Thanks mregan24 ! I'm so glad that you've discovered weeding doesn't have to be such a chore!

That's great to hear ***** ! I'm glad to hear you've had great success with mulching. It's such a huge time saver and is so good for the soil! Thanks for sharing your experience.

Great approach, Andy!

Thanks ReyReyloads ! I appreciate your supportive feedback.

Thanks OhHowHappyGardener ! I'm glad to hear you've had success with mulching too.

Thanks Wes! Mulching really does make a huge difference. Thanks for watching!

Thanks Linda!

Thanks keyplayr61 !

+Tom Braun Thanks, Tom! I'm glad you found the video helpful.

Thanks Mary!

You've got that right!

You're absolutely right! Sometimes it's good to be different, isn't it? I always scratch my head when people talk about needing to weed their garden. We haven't had to do it for years.

You're absolutely right, *****!

You're right, Janette! This method is perfect for gardens that you can't tend to everyday.

Do you do the whole garden? Or just around the plants?

Thank you! It's my pleasure.

I couldn't agree more, Lark! Sheet mulching saves so much time. I forgot to mention the time savings from no longer having to mow grass in the garden paths. Thanks for watching!

OneYardRevolution | Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening hey would it be ok to sheet mulch under my maple tree and bluespruce? cause I have had it with the weeds and I feel it would help EVERYTHING! LOL

4skully Yes, I think it would be okay, but I wouldn't bury tree roots that are on the surface of the soil.

Angels with dirty face's

Thanks TheFlygirl7221 ! Best wishes with your fall garden. I need to start thinking about that too.

I couldn't agree more OldGardenerGuy !

That's a great time to do it! I hope it helps with your weed problem.

I'm glad the videos are helping, Kelley! Thanks for watching!

Thanks Aaron's allotment ! Yes, leaf mold is my favorite! Wood chips won't rob nitrogen from the soil as long as they're on top of the soil and not mixed in.Thanks for watching!

Aaron Add urea to your wood chip ! it will turn it more alkaline .

remember more alkaline is not always better : )

I pee on my wood chip mulch.

Thanks for sharing your experience Kelli Nigh ! I'm glad to hear you've had great results!

Thanks! :D

Thanks Nicole. Over time, your soil will be completely transformed. Someday you'll forget you even had red clay soil. :-)

Thanks zaneymay ! I'm glad to hear you are also mulching your garden. I look forward to your update.

Thanks

+Richard Pipes You're welcome, Richard!

You're welcome, Thom!

Thank you so much for your very generous offer, Maria! I grew up in upstate New York. Very beautiful scenery there!

Thanks TheNewport2009 ! I sometimes leave the soil bare around tomatoes and peppers in the spring so that the soil will heat up more quickly. When do you prefer to leave the soil bare? Thanks for watching!

Hi Ian. Your paths are looking fabulous with the new mulch. Now I've got to start working on the shorts tan. :D

Thanks dave stumpf !

Thanks!

You're right. This approach works best in smaller gardens.

Your garden almost makes me want to live in a suburban area! It is so productive and beautiful, and easy to maintain (now that you have done all the major improvements). I know how hard you have worked to get it looking so perfect. Oh, and thanks for the references to Eliot Coleman! I had not heard of him before, but am enjoying some of his episodes on YT. Especially interesting was his visit with Helen Nearing, who apparently was his mentor.

Joe, you are not a man of half measures! :D I'm glad to hear the mulch is keeping the weeds down. Thanks for watching!

***** WOW!!

You're welcome FesterWerks ! The wood chip paths really do look good.

Thanks TheRedheadsrus !

Dave, I'm glad to hear you've had great results with mulching! Thanks for watching!

😀

Yes, we collect all of our mulch ourselves. I think it's a great idea to collect weeds and use them as mulch as long as they haven't gone to seed. I think the woody stemmed leaves would be fine. We collect huge amounts of leaves in the autumn too, along with wood chips from the municipal wood pile and used coffee grounds. Happy mulching!

Raf's Kitchen Garden Thanks! We temporarily brush mulch aside to add more compost, usually when planting new crops.

Our garden is very small, and we spend essentially nothing gathering mulch. We collect leaves in autumn from our neighbors. When we use the car, we just pick them up when we're driving back from the grocery store or some other destination. The wood chip pile is close to our Home Depot store, so I usually pick up wood chips after shopping there. The amount of extra driving is negligible.

That's a great point! I mulch the beds where I let plants self-sow, but I don't use wood chips on them and I don't pile the mulch quite as high.Most of the mulch is broken down by the time the seeds are ready to germinate.

Thanks Rita! It's usually recommended that mulch be kept a few feet away from houses.

I couldn't agree more Elyse!

I like to pull and drop them. They break down quickly and nutrients are released back into the soil with minimal effort.

I do that too ))

Hi Anna. We almost always chop and drop comfrey (i.e., use it green as a mulch). We add some to compost too. I like Ruth's composting in place methods and do something very similar with leaves, grass clippings, comfrey, used coffee grounds, etc.

That sounds like a good approach - pull it out of the ground, crowd it out with other plants, and suppress it with mulch (as much as possible).

Hi Anna. I like using a wide variety of mulch sources on garden beds for optimal nutrient diversity, but yes I'd include pine needles in the mix. They'd also make a great mulch for pathways.

Thank you!

I wonder if you're in a warmer climate than me? I'm in zone 5 and we have the benefit of these grasses dying back in winter, which makes them less formidable. Sheet mulching has been very effective in suppressing crabgrass here. Did you use a thick layer of wood chips on top of the cardboard?

OneYardRevolution | Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening yes, it just punches through. Some of it dies back. But I have it growing up through my deep garden beds as well as every where else. I will try again at some point but we are still in early plantings this year so to all the rain we had.

Red pine mulch works great and it shouldn't affect the pH. Here is an interesting article on the subject: puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%20chalker-scott/horticultural%20myths_files/Myths/magazine%20pdfs/Woodchips.pdf

Hi Julie, we use wood chips from our forestry department, autumn leaves, grass clippings from untreated lawns, and chop and drop garden waste. Wood chips won't spread plant diseases. Here's an article addressing common concerns about wood chips: s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/wood-chips.pdf

Kevin Valenti Hi Kevin. Yes, you can punch holes where you want to plant. For established perennials, I'd wait for them to emerge and then sheet mulch around them. I hope this helps!

OneYardRevolution | Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening Yes it does and thank you. I just subscribed. You give great advice and videos

Paul M Thanks Paul! We've never dealt with that one. Have you tried sheet mulching it?

No, didn't try that but I think it would only work if it includes a strong barrier to prevent the numerous sprouts from coming up from the perennial rhizome roots. Something like a sheet of hard plastic covering the entire area. For me it wasn't an option because I wanted my front flowerbed to be presentable as quickly as possible.

Yes, sheet mulching is when you cover the ground with cardboard and paper and cover it with organic mulch.

Thanks xphilli ! Yes, slugs do thrive in mulch, but I still prefer to use it given all of its advantages. I wouldn't want to fail to create a great environment for earthworms out of concern that some slugs would also move in. I also add coffee grounds to the mulch, which supposedly deters slugs (I'm not 100% convinced).

Thanks for replying. I guess you gotta take the good with the bad at times. I will definitely try the woodchips someday. Have a great day and thanks for your videos :D

Allison Anne Hi Allison. our entire backyard used to be covered in weeds and this technique was very effective, including on very invasive weeds like dandelions and onion grass. It may not work on vines like English ivy, though. We removed a lot of English ivy by first cutting back the vines all the way back to the source. Then I drilled a hole in the remaining stems and poured a small amount of lye in each. This completely killed the ivy without affecting any other plants. Just keep in mind that lye is very caustic and has to be handled with great care to avoid injury. I hope this helps.

OneYardRevolution | Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening Thank you! I know I have onion grass... the area used to be all brush and we have come a long way in 2 years but just have not been able to clear completely to plant. I am not sure what type of vine we have but I know a few places where it might have started! Thanks again!

Thanks! No, we don't use pesticides.

How small are the pieces? I'd be reluctant to use it on annual garden beds if it is very fine because it could too easily get mixed into the soil. I wouldn't hesitate to use it on perennials, though.

We don't have the scary kind of centipedes here. Just little harmless ones.

+Richard Pipes Hi Richard. No, these materials will not make your soil more acidic when used as mulch.

Yes, too bad slugs like the same conditions favored by earthworms. :-( Are you referring to the collards?

Ah, of course. On my list for next year.

Tree removal services will often give you wood chips for free. I've been known to pick up some leaves during the fall. Last year my haul was over 50 bags. :D

This approach works well for us in the Chicago area, which gets quite a bit of rain. However, if your yard floods often, you might want to avoid using cardboard (just wood chips and other mulch).

Most municipalities have wood chip piles for free or very very cheap. I live in Canada and had no issue getting as many as I needed :)

NorthernNHLiving We get our wood chips at the municipal wood chip pile. It contains a wide variety of wood types from the trees that the city trims. Thanks for watching!

Thanks for the info. I checked out mine yesterday, they didn't have any. I'll keep looking!

NorthernNHLiving Tree removal services frequently have free wood chips available for delivery or pickup.

I'll be giving them a call and see what they can do for me. Thanks for the tips!

You're right. Edible weeds are often very nutritious. We eat dandelion greens all winter.

It kills them by depriving them of light and air and by providing a physical barrier to growth.

okay thank you my weeds got out of control in the garden so I put mulch on them.

Great free resources for the garden! If you live in the US, this service connects gardeners with arborists for free or low cost wood chip delivery: getchipdrop.com/

That's very handy, not everyone has an 8 foot bed! Back in the day, in Lake Worth, Florida, you could get the city guys chipping branches on the street to dump it at your house, they were happy to comply. that may still be an option for someone. And in Boise we have green lid recycling bins, you put yard and kitchen waste in, and it gets composted. Then if you are a participant you can go to the big pile of finished compost and take a cubic yard of it. That's like 200 square point shovel scoops, I counted! I went on strike last year and didn't garden, or weed, and it was all bare dirt. 9 foot tall amaranth , lamb's quarters and sunflowers, the lesser goldfinches liked it. And of course gnarly mallow, and goatheads! I was sorry, and cleaned it up in the fall, Google Earth took a picture when it was halfway done, I swear that's me leaning over the green lidded can catching my breath. Then, in the spring, grass everywhere. My back still aches. I am a firm believer in cardboard, used carpet is good too, especially the commercial entryway kind with the rubber backing, it lasts forever. Straw is nice, but it doesn't last long, it turns to powder, especially in high traffic areas. If you don't care what it looks like, just cardboard is fine, bicycle boxes are ideal. The recycle guys aren't paying for cardboard anymore here, so it is easy to get.

That is for sure McDowall Manor ! Thanks for watching!

We used to have a big slug problem, but after years of mulching they've all but vanished. I've only found 2 slugs this spring. Mulch provides an excellent habitat for slug predators like centipedes and ground beetles, and I'm convinced they have brought down the slug population.

It's my first year using chopped leaves as mulch. I hope that the slug problem decreases with time. I am hesitant to use it around my lettuces. Thank you for all your videos.

Yes, we just had some scattered thunder storms. How about you?

OneYardRevolution We had three separate storms 1130 rain come and gone. Heavier storms split over and under heading towards ORD. Power outages and limbs down. 1830 Multiple lightning strikes, heavy wind and rain no damage. 1130p rain and hail east. Then early morning rain. No major damage here. Plants are still standing.

Hi Derek! Brown corrugated cardboard doesn't contain plastic and the glues are plant-based.

OYR Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening .... Thats cool how do i find it

I'm glad to hear you've had great results with wood chips!

+Louise L I'm sorry to hear that Louise. Grass clippings and autumn leaves make great mulch if you have them where you live - really just about any organic matter that doesn't attract pests.

+Louise L You can try to contact local tree services/tree removal companies. They often have to pay to get rid of their chips and, in that case, are happy to give them away for free. If you want a large enough batch, they will sometimes even bring a truckload(s) to your garden.

TheBushdoctor68 thank you but that's not how it works I'm this country (Bulgaria). I come from Denmark where things are as described but here everything is different and everything is valuable. Especially if it can produce heat....

+Louise L Ah yes, I can see your point. That makes it a lot harder... or a lot more expensive. I once got my wood chips from a recycling company. It wasn't for free, but I got a decent sized trailer full for about 25 euros. Maybe that's an option for you. Or maybe not, since everything gets turned into fuel. If all attempts at getting cheap wood chips fail, you can always resort to mulching with leaves or grass, like OneYard suggests. Fallen autumn leaves actually contain a lot of nutrients. I gotta be honest, I would prefer wood chips, simply because they look best. :)

+Louise L Maybe cardboard would work... Grocery stores might give you boxes for free. Especially if they have to pay for recycling to be hauled off.