Use of cardboard

[ceborame]

Luckily I have managed to get a lot of 8 x 4 cardboard sheets to put down on my allotment.

Everything I have read online suggests putting a mulch on top, so do I have to put a mulch on top of them? (I don't really have any), I'm not intending on growing on this area, I just want the cardboard to keep a check on the weeds until I can get decide what to do with this space.

Thanks

[Raybon]

Mulch would be best, but meantime cardboard is really good by itself! Keeps in the moisture, worms work away underneath and make the soil nice and crumbly. Weight it down though.......

[ceborame]

Thanks for that, I've a few bricks that will weigh it down.

[johnjohn]

The cardboard is the mulch. A mulch is just a covering- cardboard, newspaper, plastic sheeting, weed control fabric etc.

[marchogaeth]

Cardboard is much nicer weed suppressant than black plastic. I would say if you have some green material or even manure put it under the cardboard so it is incorporated without risking the nutrients it contains being washed away.Lasagne beds are an amazing idea but you need the quantity of material for between the layers.

If the cardboard hasn't rotted down by the time I need the bed then I either put it under the next lot or shred it and put it in the compost bin.

Milk bottles filled with water make excellent weights but I have always found that once its wet and things are eating it from below it tends not to blow around as much as you would expect it to.

[Two_Sheds]

I've a few bricks that will weigh it down.

yes, you'll probably need to weigh it down so it doesn't end up next door.

my committee finds card "unsightly" so I've taken to covering it with a mulch of dead weeds or debris netting, so it just looks like a crop is under net)

[ceborame]

Thank you all for your advice, I'll be putting some down today, weather permitting (terrible weather forecast).

Not been allottmenting for long (3 months), surely the allotment committee would rather see an effort with cardboard than an area of weeds and thistles, as it is now.

Marchogaeth - would the weeds I am covering be green material ? I got most of the area strimmed until the strimmer went wonky.

Cheerio

[Raybon]

Have also used very cheap grow bags on undug areas.
Bags kill off weeds and grass underneath, soil gets softened, you can grow stuff while it's waiting to be dug.
Contents going to be dug into soil at the end of the season. Win-win situation.

[Alison]

Have also used very cheap grow bags on undug areas.
Bags kill off weeds and grass underneath, soil gets softened, you can grow stuff while it's waiting to be dug.
Contents going to be dug into soil at the end of the season. Win-win situation.

Although I can see how that would work and the contents would be a bonus, even the cost of cheap grow bags adds up and obviously not easy for people without a car. I just planted through the cardboard which worked brilliantly for squashes and potatoes in particular and it didn't cost a penny


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[ceborame]

Just put the cardboard down, it's rained, the dog has walked all over it and punched holes all over it lol, think I need thicker cardboard!

[Greenleaves]

I find the corrigated type the best, I followed the advice Alison gave me and coverec a third in cardboad, have squashes, courgettes and pumpkins growinf quite happily through it.

[Bigmallly]

Just put the cardboard down, it's rained, the dog has walked all over it and punched holes all over it lol, think I need thicker cardboard!

What an excellent idea for a Multi-Dibber.................

[veggiechicken]

What an excellent idea for a Multi-Dibber.................

Some Multi-Dibberman puppies ready for action

[Raybon]

The grow bags work instead of buying compost/manure in the following Autumn, so cost-effective from that point of view. Actually works out cheaper litre for litre, plus you have had produce all that time which has got to be a saving.
Lack of a car makes things difficult, true for everyone.
Didn't think plants would do well fighting for nutrients alongside weeds under cardboard, will give that a try, thanks.

[Two_Sheds]

Didn't think plants would do well fighting for nutrients alongside weeds under cardboard

but the weeds aren't growing any more, they are dying off under the card. Without light they can't photosynthesise, and they will die or at least seriously weaken, so they aren't competition at all