Re: which comes first - cardboard/paper or amendments. That's a 'chicken/egg' thing. I vote for amendments topped with newspaper topped with cardboard. It's neater.

Re: wetting before laying down or after. I wet before to be sure they are really wet.[arid southwest] Have a bucket of water to soak the slabs of newspaper, right next to place to be used. I use thick slabs of paper, so it doesn't really fall apart between the bucket and the ground. Very sloppy work..might be a problem with your sore foot. I have a trash can filled with water for the cardboard...same process as for newspaper.

If walking/standing on that foot is a problem, you might consider a plastic garden chair ... sit down and use clippers to cut weeds off at soil level. Just lay them down as the first level/layer of your sheet composting. It will be slow work, but beats letting the season get ahead of you while your foot heals. [I'm 73 years old and my garden chair is my constant companion ... you can do quite a bit from a sitting position]

I cover my garden with 6 sheets of dry newspaper, and as I'm going, I toss seaweed on it to keep it from blowing around. After I've done an area about 10x10, I cover it with hay. You do not need to water through the holes, newspaper is absorbent and easily penetrable by water. I have never laid down wet newspaper, because it sounds like it would be a lot harder than the dry method I do.

You'll want to put your amendments under the paper. You can lay the paper on top of the tall grass and you can either make planting holes in the paper, or plant as you're laying the paper down. I do both.

After about 2 weeks, the hay clings to the ground better and is not slippery to walk on. It is slippery and bumpy the first few days. I don't know if spraying it down with water will help it to cling to the earth sooner or if you'll need to weigh it down somehow. I know that the first year I used newspaper, I didn't use seaweeed and I came home from work to find houses and shrubs as far as 1/4 mile away covered with my newspaper.

Plunking down the soil amendments would put them in better contact with the soil, but then you would need something more to hide, and hold, the newspaper or cardboard in place. Putting the newspaper or cardboard on the soil assures you that the "weeds" will not get access to the sunlight they need to grow and in a while the soil amendments you put on top of the newspaper or cardboard will get incorporated into the soil anyway, but after the "weeds" are dead.
Put the newspaper or cardboard down on top of the soil and cover that with your soil amendments.

Newspaper and hay are wonderful weed suppressors---until you put something on top of it that will support weeds---like soil or compost.

It always amazes me that lasagna gardeners (which is not what you're doing, I know) go to all the trouble of laying down newspaper to suppress weeds in order to prepare a bed, and then pile a bunch of fertile material on top of the newspaper.

I spent yesterday laying down newspaper, seaweed, and hay, and not a single weed will get a toe-hold there this entire summer. I have applied newspaper to some or all of my beds every year since the first time I did it in 1974. I don't like cardboard as much because it slides and is difficult to make holes in for planting.

My friend, Glenn, helping me in 1984:
{{gwi:141729}}

Annpat,
How well does seaweed compost? I always dreamed of living on the cost so I could try to compost seaweed, Yes I am a weirdo, that my dream to live on the coast isn't for the view, the ocean, but to compost seaweed or try it. Also wished I lived in Texas to compost tumbleweed, but I guess some wished they lived where I live so they could compost corn....

g'day,

first up i would suggest have you anyway you can knock down the weeds with ie.,. mower, brushcutter/whippersnipper? if so knock them down as low as, then cover with good layer of newspaper even cardboard, be carefull cardboard can be deceptive in its ability to do the job properly. depending on the weeds newspaper might have to be as thick as 40 pages but no less than wll for us 20 to be sure. not like you can pick it all up and do it again if not enough paper is used hey? damp the paper down after laying and overlapping it.

then add all the other stuff, and so i don't need to reinvent the wheel check out our presentations.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens straw bale garden

I have never mowed the area I covered with newspaper and I have never used 20, much less 40, pages of newspaper on any area. 4 to 6 pages is all that I have ever needed.

A few weeks ago, I covered an area around an oak tree. The roots are sticking up in areas so I can not mow it. I found that using a string trimmer let me knock the grass down enough to lay the newspaper down easily. Otherwise it tended to poke up in areas and was a pain. I kept a bag of leaves handy to throw a handful here and there to keep the newspaper in place. I used only 2 or 3 layers of newspaper, then covered with a fairly thick layer of mulch. I will be adding some more ammendments just before I plant.

I always put the cardboard/newspaper down as a first layer, because I am usually trying to smother some sod, weeds, Vinca groundcover, or invasive plants. I also mow down the area on the lowest setting of the lawn mower first, because this sets back the weeds and makes it easier to layer the paper.

If I'm creating a garden bed, I will then layer organic materials on top of the cardboard, such as leaves, grass clippings, coffee grounds, etc. Usually top it with leaves because they look nice (IMO). If it's a garden path or under a bird bath, then I spread 1-2 inches of wood chips on the cardboard, which creates a wonderful path to walk on.

In your situation, can you mow or weed-whack the weeds first? This would make planting and mulching easier. I don't think it matters which order you do the planting/mulching, whatever you think is easier. It would help to do these after a good soaking rain, which will give your plants the best start and help conserve the moisture in the soil. You don't need to get the cardboard or newspaper wet after layering, but it might help it to settle and start breaking down.

Don't worry too much - however you layer or mulch your materials, they will break down eventually and enrich your garden. In light of your injury, whatever gardening you do is a plus - and will hopefully make you feel productive.

What I do is first water the ground, then open up the cardboard boxes (much easier IMO to work with in the wind than newspaper), wet the cardboard with the hose on both sides, put in place overlapping well, then put down wood mulch. I keep a wheelbarrow of mulch handy and complete small areas as the cardboard dries out quickly and could blow away. The cardboard breaks down and needs to be redone each year. The stuff I put down last month is already decomposing well but it's still keeping the weeds at bay.

If my foot were in a 'boot' I'd do whatever is easiest. If you use cardboard you can cut holes for plants fairly easily with a box cutter. All the best to you Diane and many kudos for even attempting to garden.

You've gotten some good advice Diane! I agree---plant the little buggers. Do what you can, and if anyone doesn't think your garden is clean/neat enough--they are more than welcome to pull weeds too! Smothering weeds works great! I just did a bunch again, as I am unable to get down to ground level to do anything this summer (I got a brand new hip just three weeks ago, and gardening just isn't all that easy this summer, but it shall get done, just at a much slower pace) I'm working on a garden area for next year--everything got a nice cover of cardboard, then mulched over to look just a bit nicer while everything under neith dies. I may get to work on the border yet this year, but if not, that edge will still be there next year.

I had to do something similar this weekend. My non-grass sections of the yard were being overrun by chickweed. I reclaimed all the planting beds by pulling out by the roots, but then I got to the bed around the mailbox. The clay soil was so hard that my fingers were being rubbed raw. So I tore out as much of the top growth, laid down 4-6 layers of newspaper and covered it with mulch.
If your soil is too hard and lacking in amendments to plant, laying down cardboard and amendments won't help the plants for this growing cycle. You will need to break the soil up a little to make sure the clay soil doesn't treat your plants like a bathtub full of water (and insures the worms can move through the soil). If the soil needs to be broken up, you can still lay the cardboard and amendments this year to prepare for next year. You could put the veggies you want to grow in containers instead.

berry, I could not berr to make you jealous, so not one word about seaweed from me. Let me tell you this about it---full of minerals, moist, a wonderful green, and not a planarian in sight.

Oh. Now see? I've said too much.

Is it too late to unsubmit?