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Had a lightbulb moment!
As some of you know, I'm in the process of re-vamping the raised beds. Well to line them, my brother-in law has been saving his paper flour sacks(he's a baker).
This has saved time and money. #1 any weeds will die off.#2 the bags will biodegrade and allow the worms through.#3 I haven't had to buy expensive weed control fabric(or wait forever to collect enough cardboard boxes)
I also had another idea for using these sacks. Cut them open, lay the sacks on the bed and weigh or peg down. Then cut an X in them where you want to put the plant and presto! weed control, mulch and will biodegrade over winter. Obviosly this will only work for transplanting but I'm going to give it a go. It would probably work well with newspaper too.
I'll let you know how I get on!:)
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Great idea, they should open up pretty big?
Lay out like a path, with 4-6" in between for rows.
For planting hills, like cukes and squash, cut a 3 sided 4-6" square hole,(yeah I know, a square has 4 sides), trick is to cut 3 sides then fold under the edge for the 4th side.
I use jute back carpet like this, (picked up at curb), last several years, before rotting down.
At the end of the season. I roll up move over, spread a layer of ground up leaves under it then roll back out, over the leaves.
By spring the leaves are gone, and the holes have moved to a different location.
I'm big on mulch, for soil building (have a lot of clay), weed control, and mostly to keep the dogs feet out of the mud. Per DW.
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The bags cut open are nice and big, it takes just 2 to line a 4ft x 3ft bed. I got the idea of using them as mulch while looking through a garden catalogue, they're selling thin cardboard with ready cut holes at 10 for 3 metres! Gulp!
I fully intend to do the same as you Hunter with regard to the chopped leaves. Got to keep those little wriggly helpers happy.
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Woo Hoo! You go girl! Nice idea.
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You shouldn't have to have them top and bottom. Top, if you don't have mulch, should work just fine. Remember that paper at the bottom of the raised beds can hold water until they begin to degrade. It's not like a swimming pool but it won't drain as readily as just dirt. Adding the paper to the top with some on the bottom will keep the ground pretty wet I would think since the dirt won't dry out from drainage, sunshine, wind or evaporation as readily. I'd forgo the ones on the bottom.
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Hi! I have returned from a short LOA! HA!
This is a great idea! Back in the States I bought the stuff to use like that - laid it out, cut holes and planted. It worked great for what I was doing.
Keep us posted!
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Ah, too late Rick, I've already done 5. When I intitially made the raised beds I had to import 4 tons of topsoil(the landlord had scraped away most of it when building the extension before I moved in) I used cardboard boxes then. I have a major problem with perennial weeds, nettles, thistles, fireweed, ground elder(*^%$* stuff) that after 4 years still refuse to leave me alone. I'll have to see how this goes.
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Winnie, if you've already done 5 beds, maybe you can take a long-bladed pick out there and puncture a few holes through the bags for drainage. Not a lot of holes, defeats the purpose, but maybe six or so well placed ones depending on slope of the ground.
It seems people no longer suggest not using the color-ink pages with most papers being printed with soy inks but I still separate out the glossy ads and anything more color than black and white (like the comics and car ads). A while ago the color inks used to contain lead, chromium and cadmium, which you really don't want in the veggie garden. The glossy ads are more likely to be printed with non-soy type inks.
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I was having the same thought LK about stabbing a few holes. The ink should be no problem as they are foodgrade paper flour sacks.
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I wouldn't be worried about the flour sacks either.
You mentioned newspaper.
:)
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Ooops, just a possible idea for those who haven't got a baker for a brother-in-law!
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Any type of top mulch will help keep down weeds. It will help prevent weed seeds from germinating and make it much easier to pull out any that do.
Many plants use rhizomes or runners to put up new plants so just pulling out the plant does nothing to remove future plants. You have to remove the entire rhizome or the plant will just keep growing. If you leave a piece of rhizome in the ground, it can sprout a new plant.
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Tell me about it Rick! I've been digging out ground elder and bindweed for 4 years, and it's still there. You only need to miss a tiny bit and off it goes again. Weedkiller doesn't touch it, so I just live with it and have a go 2 or 3 times a year to keep it under some sort of control. There's not much else you can do.
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That can be the bane of an elevated bed. The rhizomes are probable coming in from beneath. It's good to recess the sides of a bed several inches into the ground to act as a barrier so the rhizomes can't get in the bed. Or elevate it above the ground (think very large container garden). Either way, the rhizomes can't get in.
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I have even used a fired clay chimney tile, 12" X12" by 30"? tall, to grow horseradish in as it is very invasive. (salvaged from a chimney job)
At the end of the year, I tipped it over and pushed out the roots.
Mint is another invasive crop, as well as multiplying onions.
They still come up everywhere.
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Amen, Hunter. Those are container crops. You can use that chimney tile, fill it full of sand and plant carrots in it. Especially good if you have rocky soil that makes carrots split and put down two or more tap roots. The sand will grow some beautiful carrots. Those huge pots from Wally World are good too. I've grown carrots in them the last two years. My garden is 20 years old and I'm still pulling rocks out of when I turn it over. Someone had some good rock seed once upon a time.
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