Sheet Mulching: Tips and Tricks

We recently sheet mulched 1/2 of the grass in our backyard. We measured for 6" of mulch, and it came out to 8 yards of material.

We ordered 8 yards of shredded mulch, and seemed to have so much left over that we were able to mulch ALL of the front yard beds.

Well my friends, when Toby Hemenway says 6", and you measure for 6", and order for 6", you damn well better use every bit of mulch to sheet mulch to 6". OR ELSE. Grass is a mean and determined little f&*ker, and is coming up anywhere it has the opportunity.

Additionally, when they say to overlap cardboard by 6" on each side, they are not kidding.

So Chris and I spend a little while every few days weeding.

We are coming across places in our backyard where there is hardly any mulch covering the cardboard, but other areas with a few inches of mulch. While it seemed like a s&^t ton of mulch when we ordered it, the little bit we put down has settled quite rapidly.

I DO NOT recommend using newspaper as a sheet mulch technique, unless you plan on applying layer after thick layer of it. It seems to break down quickly, and the grass comes right through it.

Yes, sheet mulching was really easy. Almost too easy. But you MUST do it right, or it will be work for you in the long run.

Take my advice:

Measure twice, order once.

Order enough mulch to cover the area 4-6" deep. Yes, this will seem like an inordinate amount of mulch. USE IT ALL.

Use cardboard under the mulch. Overlaps ALL edges by at least 6"to prevent grass from finding it's way into the sunlight. Rolls of corrugated cardboard (not boxes) would be ideal for this project.