I put down paper/cardboard with straw/grass clipping/leaves on top. Just layer over it year after year. Worms love it. No weeding and much less watering when it’s hot and dry.
I save junk mail, cardboard cereal boxes, amazon boxes, walmart circulars, kroger sale papers, newspapers from my MIL (who helpfully bundles them all up for me!), packing paper and that sort of thing. Also toothpaste boxes, cream cheese boxes, basically any ‘paper’ product that isn’t from something ‘made in china’ (like electronics, kids toys, ...)
The first year I did this I weeded half time and mulched half time. By first of August it was all mulched and I didn’t weed again :)
Also keeps blight off my maters (blight lives in the soil and weeding or rain will stir it up on the leaves to cause headaches)
Some people use old carpet, but a 3200sqft patch is a bit big for carpet scraps. I use the heavier corrugated cardboard pieces for the walkways in more used crops (tomatoes, string beans, etc) that will be picked every day or every other day. I use the newspaper and thinner cardboard around the tomatoes/peppers/etc and also for stuff like corn that you plant once and then basically leave alone till harvest. I just drop the soaker hoses on top of the mulch for good measure if I need to water. I leave one on the mater row and bury it in the mulch so water doesn’t spray up on them.
YMMV.
This works for me and I have a 50X50 and a 50X75 plot. I start mulching in Feb/March and use a dibber (from amazon) to poke holes to plant stuff using a little topsoil/potting soil.
Brilliant strategy. Bet you have very little that goes in the trash can. You are a true conservative!
wow, what a great and inexpensive idea!
question - do the grass clippings, if they have weeds mixed in, cause weeds to grow? I may be shooting myself in the foot.