With warmer weather comes more rainfall. While it’s great for lawns and ornamentals, its also great for the weeds. An environmentally friendly alternative to weed control is sheet mulching. This permaculture technique consists of laying down a thick layer of cardboard or newspaper over weeds and covering that layer with wood mulch/chips. This photos shows a section of Dade City Watson Park Community Garden that was sheet mulched with newspaper to smother (block sunlight) weeds. This method not only kills weeds in the area, it also will help prevent future weed seed germination. There are many sources for free newspaper and wood mulch. Consider contacting your local library, or even weekly newspaper, to pick up old newspapers for your garden. Additionally, many tree trimming companies will donate a truck load of tree mulch to local gardens. Check out ChipDrop online to register your home and/or garden for a truck load of rough cut wood mulch donated by a company. For more information on sheet mulching, visit http://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/lawn-and-garden/sustainable-living-no-dig-garden-beds/.

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