Sheet Mulching: Eco-friendly Weed Control

Let’s face it - nobody likes weeds, and there are plenty of pernicious and unrelenting varieties out there. Accordingly, there are as many weed control techniques as there are weeds. Choosing the right option for your lawn can be a daunting task, but there are a few guidelines you can follow. A general rule of thumb is to steer clear of weed-killing chemicals. Glyphosphate, which is found in many popular chemical herbicides, has been scientifically proven to harm human cells, and should probably stay away from your lawn. This is especially important if you plan on using trimmings or grass clippings in your compost pile! Additionally, there are some herbicides that promote the growth of new, resistant, strains of weeds. If you do feel the need to use an herbicide, there are plenty of organic herbicidal options that are better for your lawn, with varying degrees of success.
 

This leaves you with a few options, but most notable are landscape fabric and sheet mulching with cardboard. At Our City Forest, we definitely suggest using sheet mulching instead of landscape fabric, for a variety of reasons. First, and most importantly, landscape fabric will not stop weeds from growing in your yard. Those pesky perennial weeds will find a way to grow through or around the cloth. The fabric also decreases the amount of water that your yard can absorb when it rains, which creates more runoff, and a drier yard. Not ideal for growing things! Finally, some plants like to spread out once they get established. The landscape fabric restricts the amount of viable ground those plants have to work with, ultimately resulting in the plants being stunted or strangled.
 

A lawn conversion to a drought-tolerant garden, using sheet mulching as its base, is a great way to save water and eliminate most of the weeds in your yard.

At Our City Forest, we have a program called “Lawn Busters” which offers low-cost turf conversions to qualifying residents of San José. For all of our Lawn Buster projects, we use sheet mulching - a process that uses cardboard as a base layer to smother the grass along with layers of compost and wood chips.

Click for detailed infographic PDF with steps.

It has a variety of long and short-term benefits. Its main purpose is to suppress weed growth without the use of chemicals, just like landscape fabric. What makes cardboard so useful, is what it can give back to your yard! The weeds under the cardboard are eventually composted, as is the cardboard itself, which helps your dirt become healthier and more nutrient-rich. It improves water retention in your soil and encourages worms to hang out there. Plus, you are using materials that would otherwise be thrown away (or hopefully recycled), which is so much better for the Earth! It is important to note that it is still possible for some weeds to grow with this method. There can be seeds in the mulch that you use, and some grasses are incredibly persistent. The best way to deal with these few issues is to pull weeds as soon as possible, so they don’t get established in your yard.

Our process is simple enough, if not a little labor intensive, for you to grab a few friends and do it yourself. If you don’t qualify for our low-cost Lawn Busters program, we have some upcoming workshops to demonstrate the best practices when converting your lawn.

FREE DIY Lawn Conversion Workshop:

May 6, 2017, during the Martial Cottle Park Spring Festival at 11AM and 1PM in our new site. See our website for more information.

Need plants for your yard? Visit Our City Forest’s Community Nursery Thursday-Saturday, 9am-12pm, for a wide selection of shrubs, grasses, trees, and succulents. There will be a Spring Plant Sale Extravaganza on Saturday, April 29 from 9AM - 3PM. Learn more about it on our website or join the FaceBook event.

Life as a Docent at the Community Nursery

We couldn't Plant it Forward without our volunteers!

Sarah Viaggi at OCF's Spring Plant Sale Extravaganza 2016.

The docents at Our City Forest’s Community Nursery--Carol Arnoldy, Sharon Schuetze, Sarah Viaggi, and Judi Wilson--are volunteers who help customers during the nursery’s open hours, which are 9:00 am to 12:00 pm Thursday through Saturday. In addition to showing visitors the trees and shrubs they wish to plant, and discussing which species are best for their needs--an important task considering that the nursery covers two acres and has an inventory of some 10,000 trees and other plants--the docents assist with ongoing nursery work, namely pruning, propagation, weeding, watering, and updating inventory records.

Judi Wilson writing up a receipt for a resident at the Fall Plant Sale Bonanza 2016.

As nursery manager Nara Baker puts it, “It’s cool to have people at OCF who have been there for so many years and know its programs and practices as well as the docents do. They are always willing to help, and are a great example for OCF’s younger members.”

Carol Arnoldy talking to residents at the Community Nursery.

Why the docents continue to volunteer year after year comes down to two shared desires: they are dedicated to OCF’s mission of greening San Jose, and they enjoy being at the nursery.  As Carol says, “I love gardening, being outdoors, learning about how things grow, and being with like minded people.” What more could one want in a volunteer position?

Sarah, who formerly worked as a registered dietitian and is a sailing enthusiast, clearly is in her element. She calls her backyard at her South San Jose home “Big Basin” because it has a stand of six coastal redwoods, two apple trees, an apricot tree, a volunteer hackberry, volunteer pistache, Douglas fir, and wisteria.  The most recent addition to her yard is a live oak.

Sarah up front on the right during her Tree Amigo class in Winter 2015.

She enjoys working with nursery customers: “I make customers think about what they want. The tree they choose is going to be with them for many years to come, so they better get it right.”  She ticks off the attributes a prospective tree owner needs to consider, for starters, adaptability to the desired planting site, function, size when mature, messiness, deciduous vs. evergreen, and attractiveness.  Sarah also loves working with the “young folks,” the AmeriCorps members who comprise the nursery team.

Sharon Schuetze at the Community Nursery's open hours.

Sharon, who became a Tree Amigo five years ago, shares Sarah’s enjoyment of helping visitors.  “I enjoy interacting with the nursery patrons and telling them about OCF programs.” She is a gardener, and her enjoyment of the nursery extends to caring for its trees and shrubs. Sharon quips that she likes “digging in dirt,”  a pleasure not uncommon among OCF members, especially on the Lawn Busters team. She finds working outside therapeutic: “Being in nature and among trees calms one’s soul.”  She is a regular hiker of Bay Area trails, especially in the spring when wild flowers are prevalent in the meadows.

Sharon propagating grasses with former AmeriCorps Service Members in 2015.

Judi, who completed the Tree Amigo class in 1994 and has volunteered at OCF intermittently ever since, also loves being outside among trees. When I see Judi at the nursery she almost always has a pair of pruners in one hand and cuttings in the other.

Judi Wilson watering trees recently potted at the Community Nursery during bare root season.

Judi recalls the early days of OCF when volunteers were urged to bring their own shovels to planting and the nursery was situated at small, temporary sites in Japantown, Watson Park, and Kelly Park. She speaks fondly of participating in the planting of 30 Chinese Pistache trees in 1995 at Guadalupe Park to create the AIDS Memorial Grove.  “Metal tags honoring AIDS victims were hung on the branches. Basketball players from Santa Clara University used their height to put the tags high in the trees.”

AIDS Memorial Grove Planting - 1995

AIDS Memorial Grove - 2009

As one would expect, each of the women is a strong advocate of OCF’s mission. Carol, who began volunteering at OCF in 2001 is a Tree Amigo herself, and has lived in San Jose since it was called “the Garden City.” She sees OCF as restoring some of the city’s greenness that once was everywhere; the urban forest is “a way to combat the onslaught” of development in Silicon Valley.  Judi notes that OCF’s beautification of San Jose is not limited to planting street trees; it extends to parks, businesses, churches, and schools among other venues. She cautions that beauty is only one benefit of urban trees. She points out that OCF educates the public on the many ways in which trees are important: they help clean the air and are a habitat for birds and animals; they provide shade and psychological balm; they increase real property values.

Tree Amigo Carol Arnoldy working in the Greenhouse at the Community Nursery

Sarah remembers walking in her neighborhood with her husband several years ago and noting the absence of trees. “This isn’t right;” she said at the time. “We live in a parking lot!” Sarah accordingly launched a successful community tree planting in her neighborhood in fall of 2015.

Tree Amigo Sarah Viaggi is presented with a Thank You card by AmeriCorps Service Member Maggie after her successful neighborhood planting in 2015.

Sharon, too, has brought OCF to where she lives: Lawn Busters converted her front lawn last fall, and she “now enjoys a drought-tolerant landscape.” In addition, she has two OCF trees planted in her yard - ‘Autumn Fantasy’ red maples.

Sharon, on the far left, re-took the Tree Amigo course last winter as a refresher to brush up on her OCF knowledge.

With their belief in taking action, it’s fair to characterize the docents as activists, although certainly not with the negative connotations the word sometimes carries, such as quarrelsome and doctrinaire. They are gracious, friendly women who volunteer because they know personal initiative makes a big difference.

They know, too, that, passiveness--not doing anything--is the friend of parking lots.

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Now it's your turn!

Our City Forest is always looking for more Judi’s, Carol’s, Sharon’s, or Sarah’s - locals who care and can dedicate time each week to helping us grow and reach the community! If you’re interested in becoming a Tree Amigo, start volunteering with OCF. Sign up for a community planting, volunteer at the nursery, help a lawn conversion project, join tree care on a watering route, or help us with some office work. Learn more at ourcityforest.org/volunteer or email volunteer@ourcityforest.org and let us know what you’re interested in doing.