Re-using Cardboard

[Jafo]

Our local transfer station takes cardboard for free but we have found some interesting uses for it around the house. For one, it really works great to keep out weeds from coming up between pavers. If you lay down a couple layers of it under the them, it acts as a weed barrier for at least 2 seasons (so far). When it breaks down, it does so naturally like any other organic material.

Shredded cardboard composts nicely, though we only use it in our flowerbed compost (we only use natural materials in the compost pile we have for the vegetable garden). It does take a little effort to cut up all the cardboard though.

[SKM]

It took days of scavenging from the recycle bins of stores but this Spring I sheet mulched the paths of my garden with cardboard (after removing tape and staples) and covered that with hardwood mulch. It certainly suppressed weed and grass growth and made tending my garden this summer just a matter of weeding the raised beds, watering and harvesting. I will put down more wood mulch next Spring and consider adding more cardboard in alternating years. It was a big upfront investment of labor but it paid off for months afterwards.