Caught in the act! Los Jilgueros volunteers have been sheet mulching: laying cardboard boxes on the ground and then piling mulch on the cardboard. The cardboard keeps down the weeds and as it decomposes, it enriches the soil. The cardboard boxes can be picked up for free from local stores and the mulch is free from tree services who chip trees that they cut down. It is a lot of time/labor though — when I sheet mulched my yard several years ago, it was a LOT of work.
Oldtimers remember when packages were exciting, and the boxes were saved against future shipping needs for sending gifts to family members. During the pandemic, I got into the habit of ordering regular household stuff online, so now I get boxes all the time and they’re boring stuff like cereal and paper products, and I put the boxes into the recycling bin. But using the boxes as sheet mulch is even better because it feeds our soil and lets our plants get established without competing with weeds.
