboard under their weed cloth too!

memart1 6/2/2012, 10:10 am

Back in the 60's before the advent of SFG, my husband had a sawmill. One customer, who had a large row garden would buy a few truckloads of sawdust from us. He would put down newspapers between his rows as a weed barrier, and cover them with sawdust so they would not blow around. At the onset of the winter season he would till all this into the ground where it would compost to help feed the next year's crops. He did this for about 20 years. I am sure that if it worked for him, it would work in a SFG also.

JustMe 6/2/2012, 11:09 am

I've done this to smother weeds in our landscaping. I've most success with thick corrguated cardboard when it is flattened with 2 layers. You can cover more area with a completely open box but it is only 1 layer.

This week I converted a non MM raised bed into a SFG, covered the old soil with double layer of corrugated cardboard, then covered with MM. I covered the smaller areas of the box (parts around the support posts in the box) with smaller single layers of corrugated cardboard and sections of newspaper. It's in those areas I'm anticipating grass and other weeds to creep it.

Coelli 6/2/2012, 12:11 pm

I have grass coming up through my SFG. Sad

We used landscaping cloth (only one layer) and apparently not enough newspaper and the grass tore right through it. Horrible stuff. I keep having to pull it up.

**rowena___.** 6/2/2012, 2:01 pm

some grass gives in very graciously, and some grass does not. bermuda grass is the bane of gardeners in nashville. practically nothing stops it short of round up.

over the years, if you pull up any stray bits of grass that make their way into your garden--pull up as much of the root as you can--they run out of steam.

FWIW, i use as many dry leaves as i can as the bottom layer. i pile them in thick--up to the top of the box if i have enough--then lay a layer of paper on that. once the mix goes in and gets watered, the leaves smoosh down very well. worms love this, and they will help you with the grass problem.

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Info on Cardboard and Newspaper weed barrier

Info on Cardboard and Newspaper weed barrier

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Newspaper as weed barrier

Re: Info on Cardboard and Newspaper weed barrier

Re: Info on Cardboard and Newspaper weed barrier

Re: Info on Cardboard and Newspaper weed barrier

Re: Info on Cardboard and Newspaper weed barrier


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