YES, OF COURSE I know about the more backbreaking ways to make a new bed, but lately I confess I’ve been relying more and more upon the magic of recyclables: newspaper and cardboard to be specific.
Where I used to double-dig and work in lots of compost before I began planting, now (assuming the underlying soil is fairly decent, neither bog nor wasteland) I simply layer on newspaper thickly, or spread out flattened corrugated cardboard boxes as the weed-smothering underlayment to my bed. I was reminded of this recently on the ever-so-useful blog by English newspaper editor and allotment gardener Jane Perrone. Someone asked Jane, a dedicated organic gardener like I am, about whether using cardboard as mulch like this was OK. Jane checked with Garden Organic, the 50-year-old UK organic-garden charity, and got the thumb’s up. Good thing for me; good thing for all of us who want to smother some more lawn this spring in favor of more diverse plantings, but need a little shortcut.
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I WAS SO BLESSED TO visit and document many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as garden editor and then as editorial director. The places we were proud to publish included my own upstate New York home. Take a tour of 
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I did this last year, after deciding to stop recycling my cardboard boxes for one whole winter. By May 1 of 2007 I had enough cardboard to cover my entire 45 x 45 foot deer-fence-enclosed garden. First I checked to remove all tape and staples and then flattened all the boxes and then covered everything with either soil or mulch and you know what? No weeds. I mean no weeds. It was a wonder. I’ll never look at cardboard the same way again.
I love, love, love the cardboard thing. I admit I am a little lazier about it. I leave all the tape and staples on and just pick them up as they reveal themselves at the end of the season. For really tenacious weeds I just put a double or triple layer of cardboard down. In the veg I cover it with straw and in the flower borders I use a fine mulch or sometimes compost. Cardboard is so much easier to use than newspaper, which is the way I first learned this technique.
So I consider this a unanimous vote: 3-0, in favor of CARDBOARD.
Motion passed.
It’s official.
Is it still true that you should use only black and white newsprint? Thought color print had some toxic elements in it. … Would love your input. … Joy
Welcome, Joy. I have read SO many different things about this–about lead in inks and dioxins and so on. Most of the literature from university cooperative extensions concurs that we should not mulch w/the shiny colorful magazine-type sections and ad inserts of that nature, that have so much colored ink and varnishes over the ink to gloss up the pages, but that the typical newsprint with mostly black and white is ideal.
I have been doing this for many, many years and think I will keep on doing so.
Thanks Margaret. I think I’ll follow your lead on this. It’s such a pain to remove all color print. I use NYT and I’m surprised at how much more color print there is now. Also is it best to saturate paper before mulching on top. … Thrilled to have found your site. … Joy
Hi Margaret, I have a 100 x 30′ area that I need to transform into a side path and garden. There are a lot of little rocks, good soil, however, there are tons of weeds where there used to be be grass. A 5 acre woods next to our home has been cut down for one year (a moonscape-like nightmare) and a border of poison ivy has grown along our fence as well! I suppose a house will be built there soon. Do you think I can sucessfully use this method? Any remedy for poison ivy rashes?
Hi, Andy. The tricky part about PI is that it is a very vigorous woody vine, so it isn’t just going to succumb to a little paper anytime quickly, compared to a herbaceous weed of lesser stamina. I would first dig out the plants, before they have a chance to grow more mature and difficult to eradicate.
Digging out PI is a challenge requiring very careful planning and execution. Disposable surgical gloves are key, along w/long sleeves and pants, and then you must deposit the dug-up plants directly into a garbage bag that then goes inside another and into the trash.
Remember you can get a dose of the irritating oils from your shovel, shoes, clothing up to one year later…so everything has to go into a hot wash immediately or be cleaned with alcohol (you!) or discarded. This FDA fact sheet is pretty comprehensive, including rash treatment (with prevention being easier than treatment, frankly).
After digging, I’d paper the area as well (and if you fear the digging then paper the area VERY thickly and wider than the existing patch of PI, and do it again several times as the paper/mulch starts to decay). I have chosen along my roadside, outside my fence, to just lay down thick cardboard a few layers at a time and top it with deep, coarse mulch (composted wood chips) and top that up regularly, and it has definitely helped…but I wouldn’t be gardening in there with bare hands anytime soon as I doubt I killed all the PI.
I highly recommend Mike McGrath’s website youbetyourgarden.org. He has a fabulous organic gardening radio show on NPR’s WHYY(Philadelphia area) on Saturday mornings. Also available on some other NPR stations. He is a former editor of Organic Gardening and a wealth of information, a little goofy but knows his stuff. Archives and past shows are accessible from the website. … Joy
Dear Margaret,
Your site is fabulous and an inspiration! I’m eager to start a new bed. With the cardboard method, how long do I need to wait after layering the cardboard and mulch before I can start planting?
Thanks,
ML
Welcome, Mary Lynn. I have planted the same day, as long as I moisten the cardboard/newsprint layers and also weight them down w/good fine-textured mulch so that the plants I insert in X’s I poke in the paper won’t be left to fend off undergrowth that wants to pop through without a secure layer of protection to help them. Or you can wait until more of what’s beneath suffocates. If it’s really tough stuff (not just lawn, e.g., but giant thistles or something) be sure to dig out the worst offenders and also maybe mow/clip everything short first so your surface isn’t like a mountain range!
Margaret,
Thanks for your quick reply. I haven’t seen much mention of landscape cloth. What say you to using it?
ML
This is a great question, Mary Lynn, and I am vehemently AGAINST it. Check out this earlier discussion about why: And chime in on any no-no’s you might have, too.
margaret, i found out about you on wkze (my favorite station!)
referencing your ‘how it looked then” page; garden picture 20…..what is the name of that plant/shrub? the variegated one w/ green edges & ribs filled in w/ pink/mauve….very interesting specimen.
dennis r
lagrangeville,ny
zone 5
Welcome, Dennis, a fellow music-lover. That plant’s an annual (tropical) called Persian shield, or Strobilanthes. Loomis Creek in Claverack sells it, as do many good nurseries.
Hi. I just found this website and am very interested in the cardboard garden. I have really, really heavy clay and it is hard work to remove the sod and turn the soil (before adding compost of course). Any reason why I shouldn’t use the cardboard method? How deep should I pile soil/compost on top to create a home for perenials? Thanks
Welcome, Mary. I would first mow/cut down the underlying weeds, then pile on some organic material (rotted leaves, compost) for a couple of inches, then layer on the cardboard, and then start layering on more organic material up top. You can’t overdo it with compost, or rotted leaves, especially in a heavy clay soil. The idea is to try to get worms and soil microbes and such to jump in and do the work here of improving the soil as the organic material decays.
Margaret,
Just discovered your blog (saw the NYT article) - so glad I did!!
I’ve a question about the cardboard method. Everything I’ve read about gardening says before you plant, you have to dig down at least 10″ to loosen up the soil so the roots can spread out. So, do you dig through the cardboard? or do you build the garden on top of the cardboard - basically making a raised garden?
Welcome, Jan. I used to dig and prep deeply for many, many years. I just don’t do it any longer; I use the smothering method, then top up with a few inches of high-quality composted mulch (like composted stable bedding or composted leaf mold) and keep the top replenished. That stuff breaks down into the underlying soil. Then I cut X’s in the cardboard and plant…or if it’s not too complex a design, I plant, then spread cardboard around the bed topped by mulch. With vegetables, for instance, that’s very easy, as you usually plant in rows or blocks. With come designs of ornamentals, it can be a little tricky.
Just wondering if I can put newspaper and mulch on top of end-of-season perennials? I have grown a quick garden when I received plants from a company too early then planted but just have not had time to move them but the weeds are now starting to surface and some going to seed.
Welcome, Pat. I often do this, sort of tucking the newspaper around the crowns of the perennial rather than totally smothering them. It is a little more work to position the paper (sometimes helps to moisten the thick layers so they stay put, as mentioned) but worth it.
Welcome to The Beet Goes On. I have buried many a New York Times here on my property, too. Thanks for visiting, and come again soon.
For poison ivy I make a tea from the inner bark of an oak. Shred the bark, bring water to a boil, cover, turn off heat, let steep for awhile. Bottle in amber bottles & refrigerate.
The tannic acid in the bark works great. Apply with a cotton ball several times a day. Should clear up in a couple days.
How about using white cardboard?
Thanks for the useful info!
Hawk
Radiating UNCONDITIONAL LOVE & Truth
To ALL who share our circle, our universe, our love, our trust.
May I always be found worthy.
Gratitude & Thankfulness to All of Us
aSoaringHawk
Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with joy & glory.
Thank you for YOU, ALL!
I used leaves underneath cardboard last fall to winterize my vegetable garden beds. Perhaps I should have put the cardboard down first…??? The garden didn’t “perform” that well.
Welcome to Hawk. Thank you for your poison-ivy remedy and all the good words. As for white cardboard, I think you lean the kind that’s coated with a magazine-like surface? I save and use the brown corrugated and the plain gray stuff, and recycle and that looks like it’s got lots of extra junk in/on it.
Welcome also to Joy. I like to let leaves decompose before incorporating them, or at least run them over with the mower first to chop them up. And yes, I have used the cardboard first to smother underlying turf or weeds. Nice to see you both here.
I’m so excited I found your blog!
I’m a new gardener trying to learn all I can, and have a big job ahead of me this year.
I’m just wondering how far down you should put the cardboard or better yet how much soil should I cover the cardboard with? Does it matter whether it’s for a veggie patch or a flower garden?
Welcome, Design Girl. Put the cardboard on the soil surface (or on top of mowed turf or cutback weeds), not dug in or anything. Cover with mulch, the kind that will break down into the soil eventually (not gigantic chips). You may need to weigh down the cardboard for awhile, and sometimes moistening w/the sprinkler helps everything not blow away). :)
O.k. remember that I am a total newbie here; do you place the cardboard around where you are growing? I ask b/c I have a garden that is completely over-run and I’m planning to do a veggie patch and flower garden in it. So how would I plant things? In the mulch? Do I plant and then cardboard around the things I planted? Sorry I know there is a lot of questions. I really appreciate your help!
@DesignGirl: Good questions. If the area’s overrun with weeds or turf, get the cardboard down asap. Cover it with mulch. Start smothering things.
You can pierce through the mulch and cardboard with a spade or trowel (depending what you are planting) at planting time, digging right into the underlying soil to do your planting, assuming you are using transplants not seed. Then tuck the mulch back in place (without smothering the desired plant!). If you’re sowing seed, which needs a clean slate to get started, I’d pull back the covering and make a clear block or row of soil (loosen and remove weeds, cultivate the space you plan to sow in, which for, say a row of beans might just be a narrow strip of a few inches wide.
The basic idea: uncover as LITTLE weedy area as needed to get the job done. Keep as much smothered, again WITHOUT burying baby plants in too much mulch.
An alternative method: Say you wanted to plant 12 tomatoes down a long rectangular bed. You could make 12 holes down the row, getting rid of the weeds in those immediate spots, plant your tomato seedlings, then lay a strip of cardboard on either side of the transplants, covering each side of the bed. Then mulch. If you wanted to plant things in a block or grid, not a row, you couldn’t really arrange the cardboard afterward, so the previous method would be better.
Sort of depends what you are planting, and what is going to be easiest to do. Either way works.
Thanks so much for your insight, now all I have to do is wait for all the snow to melt and the temp to move up to the + side of 0 again. We have -30C today in Alberta Canada.
Hi Margaret,
I live in SW Florida and would like to use the cardboard method to prepare a vegetable or flower garden……I just bought a new lawnmower and could possibly use the box it came in for the cardboard. Do you think that type of cardboard is too thick? Also, after I lay the cardboard down do I put organic soil etc on top of it? How soon after can I start planting?
Hi, Eileen. The only cardboard I don’t use is the stuff that’s really slick with colorful printing that’s laminated and shiny, or so thick it’s impossible to work with. I don’t know the condition of the box, but will it moisten and when slightly damp start to sit nicely on the ground, or is it like working with a piece of unforgiving plywood?
In your climate, cardboard will break down even faster than here. I plant right away, but I moisten the cardboard and weight it down with mulch and even stones if it’s likely to go anywhere. I simply cut Xs through the surface and tuck plants in. But it really depends what you are planting (how many things, and how large they are…a tiny annual might not like being engulfed by the heavy material at first, where a shrubs might stand up just fine to it).
I’ve been using the newspaper method for a while now, but I started using cardboard this year. The bigger the box, the easier it is to use! I work in a warehouse, so I get all the empties I need.
The bed I made last year with newspaper was incredibly easy to weed this time around. Not much made it through, but some crabgrass did creep in from the yard. The biggest expense I had was the mulch.
I find that if I make a “hole” in the mulch, put in a couple of handfuls of rich soil or compost, and poke a little through the underlying material, the plants do really well. I just planted a cutting bed from plug trays yesterday using cardboard, garden soil and mulch.
Welcome, Jennifer, with such helpful further details on my favorite bed-prep method. Thank you. See you soon again.
Hi Margaret, I just found your blog because I was searching for a solution for my very shady back yard that has piles of leaves, sticks and acorns (not to mention weeds) all over it. I was trying to rake today and I just gave up. I am wondering what you think about putting cardboard down on the leaves and sticks and acorns, there is quite a bit of this debris. (there are a lot of big oak trees and other trees around the yard)?Thanks a bunch!!!
Welcome, Maura. I suffocate herbaceous (green, tender) things including grass and most weeds with cardboard and mulch, but sticks and acorns are woody and tougher and I think you have to clean them up first. Another drawback of leaving them: the acorns will sprout oak seedlings. Sorry to say I think that the annual spring cleanup probably cannot be skipped. If it were just leaves, they’d decompose beneath the cardboard…the twigs and such won’t. Any chance you can get the branches out and run the leaves over with your mower? Oak leaves dry to a crispy texture and disintegrate into small bits when mown/shredded. So maybe pick up sticks and then mow? (If you are positively littered w/acorns I’d gather some of those, too.)
You might want to look at this recent post to see what I mean about reducing leafy debris that way.
Thanks Margaret!