Cardboard Flowerbed W I
f you garden on a Missouri limestone hillside like I do, you get crafty and implement unconventional tactics to develop planting areas. Over the years, I have used cardboard and mulch from our recycling center to kill
off any unwanted growth in the area where I want to plant. I have very little turf grass on my one-acre property.
The maligned herbs – I have abolished the four-letter word “weed” from of my vocabulary – have been moved to other garden spots. What is left is an area where I now observe sunlight, rain patterns and soil composition. I monitor these to determine what will easily grow there. While I make that assessment on the new plot I want to convert, I spread cardboard over the spot. To stop the wind
by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins ant a New Flower Bed?
Grab some cardboard and downed tree branches and you have the tools on hand to create one without applying herbicides.
from blowing my repurposed shipping boxes away, I pile a few downed tree limbs to hold my impromptu garden blan- ket in place. After a couple of weeks, I peek under and look for a nice population of earth worms under the cardboard. The more earthworms, the healthier the soil. In general, soil is 45% rock, 25% water, 25% air and 5%
organic matter. If I don’t spot any earthworms, my soil is dead. I need to add organic matter to breathe life back into the soil.
Cardboard serves a dual purpose. In addition to suppress-
ing unwanted growth, it retains moisture. Perfect for when I move the cardboard to another garden spot to increase my new planting areas.
The Amazing World of Soil If you aren’t already in awe of the plant kingdom’s ability
to turn sunlight into sugar, then let me introduce you to the truly amazing world of soil. Soil is an interdependent combi- nation of microorganisms and mycelium - think mushrooms - that have all of the delight and drama of any good mystery and share food. There are more microorganisms co-mingling in a table-
spoon of soil than there currently are people living on earth. Soil is precious. Making new soil takes 3,000 years of de- composition; worn out soil that’s been abused takes 200-400 years to recondition. The best thing we can all do for our
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