Friday, May 11, 2012

Using compost and cardboard as a weed barrier

We had 3 cubic yards of compost delivered today!  That's actually the smallest amount of compost I've ever had delivered.  I get organic mushroom compost, which is supplied by a local company.  Last year, I actually did not order compost, although I had some left over from the year before last.  But I do like to add quite a bit to my beds each year, so I am very happy to have it again. 

I completed my first project with the compost: as a topdressing and mulch for my front flower garden.  Now, this area is really terrible.  I did a good job of digging out the bermuda grass and weeds the year we moved in, but there were a couple of seasons where I didn't weed at all (hard to weed when your toddler keeps running away from you), and it just got awful again.  So, I surrounded my annual seedlings and perinneals with paper and cardboard and spread compost on top of that as a mulch.  This is extremely effective in my vegetable garden, and I think it will be in my garden as well.  It looks quite nice right now. 

The bermuda grass is making me so crazy that I may have to resort to a chemical solution, but for now I'm going to give this a go.  I may add a wood mulch next month, so I can repeat the process, adding an additional weed barrier.  I find that the paper/cardboard is far more effective against bermuda grass and other weeds than a weed fabric.  I'll update on how it goes.  I'm hoping for a pretty flower garden this year, which I haven't had for the past 2 seasons! 

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