I don’t know about you, but I accumulate a lot of cardboard. Did you know that cardboard can be useful in the garden?
First, use cardboard to kill the grass. Second, use cardboard to suppress weeds. Third, cardboard is a great material to add to the compost pile. Further, as cardboard decomposes it adds organic matter to the soil and improves soil drainage. Earthworms love cardboard. Earthworms improve soil aeration, and their castings (worm manure) are an organic type of fertilizer with many beneficial nutrients.
Last October, we redid our front garden bed (see above). I saved cardboard for a few weeks to lay down after the old bed was taken out and before we planted our new plants. From experience, I find that cardboard works better at weed suppression than weed cloth.
In another example, we laid cardboard strips around the perimeter of our vegetable garden to suppress weeds around the fence. We wet the cardboard and then placed a few inches of wood chips on top of the cardboard. This has been in place now for a few years and is still suppressing weeds!
Lastly, two years ago we created two new ornamental garden beds using a lasagna gardening technique (see above). Cardboard was used as the base layer in the lasagna garden. We started the garden beds in September and by the following April, they were ready to plant. Yes, patience is necessary. The layers had completely blended, and you would never know that cardboard was placed down. Two new beds without lifting a shovel or digging up any grass! For more information on this approach, you can read my post on Lasagna Gardening.
What you need to know about cardboard
Much of the cardboard, used by companies to ship products, is corrugated fiberboard. It’s biodegradable and contains no bleaches or dyes. Amazon, one of the largest users of cardboard, uses this type of cardboard box. Most black ink on the boxes is not toxic. The two primary types of black ink are soy and petroleum. Soy-based inks are considered safe for the garden while petroleum is not. I will admit that it’s not an easy task to determine the type of ink used on boxes.
Don’t use cardboard with colored inks in the garden as it may contain toxic metals. In addition, don’t use cardboard that has a shiny coating. Lastly, remember to remove staples and tape from the box prior to use in your garden. Good luck!
Additional Information
- Brilliant method to create new garden beds, lasagna gardening
- The Importance of Native Plants
- How to Create a Productive Small Vegetable Garden
- How to Create a Monarch Butterfly Garden
- Creating and Maintaining an Organic Vegetable Garden: Part One
- Creating and Maintaining an Organic Vegetable Garden: Part Two
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