Gardeners Beware: The Hidden Dangers of Using Cardboard in Your Garden!
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- This video may get some negative feedback. When people feel so passionate about something and you point out the possible pitfalls of it you are a target for the mean streak in people. But, this is for the folks who may not know the downside that cardboard can present when you use it in your garden.
Hi, I am Pamela and I garden in the mountains of Northern California. I am in Zone 8b. I defy convention and break many garden 'rules' yet my garden is a tapestry of color and unruly beauty! I want you to be inspired to create a beautiful garden.
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Cardboard in Your Garden Might Not Be the Green Solution You Think!
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Garden Sheet Mulching: Secrets to Success without Cardboard
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This is my experience with cardboard in my zone 8aTexas garden. I moved on to my husband's farm 20 years ago where there were no trees. So I didn't have leaves. The majority of my beds I used paper feed sacks. I made sure there were NO gaps in the laying. You are right, the Bermuda grass along with the weeds will come up at any opening. I also did this a season BEFORE planting to make sure there weren't any weeds showing up. If there were, I'd lay another layer over the weed along with mulch. I knew it wasn't going to work for Janie because she immediately dug through the cardboard letting in light and water. Sheet mulching is long term, you must make sure everything under it is dead. I did this for all of my beds with no ill effects. All the Bermuda grass and bindweed are dead . Then I add my soil mixture, compost. All of the cardboard or my feed sacks have composted after that time. Usually letting it sit from fall to spring. I finally had enough leaves to finely mulch laying them in my beds. What a surprise the next spring noticing no weeds where I laid the leaves. Maybe one day, I too will have large trees. For reference, I garden on an acre with pasture all around so there will be weeds. It is an ongoing process.
Yes, it is always ongoing, the little birdies love to carry those weed seeds to new locations. I get weeds popping up in my containers that had no weeds in them so I know it was little birdies planting them. I actually caught a blue jay hiding his seeds (I assume for winter eating) in one of my window boxes. I guess my main complaint with cardboard is the PFAs that persist in the soil after it has gone. When I don't have enough leaves I buy bails of straw that do the same thing as the leaves.
I've used cardboard for years. The thing I learned about using cardboard is that you must make sure the edges of the overlaps do not leave bare areas. Keep the cardboard watered, as you would any space you've planted. When you dig holes in an area with cardboard, make sure you mulch your planted area. I live on top of a rocky mountain. It took me 4 years to have soil that I can plant in. The cardboard was a wonderful thing for me.
I am glad it worked for you.
Hi Pamela, this video is incredibly important to help get the word out! I had just applied cardboard and thick mulch on top of it in the strip between the sidewalk and street. I was feeling very good about how wonderful my soil would be in the spring. Then I saw the video on Regenerative Gardening . . . She convinced me that I did not need the cardboard after all so went out and pulled it up. It had only been down for 2-3 weeks but the compaction was already in play. Plus the small areas where there wasnt cardboard - just mulch was already turning the hard pan clay into dark rich soil. Thank you for making this video, itś not that much fun to be the bearer of bad news but it needs to be said.
Wow, thank you for sharing. Her video gave me the bravery to add my 2 cents on it. I enjoyed her getting the soil tested as well to verify how harmful it actually was in her garden. What I really wanted to emphasize here was that adding the cardboard is so unnecessary, it is more work and can do more harm that good.
As gardeners know, patience and time is needed to have a healthy garden. But, I have to admit, I love it when one does the research for me and confirms what I just feel. Thank you for sharing this information with us.
Glad I could save you some time!
My worms in wet old England love cardboard. They love the corrugated bits, they love the glue and they love the wet-retaining dampness. They eat the cardboard then the leaves on top of the cardboard and then they wake me up at 3 am shouting "FEED ME FEED ME!"❤😂
I was thinking that several of the British no-dig gardeners have used cardboard with a layer of compost successfully when starting new beds - my climate in Western Oregon is similar - and I have happy worms in the compost in my newest bed!
I'm working on gathering leaves and other mulch materials!
How funny!
And yet, I have not seen any of the British gardeners get their soil tested to see what may have been introduced to their soil that they may not like. Of course, I know Charles Dowding relies on the soil microbiome to mitigate the toxins but you can't get rid of the microplastics that then migrate into your food. I, for one, don't want to add anything negative to my garden when I don't have too. Since it isn't necessary to add the cardboard to get the results then why add something that has toxins in it?
Great video Pam! Thank you for bring to light the downfalls of cardboard, especially about the worms, they are invaluable!
You are welcome!
It’s pays to know all the ins and outs of something like this that can have an impact on our soil and growing success. 😊
And the pots you use to grow in
National library of medicine:
Arsenic toxicity from the ingestion of tera cotta pottery.
Cornel Chiu et al. J Emerg Med. 2022 .
If such is possibly in the clay ,why wouldn't it effect the plants growing in them
Do plants take up the arsenic growing in pots laced with arsenic.
I know that I have a higher than safe level of arsenic in a drilled well. No way would I use that water on my garden without proper filtration,for fear of growing higher than safe level of arsenic laced vegetables.
Arsenic is an organic substance..but it's not good for you
One could go further.
I highly doubt the plastic hoses people use to water their gardens are food safe.
Or many of the plastic pots one can buy to plant in.
The list could go on forever.
I have seen gardeners use plastic garbage bins to hold anything from soil to use as a water catchment vessel to planting potatoes in.
I know that garbage bins are not made from food safe plastic.
I suppose one has to choose the lesser of their two evils in everything.
Just a thought....
Thank you for this wonderful video! I am going to add some new flower beds and this has been super helpful!
I’m so glad to know this info about cardboard. I used it in all my beds years ago here in central GA zone 8a, humidity capital of the south, but beginning last year, I decided to blow all of my leaves into my garden beds, (not putting them thru a shredder) in hopes it would act as a thick mat on top of my old mulch in my beds for the winter. Then my plan in the spring would refresh the top with store bought mulch as I always do to “neaten” up the beds. No cardboard needed!😊
It works great for me, I enjoy gardening as nature intended and that is how the leaves are used in the wild.
Great information thanks for bringing to the attention of gardens thinking of doing that👍😎
Thank you Pam, that was really informative. I would have never guessed about the micro plastics in cardboard.
Glad it was helpful! I know it was an eye opener for me when I researched reached it a bit.
In my area the cardboard is pretty good.we got lots of rain amd think layer of snow.also when i use cardboard i wet it down pretty good and i noticed the cardboard is gone this year....Janey just used lots of cardboard in her yard.
Yes, Janey did and when I was helping her out we were talking about how it wasn't working and she has a lot of hard work ahead of her to get on top of those pernicious weeds that are growing right through the cardboard.
@@FlowerPatchFarmhouse i totally agree..
I have never used cardboard in either my flower or veggie planting area but I use it between my beds on my walkways and it works great. The weeds in my area aren’t that bad and have never come thru the cardboard. I never thought of using it in the beds. It was good to make the reference to earthworms also even though the worms in my compost bins love love love cardboard. Great video and timing of the year.
Thanks for sharing!!
Hi Pamela, this was so helpful and informative! A couple of weeks ago I put down cardboard in a section of a garden bed that had grass growing in it. I soaked the cardboard first then covered it w/ compost and even though we've had a small amount of rain, that cardboard is absolutely dry. Our climate is much drier than yours and I really didn't think the cardboard would break down. Anyway, I'm pulling it up today and just leaving the compost. And I'll go back to just pouring vinegar over the grass to kill it, which works great! Thanks again for the info and have an awesome day... xo Cheryl
Vinegar will topically kill weeds but not the roots, and please just be aware it will kill the good microorganisms in the soil and the overspray (mist that drifts on the breeze) can harm beneficial insects in your garden. It is touted as 'organic' but it is not.
You are absolutely right Pam. I learned hard way about how cardboard kills oxygenation and drainage. No more cardboard for me. Thx 😊
Thank you for your input! It helps others to know that I am not whistling into the wind.
thank you for the info. Years ago(30 or so) when we got daily newspaper delivery (before computes in the home) and I used that newspaper to start new beds I did not use anything with colored print. It was great it broke down quickly and the plants grew extremely well. I would use it today if we had newspaper delivery but, we don't
Way back in the day when we got a newspaper I made little paper pots to start seeds in, it was a fun project to make with the kids.
Thank you for the information. I used the cardboard with a note dig and the one type of grass came up through it. We Phinne put professional weed mat down under rocks, and the grass came up through it. I did find my soil under the cardboard was very very happy probably because of all the amendments I added to it every year, and I had to re lay the cardboard a newspaper every year.
Some grass is so stubborn! Glad it is helping you.
I put out cardboard and compost a few weeks ago for the first time. This video is making me want to go rip it right out of there!
Many have used it successfully but I don't blame you.
Wow, you make a heck of an argument. I certainly do love me some cardboard with compost on it but I am now wondering if there were microplastics that got into that compost too. I tried a no till experiment with compost on top of cardboard for some watermelon with mixed results and thought it was misshapen due to Grazon in the compost. Now I am not so sure.
Also, I didn't realize it causes compaction. Thank you for sharing that. I live in North Florida Zone 9b and have tons of clay that gets compacted.
As luck would have it, I am experimenting with using some partially decomposed leaves with humus and a bit of compost as a mulch for my corn. Seems to be okay so far. Not seeing any infestations yet. Think I might put more leaves down to keep from soil splash happening thanks to listening to your video. However, I can definitely see where a lot of people wouldn't like the aesthetics of leaves as a mulch, lol.
Thank you for your input. Let me know how your corn turns out.
So excited to see you in the greenhouse! Now I’ll go watch the video.
I hope you find it helpful!
I am so glad you put this video out. I just shake my head at everyone thinking that cardboard is the why to go. I am really enjoying your videos and all your knowledge that you share. Thank you.
You are so welcome! Thank you for your positive feedback, I know I will get some negativity here as it is so popular across the interenet but I felt it necessary to share the things we need to be cautious about.
Great video.
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks for this discussion, as I'm about to start expanding the planting areas in my lawn and haven't been sure how to go about it. I'm in northern VT.
If you can gather enough leaves and garden debris (I also cheat a bit and use an old thrift store blender to puree kitchen scraps to pour on it sometimes) you should be able to get it deep enough to choke out the lawn. Just keep the leaves wet until rainy weather begins so they don't drift on the wind.
@@FlowerPatchFarmhouse Thanks - I did manage to grind up about 4 garbage cans worth of leaves this fall with the lawn mower. Since I don't know where I want to kill the grass yet, I've just heaped the leaf crumbles in a pile on one of my annual beds to do whatever over the winter. It will be covered with several feet of snow soon I expect. I'm thinking of making some raised beds for vegetable growing, so maybe I'll use the leaves as a base rather than cardboard or weed fabric.
Very good info. Cardboard is not a magic bullet. Important to know your area/weather for use. I have pasture (total weeds/bermuda grass).. oh my. never knew before. i hand dug huge area by hand with mattock, then shook off as much top soil as possible. took forever. because of economics, i did then lay cardboard, eventually able to cover in 3way shredded hardwood mulch. (on slope) i did not want to use roundup. hoping my cardboard is not full of chemicals. it sure has broken down. sometimes you just have to work really hard, or have tons of money.
my next venture for raised bed area (cutting garden?) is to try solarize. OK extension garden has valuable info/test. everything takes quite a bit of time and money , plus lots of work, so we shall see.
Ugh, Bermuda grass was the bane of my gardening existance when I lived in the San Joaquin valley. That and Bindweed!
I have put down cardboard and newspapers on top of my Bermuda grass in north Texas and have had good results. I didn't plant in it for probably at least 6 months. If there is any light the grass will come up, therefore, planting in it immediately will not work. It is going to come up in those holes. I really can't address the toxic issue, but that is definitely something to consider.
Good to know that it worked for you. Did you also cover the surrounding area? Yes, the toxicity is the main concern, especially the microplastics as they just don't go away. Other things could be mitigated via the good soil microbes eventually, I have read, but from my limited knowledge, the microplastics stick around forever.
I shred my cardboard, seems to work well and it breaks down fast. Lots of healthy worms too.
I am so glad it works well for you but my point wasn't really about how well it worked but what may be in it that we are unaware of. For those of us who really don't want to add anymore nasty stuff to our soil it is important to know what we may be detrimental. Shredding cardboard is more work than I want to deal with when I don't really need to use it.
I grew up next to a town that had a hug paper mill in it. They used so many chemicals the entire town stunk. They had a free car wash for the employees because the chemicals would eat the paint right off their cars after time. I wouldn't use cardboard in my garden. I feel like it's full of all kinds of bad chemicals. Just my opinion.
It is always wise to err on the side of caution and your input is very much appreciated!
I used cardboard with great results, the worms loved it, and it broke down really quick, it helped retain moisture in the soil
Great to hear.
Use dry leaves and grass clippings. Grass clippings can be used green or dried if added a little at a time. Just experiment. Chop up leaves with a mower with a bag and mix with green grass clippings to use as a mulch. Just don`t put it right up against the stems. This is what I do to improve my vegetable garden soil and smother weeds. Around fruit trees I add it much thicker and sprinkle soil or potting soil on it and blend it in some with my fingers. This really helped my fig tree growth. I`ve used tarps in summer to smother out weeds in an area where I want to make a new garden.
Yes solarizing soil with tarps can be very effective. I never bothered chopping up the leaves, probably because I don't have a mower nor do I have grass. But those do work very well. I have considered asking my neighbor who does have a lovely lawn if he would spare some clippings but only if he grows organically and doesn't use chemicals on it.
I tried the cardboard method a couple of years ago. When I checked the area a few months later, the cardboard was being consumed by termites. This method works for some, however, I will never use this method again!
Yikes! I don't blame you, we don't need any of those univited guests (pests)!
Yes you’re right, Made that will work for a humid climate and if lived time enough to kill the grass, but for us in California wouldn’t work I did a little bed as experiment and yes the water didn’t not go through the cardboard and the soil on top was very damp and on the bottom extremely dry. So yeah NO for me.
So if you tried using
cardboard and it hasn't worked, one would pull up the cardboard and just continue mounding up a thick layer of compost? Or layer leaves on top of the already laid down compost and reapply more compost?
You are very knowledgeable.
Oh no more work for poor, Janey!
Layering on leaves or other garden debris and more compost will work. I also use the litter from my chicken pen so I have that resource as well. My first year in my front garden I piled the leaves alone about 6 inches deep and watered them well to keep them from blowing away. Once the rain and snow started I didn't need to anymore and by Spring it was planting heaven. I had very few leaves left, most had decomposed.
Amen! I really appreciate the nuanced argument for something I know doesn’t work at least in my climate. (5b/6a on the semi arid high plains.) We are dry (average yearly precip 8-16”, which includes the water from an ave 55” of mostly dry, powdery snow), and we get a lot of strong wind, so it’s really hard to keep moisture in that cardboard layer. And that’s before you factor in the chemicals and stuff in the cardboard. I cringe every time I see someone “planting” cardboard.
So many don't realize the toxins used in some cardboard and when using boxes, the toxins in the ink. Not all are toxic, but do you know one from another?
I did put down cardboard in the front-there are bulbs out there, but also a ton of weeds that I wasn’t able to clear before it got dark earlier. I’m around zone 6, and we get a lot of rain.
If there still is cardboard in the spring, I planned to pull it up anyway. I did layer leaves over the cardboard. I’ll plan to do better in the future. I also have some unused dried corn cat litter, and was thinking that might work for composting. What do you think?
I haven't ever heard of corn cat litter, how interesting. Unless you know what else is in it I would not use it, you may introduce something you wouldn't want.
I am planning to set up some raised beds so I can grow some vegetables. I have a lot of black walnut trees on my property and I don't want the juglone toxin to leach up into my raised bed effecting my plants. I was going to put down a barrier of cardboard under the raised bed to separate the soil in the bed from the juglone in the soil. What do you suggest I could use instead of the cardboard as a barrier to the juglone?
I lived on a walnut orchard for 15 years and gardened directly in the soil with no issues. Unless you are planting right under the tree I wouldn't worry about it. Back then I did not even know about juglone and gardened care free and successfully even using the leaves as mulch! If you are using raised beds the roots of your plants shouldn't reach the roots of the tree which would cause the issue. Here is a quote from an extension office: "Because walnut roots often do not occupy the surface layers of the soil, many shallow rooted plants can grow under the trees without contacting the roots and therefore are not significantly affected."
Test it out and just place your beds as far away from the trees as possible. If you want to hedge your bets grow a few of the veggies that are susceptible to juglone in containers but also grow in the ground and compare to see the actual results. Sometimes we have to do our own experimenting to see what will and won't work in our particular situation.
My cardboard experiment attracted termites. Yuck!
That is another side effect I forgot to mention! Thank you.
Have you told this to Janey and Robbie?
We have talked about so many things I am not sure this is one subject we discussed yet. Thank you for chiming in!
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I am so glad you liked it!
LOL, I did mine ass backwards. I dug up about 4 inches of Florida topsoil (mostly sand and sand spurs.) Surrounded it with cinderblock, Put down cardboard 10X10 space. Then covered it up with about 25 bags of different kinds of potting soil mostly the $2.25 a bag stuff adding 10-10-10 to the mix as i shoved it in. About 6 lbs. then added compost. Everything is growing great.
Congrats, sounds like a lot of work. I am glad it is working for you after all that!
I have a big problem with Bermuda grass in my flower beds. I always used the weed fabric under my mulch. I wanted to replace it with the cardboard. How do you keep the weeds under control ?
Bermuda Grass is the devil. I don't have it here, I guess it won't live in my climate but I dealt with it when I lived in the valley. The only thing I could do was keep weeding it out. Though groundcovers did help, I let roam under my other plants in the flower beds. Even cardboard won't eliminate it, though so did say it helped so give it a whirl and let me know how it works for you.
Depend on where you are, I am in TX, I tried card board, waste of my time, it did not work for me. Other people could get benefit. . Don't worry, nobody can judge you, we send information, it is up to you, to research, to use it or not. For years, some people told everyone, drinking coffee is bad for you, now they changed their mind, they are saying coffee is good for you. So always research for yourself❤
So true. Nutrionists are always changing their tune. The food pyramid has been changed so many times. Remember when eating any kind of fat was evil (during the 80' and part of the 90's), or touted as the cause of obesity, so everyone was trying to eat fat free...and Americans got fatter! Now they find how good fats are necessary for good health. I love coffee, so I never believed it was bad, something so good couldn't be harmful. :)
I've never tried cardboard as a mulch. I have found that simply using garden waste, grass clippings, and leaves will kill most weeds. All my flower beds were started that way and the composted yard waste turns into a very rich black top soil full of earth worms.
Thank you for sharing your experience, that has been my results as well.
Thank you so much for bringing that valuable information to everyone!!! KNOWLEDGE IS POWERFUL!!! ❤❤❤
Yep, forewarned is forearmed and I just wanted folks to know what toxins they may be adding to their soil if they did use cardboard. It is still their choice but I like going into something knowing those types of things.
I appreciate this! I have done it but for my area it broke down within a couple of months so I feel a bit better about doing it. But it's good to have the information.
Thank you so much for your input!
Thank you for information about card board❤
My pleasure 😊
I've only used newspaper in my garden but I didn't have any horrible weeds. After I put the newspaper down I did put a heavy layer of wood chips . I personally wouldn't put cardboard or newspaper in a vegetable garden but this was a flower.its been 4 years now and I've had no problems with grass growing back in that flower bed. I do have a photo of my longboarder in my 2022 flower video on my RUclips channel.
Thank you for sharing!
Thank you. I am learning much from your videos even though I am in a much different climate--southern Wisconsin. I hope that you have a productive day!
Thank you, I am so happy you are finding the info valuable! You have a great day too!
Thank you.
You are welcome, I am glad you found it helpful.
I have been very successful using C B , but leaves and branches work better also make my own compost, when using cardboard it can be broken up small for composting so don't eliminate it all together, like paper towels.and toilet paper rolls don't throw away... I make sure the C B I use is not coated with anything or.slick and shiny.
I am glad that is working for you. My compost pile doesn't get hot enough to eliminate the toxins or PFA's in the cardboard material so I prefer not to add it to my pile and I have more than enough carbon with my chicken litter (filled with straw and rice hulls) so it isn't necessary. I am too lazy to take the time to break up cardboard to compost too so I just choose not to.
How do you feel about using newspaper or brown paper bags in the garden? About 3 pages thick of newspaper and cutting open the brown paper bags for just a single layer?
Anymore, I don't add anything other than plant material or compost. I don't need to, and if you are merely wanting to help block weeds I would rather add a deeper layer mulch or compost which has worked fine for me. Some brown paper bags can also have PFA's in them and not all newspapers are toxin free. I err on the side of caution, personally.
💚💚💚I watch and adore all of these gardeners! I’m excited to find your channel and add it to my repertoire!
Yay! Thank you!