Sheet Mulching

So we're FINALLY getting around to updating the blog with the new sheet mulched area in our yard. Our wonderful friend, Emily Graves, has a lot of knowledge when it comes to horticulture and gardening. Early in the spring she told us about sheet mulching, where you mimic nature by making layers of decomposing materials. Basically we liked the idea of not ripping up any grass because we are lazy, and the fact that the soil underneath the layers will be ideal by spring 2013. Since we already have a lot of garden area with the raised beds, we didn't mind waiting until next year to use our new expansion. The spot we chose is on the north side of the yard near the fence.

Before we began

We gathered a lot of non-dyed or bleached cardboard for our initial layer. You can put a layer of compost and dirt on the grass first (before the cardboard layer) but we chose to skip this step because we planned on waiting a whole year before actually planting underneath the layers of cardboard.

Tearing tape and labels off

So we managed to get a bunch of old cardboard that got wet in the loading dock at my work, and we STILL had barely had enough to cover the area.

Working area

At this point we started to realize how big of an area needed to be covered. We (unfortunately) only put one layer of cardboard, and that was a HUGE mistake (grass has sprouted up through the overlapping areas). We just used the resources we had and continued on. We also had a lot of old denim and khaki pants of Chris's that we used to cover up the irregularly shaped areas around the rocks. We made sure they were 100% cotton and didn't bother to remove the rivets or buttons.

Layering the soil and compost on top of the cardboard 

For the first layer above the cardboard we put a layer of mushroom compost a few inches thick. We also used some garden compost (free dirt!) when we started running out of mushroom compost. Then we added some garden soil (Miracle Gro Organic Garden Soil), about 4+ inches thick and mixed it in with the compost. We forgot to get mulch at first so that's why you see the silver tarp keeping our new soil out of the sun.

Layers

We then added 2-3 inches of mulch on top. The mulch helps keep moisture in the soil, and keeps weed down a bit.

Almost done!

So it took us about 8 hours total (including the MANY trips to Home Depot) and cost around $350 total for all of the soil/compost/mulch. It was more expensive than we expected, but the countless amount of "free" food that will result is well worth the cost.

Final result

So what we've learned so far since the installation is that we should have had MUCH more cardboard. About a week after we finished we had grass creeping up through the layers in many spots. I think we needed at least 3 layers of cardboard, but didn't really think about that before we started. We'll probably uncover some of the problem spots this fall and add another layer or two of cardboard so we don't have to worry about weeding or using an herbicide to keep the grass at bay.

That's it for now! More (belated) updates are on the way!