Longtime readers may recognize that Chris and I change our minds about things and our landscape plans AN AWFUL LOT.
See previous posts:
5/15/07
8/23/07
8/9/07
2/27/08
Friday night before the new neighbor moved in there was a landscaping crew next door laying mulch in the backyard. In a moment of inspiration, we decided to sheet mulch the bare exposed side of the backyard with the cardboard and junkmail we've been saving since August 2006. And we ordered 8 yards of mulch, which by our calculations, was apparently 4 yards too many. That's ok, we always order more than we need because we can use it elsewhere. (Picture was taken AFTER we were done yesterday...plenty left to use elsewhere.)
Yesterday we spent the first 90.5o day laying cardboard, spraying a lot of water on it, and covering it with mulch. (For the record, as I write this it is currently 91.8o...and it's April 13th). The whole project only took about 4 hours, and it was one of the easier projects we've tackled (except maybe the landscape lighting).
Steps for Sheet Mulching:
- Wet down ground. REALLY wet it down good.
- Add compost or other organic material to the ground underneath sheet mulch*
- Wet both sides of cardboard or newspaper/junkmail thoroughly
- Position sheets to overlap each other slightly
- Spray it all down some more
- Cover with 4-6" of mulch
- Wet down mulch - it sucks up a ton of water
*This step isn't really necessary, but from what I've heard it helps speed decomposition. We ripped up and composted the grass that was here for the past few months, then leveled out the sheet mulch area before the project began.
Ideally, sheet mulching in Northern California should be done in the mid to late Fall before the rains arrive, that way the materials will stay nice and wet and not dry out like I expect ours too. But hopefully wetting it down really well will keep things underneath nice and moist. We plan on completing the drip irrigation for this area of the yard in the next week or so to help the plants and fruit trees along.
Toby Hemenway would be so proud.
Sheet mulching really is that easy!
Chris laughed at me a few months ago for saving all the cardboard we've gotten since August 2006, but it certainly came in handy yesterday - and we didn't even have enough! I've also been saving junkmail to shred, and newspapers for this very reason, and had plenty to cover the small cracks and openings that cardboard was too cumbersome to cover. (Thank you Capital One...)
A good source for cardboard is FreeCycle or Craigslist. There's always moving boxes being offered on both if you're patient.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to show some pictures before, before, before, and after the project. (None were taken during the project because it was so hot we just wanted to get done).
BEFORE
AFTER RIPPING OUT SOD, BEFORE SHEET MULCH
AFTER WEEDS GERMINATED, BEFORE SHEET MULCHING (TAKEN FRIDAY NIGHT)
AFTER SHEET MULCHING
Chris thinks it needs some "shrubbery" - ala Monty Python.
Notice the cute little paths through the mulch...these aren't permanent, but will allow us to move and decide where paths would go best. These paths don't include "keyhole" planting areas (paths that dead end into a planting, but don't go through).
Sorry about the pictures that aren't well-exposed. We suck at photography lighting.
Expect posts about what we decide to plant to break up the large swaths of mulch...
Posts
15 comments:
WOW! What a difference 4 yards of mulch makes--it looks "finished" now, even though I know you said it isn't quite.
By the way, that's so smart, to have temporary paths until you can decide where exactly you want them to go. That's better than being wrong the first time and having to undo more permanent ones.
katie - you guys did an awesome job! it really looks great. that makes me wanna dig up all my grass and order 8 million yards of mulch.
Very nice! I should show this to my lawnmowing-hating husband. I'll be interested to see what you come up with for planting there!
I couldn't help but smile when I saw the lawn being ripped up.
I love it! looks great! Let me know who you ordered the mulch from. I have been shopping for mulch for weeks.
blackswamp_girl - It does look finished! We're very excited for the point in which it all mats down and isn't so .... mulchy. Chris doesn't want decomposed granite paths, and I do. So this is a nice compromise until I can get him on my side.
gina - Sheet mulching was easy, but the process of ripping out the grass started last summer! But I say go for it. It is so liberating to be rid of grass AND have more room to plant things we really want like shrubs, fruit trees, and flowers.
Seeded - Did I mention sheet mulching is really easy? AND that you can do it over grass if done right?
Spelled with a k - I'd recommend sheet mulching straight over the lawn OR renting a sod cutter. The way we went about it wasn't the easiest... But sheet mulching is SO easy.
Jamie - I sent you an email with companies. Now it's your turn!
Wow Katie - that's quite a transformation!
Jealous of your heat though - hail, rain and cold here today...
Very nice indeed. Now you need to herrings. Ni.
I'm SO happy it's not just me that has piles of stuff left in my driveway when I'm 'done' moving what I needed.
After filling the garden beds (that I built three years ago...finally) I've moved the rest of the soil here and there that I could think of that needed freshening. Plus I still have a wheelbarrow and two barrels full and now am 'rationing' it.
Looking forward to seeing it come along.
nice work.
Thank god my backyard hasn't much bare dirt. All that work you guys did is making me sweat, jk. lol. Good work guys! Won't you be planting anything else later on where you put the mulch?
I seriously need to figure out where my city puts all the mulch they create when they trim trees and put the tree parts into wood chippers.
It looks great, I think your the only person I know who had too much mulch.
I always fall short and have to make multiple trips to get more.
It will be so nice this summer when you don't have to worry about watering the darn grass.
I love seeing the changes! It all looks great. I'll like to see where the paths end up being. I want to put more in but I'm worried about that I'll put so many in I'll have a small subdivision racing through my lawn. So it would be nice to see how you plan yours.
I just noticed the freecycle link is broken, you made it freecycle.com instead of .org . I've never been there so I thought I would drop by GP because I recalled the link on this entry and the .com site didn't seem right so I did a google search for freecycle. Just a heads up... ^_^
Vp – yes, we are very excited about the mulch and planting things in it besides grass!
Benjamin – Thanks for stopping by, it’s been a while. Love the HG reference. I could go on with it all day!
Mostlygardening – oh no way you aren’t alone in piles of mulch/dirt everywhere. It just depends on what we ordered last. That’s what we have a ton of. But I can’t seem to get enough drip irrigation supplies…
Dig this chick – gracias on the nice work. I was looking at your raspberry jam post from last summer and drooling. Probably more than Margot.
Garrett – You are lucky to not have that much dirt, but it was self-induced here. We let it die last summer, knowing we’d do this at some point. We planted lantana, oregano, and lavender we had in pots into the mulch yesterday. It’s so nice to break it up with some greenery.
Notso – we always order more than we need. And we’re going to have to order again later this summer to finish the backyard! Ey. I hate grass sometimes. Have I mentioned that lately?
rosemarie - Subdivision through lawn! Ha! You can not make them go through, and then you have what Gaia's Garden calls keyhole gardens where you can plant alot of plants and access them all at the end of a path....
Garrett - I fixed the Freecycle link...thanks!
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