Weed Free Garden using Cardboard | Mistakes to Avoid

#permaculture #recycling Cardboard is a fantastic resource to make a no till or no dig garden. It is the first step to a relatively weed free garden. It shades the soil giving it time to heal. The worms and fungi consume it providing further enrichment. I get my cardboard for free out of a dumpster meaning it would have just gone into a landfill. I am thrilled at what my permaculture garden has become BUT I still have, although a small amount, aggressive weeds. I made a couple mistakes using cardboard. Watch this and learn from my mistakes!
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[@DJ-lp6bh]

I wish I was filthy rich so I could just pay this dude to make content. Hands down my favorite channel on KZbin.

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

Thanks! I get multiple offers a day to review products but all these fancy gadgets go against my style of utilizing free and cheap resources. I'm sure others make a decent profit off it but I just like making videos to show others what I've learned that's made gardening go from a chore to something enjoyable. The way nature balances out to solve problems is fascinating. The less we do the better it is but we gotta give it that little boost to start

[@DJ-lp6bh]

@@FastGardeningMichiganI respect that. I just don’t want your channel to go away. 😅 Happy holidays to you and yours.

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

@@DJ-lp6bh you too!

[@NudePostingConspiracyTheories]

He's so easy to listen to, that i actually HEAR him

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

I hope this video finds who needs to see it! One layer of cardboard is not enough. Use 2 or 3 and overlap generously. To plant, just make a hole large enough in the carboard. The fungi and worms will thank you!

[@chaderic27]

Dude! Another Great Video & I have tons of big cardboard pieces right now from buying furniture and gifts. Thanks for all your tips and advice, Have a Merry Christmas!

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

@@chaderic27 you too!

[@harrybarnes3539]

Thank you so much and overlap in the cardboard is really huge when it comes to trying to get those quackgrass as we call it weeds out of your garden they are just horrible

[@michelemckune3809]

Very nice land.Love the mustache 😊

[@merryanneadair4451]

THANK YOU!!! This explains why my single layer of cardboard helped but were still a bit disappointing! God bless!!

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

My wine cap mushrooms devoured my cardboard faster than I could imagine. Some cardboard I used was super thick too! Some additional cardboard and woodchips and I'll be back in business. A little extra worm and fungus food won't hurt!

[@RashidDarden]

I, too, learned this the hard way. I tried to use cardboard to smother unwanted canna lilies in my yard. Those lilies said HA! YOU THOUGHT!

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

I'm not messing around this year. 3 or more layers and 18 inches of chips

[@rebeccalpjohnson5497]

unwanted canna lillies!!!! whaat!!! sell them....lol

[@jswhosoever4533]

About 10 years ago i was walking along a newer paved bridge up north and saw a weed had pushed up and broken through 4 inches of asphalt like a little volcano! THAT was impressive😆

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

I get a kick when i see lambsquarter popping up in a crack nowhere near any vegetation. They are resilient

[@patriciadempsey4259]

Thank you for sharing hope you manage to fix the problem.

[@AnnieDog-arfarf1]

The reason some plants can pop up without light is “geotropism”. It’s a response to gravity.

[@dennisstolte1103]

Good information. You may have saved me lots of work. Thank you!😊

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

Thanks for watching!

[@Lea99Jones]

if you get cardboard with no ink, no tape, no waterproofing, it's all sugars and paper and not terrible for the ground. Feed stores get a lot of this sort of cardboard on their flats of feed. Call your nearest feed store and see if they've got some.

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

I work at a hospital so I take the stuff they put in the dumpster. No reason for it to end up in a landfill!

[@jcgoedkoop]

Excellent, thank you!

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

Thanks for watching!

[@PlowAndPantryHomestead]

We have the same arch nemesis. Those dirty rotten rhizomous grasses!

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

They are terrible! They spread right through woodchips.

[@araceligomez1544]

Love it. Learned a lot. Thank you, sir!

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

Thanks!

[@ANGEL-nc5lx]

Thanks for sharing.

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

Thanks for watching!

[@Angie-ci1lp]

True and Thanks

[@charlesgarel644]

Great information thank you

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

@@charlesgarel644 thanks for watching!

[@ziptiefighter]

Overlapping cardboard like shingles is good. Another strategy I've employed is to cut multiple relatively evenly-spaced slits [with box cutter] in the cardboard to facilitate somewhat easier percolation of rainwater thru that biodegradable weed block. Not every plot is going to respond with the same degree of success. I employ a good plant app to ID interlopers. I enjoy hearing others' experiences with cardboard. I'm on my sixth season of winter-sowing mostly native plants, trees, and shrubs in NE WI. Most of my non-native turf grass has been replaced with genuinely beneficial plants native to my region. Learning a little more every season. Thankyou for the vid 👊

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

I'm starting to not cover the cardboard right away. Quack grass and thistles break through when it gets too soft. I'm not sure how long to wait but should know soon!

[@ziptiefighter]

@@FastGardeningMichigan If the given plot is really that prone to multiple species of weeds, perhaps a pretreatment would be wise prior to bothering with the cardboard, etc. I detest chemical use. But sometimes it's the lesser of two evils. Or solarizing with a sizeable tarp(s) if you have the time.

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

@@ziptiefighter I pull them and they come out easy. Less comes back each time and it feeds my chickens

[@VermiCast_Garden]

I understand the need for a weed barrier, but isn't it just a matter of time or just delaying the inevitable? Using compost that has been taken to very temps seem to help the most in raised beds, but I understand that wouldn't be practical for bigger plots of ground. It's a tough row to hoe no matter how you slice it when it comes to weeds. Good video and thanks for posting.

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

The cardboard ideally smothers them long enough for them to give up. I've noticed that seeds will sow themselves in the woodchips and reach down into the new fertile soil. Without it though there would be many more weeds. I don't mind some of them, they're free chicken food or biomass for composting. The most effective strategy I've found is dense planting of what I want to grow. Gives the weeds no reason to pop up. They're there to cover naked soil. I agree with the hot compost. I cam only make so much. I don't fully trust organized compost operations. Too much yard waste that goes into them is contaminated with lawn chemicals.

[@lyndelgado6138]

Ive been pulling mallow n other weeds out of old 'free' soil (mostly inch sized sharp rocks w a little,dirt) for 3 yrs. I have less weeds after first 2 yrs but i didnt know to put wood chips over cardboard to help it smother weeds n improve soil . This is first vid of urs ive seen. Going to chk out others 4 ideas of what else free or inexpensive i can use to improve this fill swimming pool hole (30 yrs ago). Thx!

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

Woodchips are the way to go for perennials and pathways. For annuals like veggies I use grass clippings, leaves, and homemade compost on the carboard. I make a hole in the carboard to plant into the native soil but I add compost to the planting hole. My "permaculture garden creation" playlist has all the videos of how I've turned hard clay into a thriving garden

[@EducatedSkeptic]

Thanks so much for a most informative and HIGHLY USEFUL video! This is the first of your videos I've seen, but it is going to be SO incredibly helpful. I've now subscribed and clicked to see all your new ones. An area of our "pumpkin patch" (which includes all our winter squash) has become too shady as adjacent trees have gotten taller, so I'm going to let that return to lawn and expand the pumpkin patch into a sunnier area that is now lawn. Had planned to lay down cardboard (of which we have a bountiful supply, thanks to a spring construction project) and cover it with the rotted shavings and horse manure that I have in a giant compost pile. Will now DOUBLE the thickness of that cardboard, and make sure it's completely - and alternately - overlapped, so as to try to minimize weed penetration. Here in Maine, we face a lot of the same issues you do in Michigan - I can relate to the snow on the ground! (Love the moustache on your assistant, by the way!) Thanks again!

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

I am now starting to manually remove quack grass and deep rooted weeds before adding cardboard. I've also found the cardboard is more effective when a covering is NOT applied to it right away. It doesn't look great, but it doesn't break down as fast when it stays exposed to sun and air.

[@EducatedSkeptic]

@@FastGardeningMichigan ... Thanks again! Always great to learn from someone who's "been there and done that!"

[@EpsteinIsSeaEyeAyy]

Weeds just never stop. If only we could bargain with them. There's a lot of great places outside of the garden

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

I am happy for some of the weeds that pop up. Free chicken food and pest management! If only I could dictate where they grow..

[@EpsteinIsSeaEyeAyy]

@@FastGardeningMichigan Yea exactly. Do you ever let your chickens roam the garden?

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

@@EpsteinIsSeaEyeAyy i wish.. There are just too many predators. My chickens are like family. I'd be devastated to lose any.

[@dalexfilms]

Would be delighted to strike a deal with them. BTW, love your user name; maybe you can use MoeSahd in your next one.

[@crabbiecakes5663]

I've used cardboard and woodchips, tarped my whole garden one spring for 2 months. This year I'm using roundup, only stays on the plants for 14 days, then till in all the dead stuff because all that clay need organic material to break it up.

[@djamburere]

Obrigado 🎉

[@jt4jt4]

You have talked about all of my problems. I have had the same desire to grow no-till and have used at least three layers of cardboard on more then one occasion, but have never defeated the weeds. I feel like I've been generous in the overlapping as well. I've heard that you need to water down the cardboard first, but that seems like it would just make it easier for the weeds to find their way through. I don't know--I'm at my wits' end.

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

I've been having decent luck putting more cardboard on top of chips then adding chips to that. Some weeds will find their way through but no matter how many come through there is no nutrient competition. I pluck off their foliage and drop it as much around my plants, give them to the chickens, or use them to make compost. It's easier to embrace the docks, dandelions, and thistles as free endless biomass. Even my nemesis, the rhizome spreading grass, seems to be a nice living mulch since it's shallow rooted. And the pests eat the weeds instead of my plants. Areas I walk on, or pierce the cardboard to plant seem to be where the weeds from the most. Ideally you'd want to lay the cardboard and disregard the area for a year but that's too long.

[@tenij000]

you use thick plastic dark foil that get real hot in sun all die under it

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

I will be doing that for some comfrey plots

[@jdoboy6835]

OK,, I liked what I've seen, so i subbed. You said; " I just like making videos to show others what I've learned that's made gardening go from a chore to something enjoyable." I'm the same way,,, but I HAVE to do it the most cost saving way possible. CHEAP CHEAP! I Re-use, recycle, & scrap out everything. I'm a dumpster diver,,, a slam-on-the-brakes trash-day picker! Instead of cardboard, I like rubber matting for my walkways,, or old camper tarps cut 2'-3' wide, 20' 30' long. 2 years down, kills everything underneath. Then rotate the rows over. I'm curious about your NO TILLING? WHY??? I like to shovel dig & flip my planting rows down deep, every other year. I Bury chopped up leaves, compost, fish guts & aged horse manure at the bottom of my ditch. Backfill. Then I toss triple 10 or 12, AND extra lime on top before I till. I always use plastic row covers. Sure, it's a PITA at first, but I'm out fishing all summer while my neighbors are dripping sweat picking weeds! My garden area is very wet, so digging rows deep helps to drain it out in the spring. Please Keep those shroom videos coming!? & THANKS x 2 for the update on the straw bale oysters!! ;>) I'm into foraging, plugging, & now totems. I'm just starting some beds, using the waste products from my band saw mill. Here's some awesome info from Field & Forest; www.fieldforest.net/product/463/instruction-sheets?FFP+NEWSLETTER+MASTER+LIST&March_2024-Newsletter_030824&mc_cid=d72cead8f9&mc_eid=61be59a592

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

I have a story about why I stopped tilling at the end of my recent back to Eden live video. I was always a tiller but realized every problem I faced was due to tilling. There is an underground ecosystem that gets torn up when we till. I've found leaving organic matter on the soil allows me to have fluffy soil when the creatures mix it for mez better than I did tilling. I also don't have to water or fertilize. Everything the plants need is dispersed by the fungal network. After planting I don't do much. For annuals I mimic what the prairie does and perennials I treat like the forest. I'm the same way. Love the free stuff! Without looking for cheaper ways to garden we end up spending too much when we are trying to grow healthier food cheaper!

[@deborahoverholt9598]

I don't know if you have time to answer questions but can I use saw dust from my husband's table saw in the garden beds to amend the soil? Just starting out a bed, have saved decomposing leaves and cardboard but our soil is clay which has been difficult to grow in. Thanks!

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

Sawdust will compact the soil. It is good to put in compost though. You never want to mix carbon materials such as sawdust or woodchips into soil. It'll rob nitrogen. But left on top it's great. A light later on an area you aren't walking on wouldn't hurt

[@ljay1582]

Have you come across any issues with pests like slugs?

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

Big time. I just did a video about a garlic spray I make and it stops nearly every pest. The benefits outweigh the pest problems. The plants grow so healthy that eventually the pests leave them alone or can't compete with the growth

[@robertm5969]

I put down cardboard and wood chips on 1/4 acre behind our fence line I don't want to mow. Its now overgrown with weeds and hard to mow the big pieces of wood. Any advice for what to do? Where do you get lots of cardboard for cheap?

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

Many big box stores will give it to you for free. Areas that got bad for me were covered with more cardboard on top of the chips. I've found leaving the cardboard uncovered makes it last longer to kill stubborn weeds before breaking down to let them through. It doesn't look pretty but it works. I'll cover with chips in the fall if the weeds are dead. You can also cover with a thicker layer of chips, like 18" or more. New areas I start are all getting triple or quadruple cardboard layers and thick chips so I don't have to mess around in the future with weeds.

[@robertm5969]

@@FastGardeningMichigan thanks for the reply. Do you keep the cardboard in place with rocks? I may to rake up and compost the chips then mow the weeds before trying again

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

@@robertm5969 I use rocks and pieces of wood. I split a lot of wood so those work well. Sometimes I use large branches. Anything so the wind can't get under it

[@stephaniekidoodles7655]

So did you have to buy dirt or mulch to put on top of the cardboard?

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

No. Free woodchips from Chip Drop or local arborists

[@stephaniekidoodles7655]

Creeping Charlie don't care about cardboard

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

Only plants I have to fight are quackgrass, thistles, docks, and dandelions. I am fine with the docks and dandelions because I use those but the others are a pain.

[@SaqibJavid-l8w]

No get a small tractor with harrow

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

Disturbing the soil causes almost every problem gardeners face. I have a brand new tiller collecting dust in my garage.

[@Buildingenjoyment]

This whole cardboard idea is not good. Let me explain: the cardboard separates the original soil from the new soil. You basically are suffocating and killing all the beneficial microorganisms in your original soil. Why on earth would I not want to include my original soil in my growing process ! After two years my beds are 60 cm deep and I can weed my entire garden in hours. The soil is aerated and fluffy! My soil is biodiverse and alive allowing me to have explosive growth with no fertilizers .

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

@@Buildingenjoyment the original soil is included. Fungi and worms eat the cardboard. It's there long enough to kill some weeds. Soil can't suffocate when worms are aerating

[@Buildingenjoyment]

@@FastGardeningMichigan Do this test pick 5 square meters x 2. Grow the same vegetable in both beds. Try something more sophisticated than lettuce. Bed 1 is your tripple layer cardboard no till….. Bed 2 is a pitchforked bed where you have worked in the new mulch into the existing soil. Soil is fluffy and well aerated. Bed 2 will be 50 % plus more productive in the same year. Year two when you add the new four inches of mulch it will be even more productive….. Bed 1 will lag behind so far that it isn’t even comparable. By year five bed 2 will be 50 cm of perfect soil that is loaded with microorganisms and so fluffy you can simply hand weed. By year five bed 1 will have very little life under the cardboard layer. All life will be above the transition zone. I’m not arguing that the cardboard layer doesn’t work. I’m arguing that working all your soil and including the bottom layers is way more beneficial to your soil over a five year period.

[@FastGardeningMichigan]

@@Buildingenjoyment working the soil is why I had to work extra hard many years. No till, cardboard, letting my garden die in place, and adding material to the surface has solved every issue. I don't have to water, weed, or fertilize. If I mixed the soil I'd set myself back to where I was when the garden did terrible. Worms do that for me

[@Buildingenjoyment]

@@FastGardeningMichigan the only thing that would make any sense is that your soil underneath is so bad that the new additions are the life of your garden ! I always add coarse sand to crappy soils. It looks as if your garden is waterlogged in the winter. Maybe the real truth is great soil shouldn’t be covered with cardboard, awful soils might as well be layered with new soils !