A little paper in the garden! A recycle up-cycle!

A long time ago, when I was new at gardening and had lots of time - I was a very ambitious gardener!  I began projects the size of which were only imagined by Cleopatra - Oh!  Wait!  I still do that!  Ok - so I dream big - I think we all should - especially in the garden!

Last year when we were dealing with what we refer to as "flying elbow smash" - which was my son's shattering of his elbow and the two surgeries and multiple trips to town to do physical therapy - my garden dreams became a nightmare of overgrown weeds and crowded plants!  Not a happy place!

So this year I began the recovery effort - you will see lots of that on the blog coming up.  I had to do something that would be long lasting and still soothing and in keeping with my visions that I have for the farm.

A few years ago I started saving (for some reason) the paper bags that flour, dog food and sugar game in.  I have a big plastic tub full of them in the greenhouse with a lid on it to keep the critters out (mice for example).  I knew there was a purpose for the bags in keeping weeds down - I have seen it done between rows in gardens with straw over the top, but that isn't the type of garden I am working on now.  So I did what I usually do and just began!

 Photo on the left shows some of the bags and some newspaper that I used for the project - newspaper folds way easier into the shape you need than the bags do - they are more for the large spaces coverage.  Photo on the right shows the start of what was once a medicinal herb garden but is now just an herb garden - culinary, medicine - they're all going in!  The three plants you see here are Lovage, Costmary (to replace the one I lost last year), and Russian Sage.  I started by taking out all the weeds, grass and turf and turning the soil/gravel to loosen it a bit.

 Then cover it with either one of the paper bags (I cut them open and used them as a one layer bag like an open sleeping bag), or some of the newspaper.  Put a rock or two on it and then some bark chips to cover everything.  Photo on the lower right is Coltsfoot - used for cough remedy and throat soothing.  It thrives here on the farm - no matter the soil.  Start taking your harvesting bucket with you when you are "weeding" - in the hod I have coltsfoot leaves and dandelion root that I have culled out of the bed and will dry for winter use.  Watch mixing roots together as it is sometimes hard to tell them apart once they dry a little!

Don't worry if you don't get all of the paper covered the first time around - once it rains a time or two or you throw some water on it, the paper will settle a little and the chips will show where you need to add more.  The above left photo shows a giant Cornflower plant (Centaury not sure the variety) which is also a thriver - it comes up every year and has taken over the area it is in but hasn't tried to go out of the bed.

The area above right is where our septic tank is - so the big rocks are necessary to keep the snow plow driver from knocking the tops off of the clean outs.

Keep working around your plants and placing the paper and rocks and chips.   I had to lay the paper and the chips as I went due to the wind blowing here all the time (we are working on a windmill - stay tuned for that) but you might be able to do a big space and then lay the materials down.  I have also found that I have to water each plant individually when it has been really dry like it has been lately - we are dry, dry, dry!  When you have good rains the water gets in and the paper, mulch combo keeps it there!  When you want to add a plant somewhere after your materials are down, just scrape back the mulch bark, cut a hole in the paper, plant your plant and cover it back up!  Easy peasy!

  Before long you will have a beautiful garden again and one that will be fairly low maintenance!  Just the occasional weed pulling session and some watering.  Enjoy your happy place!