I’m beginning to see all cardboard as potential mulching material: yesterday the local Aldi was selling large activity sets for children and my immediate thought on seeing them was: that box would cover half a vegetable bed.
Fortunately the patio in the Very Smallholding (above) is now hosting lots of very large cardboard boxes from the bike shop . This came about when someone asked the boss if they could use his aged van to engage in frenzied consumerism in the next town. The van doubles as a cardboard dump, so I suggested they chuck the cardboard into our garden, which made everyone happy: The Boss can forget about the boxes, the van was free to be filled with semi-disposable furniture and I have enough mulch material that even my megalomaniac plans are covered, as it were. These will now rot into the ground over the next year, hopefully leaving a clear pattern of beds for spring, and save me several hours of digging.
The boss was planning to throw them all on a bonfire.
Imagine.
7 comments
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May 12, 2011 at 10:04 am
Rick Pickett
great work returning resources to the earth!
May 13, 2011 at 11:12 am
Andy in Germany
Thanks Rick… Let’s see if it works.
May 12, 2011 at 3:39 pm
Randall Smith
Fantastic scenario. I have a friend who is in his 3rd season of gardening on some vacant inner city lots that were previously occupied by houses that had become derelict. Lots of brick and glass bits in the already poor soil. So, he laid down cardboard and a lot of tree mulch and now has some pretty decent soil…and it just keeps getting better. He continues to use cardboard and mulch each season.
May 13, 2011 at 11:35 am
Andy in Germany
That’s encouraging, many thanks for the tip. I’ll probably end up using grass clippings: They’re free… I’ll take a picture of the ‘beds’ as soon as I’ve got everything together…
May 12, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Frits B
Ha, until some official comes by and fines you for using the allotment as a rubbish dump.
May 13, 2011 at 11:36 am
Andy in Germany
I hadn’t thought of that, and in our town it’s a real possibility: It makes the officials look like they’re being ‘green’ but actually discourage people from living sustainable. I think I’d better get those grass clippings down quickly…
May 15, 2011 at 5:16 pm
Frits B
Personal experience. I live on a lot originally occupied by a school, and after it had been taken down there was a lot of rubbish left (much like Randall describes). The garden part of the lot is still owned by the city but we have users’ rights provided we maintain the garden. A professional gardener has cleared away most of the bricks and other stuff, then planted a lot of trees and shrubs, plus flower beds where possible. The trees are mostly fast growing birches which are removed and mulched after a few years, and the mulch is spread out to help restore some soil. That’s all we were allowed to do; no compost heap as this would attract rats, no ugly cardboard. An inspector comes by every year. But I must say that after five years the garden is beginning to look rather nice. A bit wild perhaps.