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...
