Other than it tends to blow away in a strong wind, and rots fairly quickly, I never found any problems using it. I just sheet composted (I don't do "lasagna") a strip to extend the garden along the road with cardboard and lots of tall grass cut with the weedwacker.

My first major garden down in southern NY had a quarter acre of sweet corn mulched completely with cardboard weighted down with rocks. (That field had more rock per cubic foot of soil than any I've seen before or since.) A local dairy farmer that was cutting hay on the land in exchange for loads of manure thought it was the funniest thing he ever saw. I planted pumpkins in the rows and soon the vines completely covered the cardboard, creating a lush sea of green that required no cultivating or watering. A couple of times I stepped in gingerly amongst the vines to pull the few weeds that came up in the planting rows, and of course, had to wade back in to harvest the corn. Our new friend stopped laughing when we gave him some early Golden Bantam corn, weeks before his sweet corn came in.

In late fall, I went back in with the cart & harvested all the rocks and then tilled the dried stalks, vines and cardboard into the soil.

Wayne

I have had cardboard in my asparagus bed for 2 years. I was thinking about tilling it in then I thought maybe I would just add more. I tend to toss weeds on top of the cardboard and as that dries up it almost looks like mulch. So did you put the cardboard close to your pumpkins. I planted some giant varieties. I only have 3 plants but plenty of space(for weeds!) I am putting straw on top for asthetics.

Hi All,
I use cardboard for both garden beds and paths. Just slap it down where I want to make a path and cover it with pine bark mulch. Have done the "lasagna" gardens too and used cardboard as a base. My perennial beds were put together this way and are flourishing. Also full of earthworms.

It is great stuff! Last night I weeded the tomato patch-- You want to see the ONE weed I pulled? It popped up in the small area between the stem and the cardboard. I use large boxes so blowing away isn't really an issue. I've used newspapers but they're a bit of a bother. I top it off with a nice layer of grass clippings/shredded leaves.

I'm using cardboard as "carpet" in the rows between the wood-frame raised beds in my vegetable garden this year. I don't put anything on top of the cardboard; at first I was using a brick or two to hold it down but then I realized at some point that if I folded the boxes down so that they are a little wider than the path, they would hold themselves down, and once they get a little wet, they stay in place nicely. The best thing about using cardboard, to me, is that when squash, melon and bean vines creep over the edges of the raised beds, the fruit stays nice and clean on top of the cardboard. I use brown cardboard boxes that I get from work, so I wouldn't say it's at all ugly. In fact I think it's very attractive. No weeds, no mud, and as one piece of cardboard starts to deterioriate I just layer some more on top of it. I figure the worms must be in heaven underneath it all.

Hi, I'm also using cardboard to keep weeds at bay.

How far away from the plant base is necessary so that the plants get enough rain water? In some parts of the garden I have the cardboard totally surrounding the plant, not just inbetween the rows. Does the water seep through the cardboard to the soil when it gets drenched?

Does anyone who uses exposed cardboard in their walkways have trouble with it being slippery? I have a bit of a slope to my veggie garden area, and I am not the most coordinated person, so I had shied away from using bare cardboard in the walkways. Anyone have experience with this? (I am so tired of weeding!)

I do use cardboard under any hardwood mulch I am putting in my perennial beds. Great stuff!

Jean

>Does anyone who uses exposed cardboard in their walkways have trouble with it being slippery?

Yep, good point. I slipped on a sloped, mulched area with a thin layer of wood chips over cardboard. Haven't had a problem where the chips on top are thicker, but with enough chips, we wouldn't need cardboard.

Wayne

I started my 28x72' garden using cardboad 5 years ago. I cardboarded the entire area and built lasagna beds. I found the cardboard at mattress stores (behind the store;)) and it works great. I spread a good layer of shredded hardwood mulch over the cardboard for my pathways. It seems kinda awkward until the cardboard is saturated with water but I love it and it's saved me a lot of time.

For cardboard look in the dumpster behind any furniture, electronics, or appliance stores. More than you can ever use!!

Lee

Thanks for the suggestion about cardboard. I've been putting down layers of old newspaper for the past several years and after they rot, the plants seem to really flourish. Now I'm going to save my cardboard for extra mulch.

I also beg for the tree cutters to leave me lots of ground up trees when they do my street, and that's been great. We save all our kitchen waste, dig holes to put it in. Sometimes that's a problem when the night animals dig it up.