You can get rid of weed-infested areas easily by creating new flower beds and / or plants in areas with poor soil. You can also avoid weeding or removing sod. No need to dig!
Steps
Step 1. First of all, build a raised bed if you want
You can also finish it later if you prefer.
Step 2. Keep your newspapers, including supermarket brochures and free newspapers that you recycle
However, do not keep the advertising brochures of glossy and colored paper, but only newsprint. Take your neighbors' newspapers, too, if you can.
Another option for creating the bottom layer is to use cardboard. Take the plain brown cardboard. If it's a bit printed that's fine, but avoid glossy or textured cardboard, which is usually coated with plastic. Also, remove tape, paper clips and labels. You can pre-moisten the cardboard or simply let it get wet in the rain
Step 3. Get enough mulch from your local nursery (color / type to your liking) to cover the area to a depth of 7-8cm
If you don't care what the mulch looks like, harvest the leaves in the fall and use those. They gradually deteriorate and nourish the soil below, as well as ensuring the necessary moisture and keeping weeds in check
Step 4. Define the area you want to convert to a flower bed
Cover this space with wet cardboard or newspapers; 3-4 sheets are good for a thickness of about 5 cm to be superimposed on the whole area. Try to get a rough idea of how much you will need. It is not too difficult a calculation.
Step 5. Cut the grass or outline the area you are preparing, leaving everything lying flat on the ground
You can also use a hoe if you find it helpful. If you wish, distribute a "blood and bone meal" fertilizer or a good multiple fertilizer in powder or granules.
Step 6. Water the whole area well, or wait for the next storm to do the work for you
A non-buried garden can hold water fairly well, but it can also let it drain, especially when the bed is stabilizing.
Step 7. Fill a wheelbarrow or other container with newspapers and cover with water
Step 8. Open the wet newspapers and arrange them in layers of 3-4 sheets on the ground, overlapping them about 5 cm at the edges
If the terrain is uneven, use more paper.
- Distribute it fairly thickly - the paper and other materials will have to block the light from any weeds or sod. What you put on the newspapers will keep the paper fixed to the ground and at the same time hide it and make whatever grows stand out more.
- Some weeds, such as weeds, don't respond particularly well to choking and seem to be able to grow through just about anything. If you try to cover them with newspapers, use more and keep the weeds submerged on all sides for at least 2 years.
Step 9. Add a layer of plants or soil
Spread a thick layer of finished compost. This step is optional, but it allows you to plant before and above the surface of the newspaper, instead of waiting for the plants to cross the paper layer. This solution works well with a raised bed if you choose to build one.
You can also mix humus and composted manure from herbivores (rabbit, cow, horse) into the soil, if you have any
Step 10. Distribute some mulch
A thick layer allows the newspaper to stick to the ground if you don't have plants on top. Either way, mulch helps contain moisture, prevents weed growth, and gives a finished look.
Step 11. Refine the edges if you don't build a raised bed first
You can freely choose how to define them. You can use large rocks, cinder blocks or finished wood, depending on what materials you have and what look you want to give to the garden.
Step 12. Wait 9-10 months (if you haven't added a layer of plants) and then drill holes through the mulch / paper and start planting
If you had added a layer of plants of at least 35 centimeters on the raised bed, do not pierce the newspaper to plant. It is enough to plant on it. The newspaper will eventually break down, but by then the fund should have built up.
Advice
- For ideas of other layers to add to an unexcavated garden, do some research for "lasagna" gardening.
- All combinations and proportions of material are fine, so don't worry too much about finding exact formulas. Instead, try to use materials that you already have or that you can get easily and cheaply.
- Most newspapers today use soy inks for color printing, which is not harmful to plants. However, your local newspaper may still use petroleum-based colored ink, which is toxic, so for peace of mind you should avoid newspapers with dyes altogether.
- If you have to wait a long time, you can compost directly on site. Place the newspapers on the ground, spread the plant matter (such as torn weeds that have not yet made seeds, cut grass and fallen leaves) in a layer of the thickness you want, keep it a little moist and let it all rot right where you want to plant. This is called a compost sheet and it works the same way as traditional compost, as in both cases the leaves fall off and the weeds die. You can continue to add biodegradable materials by increasing the fertilizer on the garden area.
- If there are worms, ants, or other creatures on your bed, they will help spread the organic matter you add to the upper layers of the soil.
- Place paths on either side of the bed to avoid walking on them. If you walk on the ground you compress it and it is not good if you want to put plants. When creating a flower bed that you want to keep often, such as one for vegetables, use common sense to determine how large you want it. A meter or so is a good width if you have access to all sides.
- You can avoid the waiting time to put the layers of soil or compost on the paper by putting the mulch on the soil instead.
