Easy Weed-free Gardening

[See photo] Covering a potential planting bed with cardboard or black plastic to remove weeds and grass is Dianna's first choice for preparing a new garden spot.

This area next to the foundation was overgrown and full of perennial weeds and large grass clumps that were hard to dig. One half of the space was spread with flattened cardboard boxes, overlapped slightly to keep perennial weeds from growing through cracks and covered with 3 inches of mulch. After two months and very heavy rainfall, the cardboard had completely composted and when the mulch was scraped away the soil was in good condition for planting, damp but nicely friable, which means it was "crumbly" in the hand.

Low rainfall areas might take longer for the same results if started in fall when the weather has cooled, but you can brush away the mulch occasionally to check the progress and with a box cutter or serrated kitchen knife, make "planting holes" in the cardboard after several weeks if your plans need to progress faster.

Not having enough cardboard boxes for the remaining area, she used an old piece of black plastic held down by blocks of wood and plastic "bulb trays" filled with pulled weeds. As the weeds in the trays started to rot, more were simply added to keep the trays heavy, like little compost bins. Overall, the area was not as attractive, but when the plastic was pulled up, the soil underneath the soil was evenly dry for planting seeds despite the heavy rain. (Should you be using this method during summer, water the soil first and the heat absorbed by the black plastic will help to compost the weeds and grass quicker.)

Despite the cold weather, the tough weed stems under the plastic had broken down into soft straw-like pieces when it was pulled away. This same sheet of heavy duty black plastic has seen several seasons of use. It is not washed clean before storing away, but simply left on the lawn to dry, folded and put out of direct sunlight in a garden shed.