Sheet Mulching: Six Month Check-in
Last fall, I turned the strip of yard abutting my reclaimed brick walkway into a gorgeous flower bed for my azaleas using the sheet mulching technique.
Sheet mulching involves using cardboard to carve out previously grassy lawn space for a new flower bed.
Simply, a gardener plants some new plants and then lays down cardboard in the surrounding grassy space in the shape of the desired flower bed. After being thoroughly watered down, the cardboard is then covered with mulch of choice.
The cardboard functions to smother the grass. As it breaks down, it amends the soil, allowing plants to flourish. And perhaps the best part (and what makes it superior to landscape fabric) is that it allows you to easily add to or take plants out of the flower bed.
It’s been sick months since I initially sheet mulched my new azalea walkway. I had never tried the method before but am so pleased with the results! I still have a few weeds that pop up, but they’re easy to pluck right out.
In the coming weeks, these beds will get fluffed with a bit of new mulch, and the azaleas will start getting ready to bloom again in the summer. I love the year-round color these plants give off. It was highly worth it to create flower beds to feature them in, but it was made especially easy by sheet mulching!
