In an effort to reduce the number of darn weeds in the main garden, I've had to resort to mulching the pathways. We have Lots of empty paper feed bags from animal feed....so I've been laying them down on all the main paths.
I've been overlapping them by a good margin, in an attempt to ensure weeds don't start to come up between the bags.
And..since we still had a full bale of straw left from last Fall, I've put the straw down on top of the paper bags. Then I wet it all down with the garden hose, just in case the wind comes up. I don't want the straw blowing away....I need it!
Hopefully this works, it should. I've got my hands full enough as it is with trying to keep the weeds down in the gardens. I need every bit of help I can get!
Come Fall, the paper bags should have started to break down and they'll get tilled under. If they're still in good shape, I'll lift them up.
What do you use for mulching your garden paths?
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3 comments:
I got a kick out of seeing the Otter Coop feed bags:) We have a ton of those too.
When we first starting gardening here we had raised beds made out of split cedar, with grass inbetween. Our garden is on a gentle south slope. Lovely to look at, but the grass became too labour intensive to keep short and to keep from moving into the beds. The cedar logs became a great place for the slugs to hide (I don't think that would be a problem in your neck of the woods). Then I went through a phase of thick layers of newspaper topped with wood chips on the smaller pathways, but not totally successful either. Over the years as the garden was expanded, we got rid of the raised beds, and now we plant in wide beds, with a narrow walkway inbetween. Now we mostly maintain those walkways with a dutch hoe, running it along to chop the weeds off, or lift them out (the smaller weeds). They are left there to dry out and die, and then raked up. Sometimes in the spring, they don't always die if it is fairly wet, but easy to get out with the next pass of the hoe.
The pathways aren't mulched, and get packed down, but will get rototilled at the end or start of the season, when compost is added to the garden. Maybe not the best method, but it sure works for us, and is the least labour intensive.
Grass clippings from the lawn, sawdust from the goat's shed, and old hay is what I use. Man do I love my mulched rows as there is nary a weed to pull. Wish I had enough mulch to go around. I too am using some paper this year but I put some tall weeds I had clipped on top. It is in a small area as an experiment. As for the feed sacks, I burn them in the winter in the stove for warmth. Gets the fires a roaring in a hurry in the cold mornings.
Great idea for the feed sacks! We've been saving newspaper to put down between the rows (small garden) but we have empty six to eight feed sacks every month from feeding the stock. The feed sack paper is stronger, 4-ply by design and just the right width for between the rows weed control. Great idea!
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