Cardboard covered with pine straw for decomposing

I love to garden, I hate weeds.

Not the pretty ones that grow on the side of the road or the field flowers ( I do not consider those weeds) but the ones that grow where I do not want them to grow. Like in between my tasty tomatoes and cucumbers and rob them of space and nutrients or hide bugs that I do not want there.

I dislike weeding for many reasons but mainly because sometimes it’s hard to get up afterward. My neighbors warned me they were going to get me a Life Alert necklace. I decided to look into other options. I may still get a life alert necklace just in case.

Option 1: Let them grow. Don’t do it, it’s a bad idea.

Option 2: Hoeing. You may enjoy it but I do not.

Option 3: Chemical Control. It works for some people but I try not to.

Option 4: Mulching and border control.

Hmmm lots of options here. Raised gardens, purchased pine or other wood bark, hired help (I can hear my wallet protesting from here so far) cardboard mulch, raking your neighbors’ yard for pine straw, chopped leaves. Is it theft if you take someone else’s’ bagged up leaves from their curbside? Maybe you should ask first.

I have found that my neighbors do not mind if I rake their yard for pine straw. They think I’m being nice. Between that and my amazon addiction which gives me free boxes (so will the local dollar stores and grocery stores- just make sure they are empty first). I can cover my garden area with cardboard, then pine straw from my neighbors’ yard and have a weed free garden area for free. Wallet approved..

I discovered this because I helped my neighbor cleanup her pine straw once and instead of putting it in my garden, I dumped it in an area where undesirable weeds were growing. It is now a happy weed free haven for chicken dust baths. OH BOY did they have fun!

After watching a Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service video on cardboard mulching I discovered there are certain decomposers that really like the glue in cardboard boxes. Cardboard munchers unite!

Note to self: Remove all staples and tape from boxes as the emergency room has refused to reserve a room for me.

My chickens are happy, decomposers are happy, my tomatoes are happy, I’m not pulling weeds so I’m happy.

That’s a win win for me. No pun intended, if it was it would be a Nguyen Nguyen.

The Smith County Master Gardener program is a volunteer organization in connection with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.