old carpeting for mulch?

20 years ago

We just pulled out our family room's berber carpeting and are going to be converting the old, overgrown back yard back into a garden. It once, long-long ago (like 20+ years) was totally mulched. Now it is very nice dirt and covered in weeds with some plants here & there tangled up with the weeds. I am trying to recover the area but getting enough mulch back there is problematic and I am looking for a cheap way to atleast smother the area where the walking paths will be w/o spraying or pulling. Has anyone ever used old carpeting in the yard before? Should I just toss away the old carpet and forget about using it? Would it cause any problems later down the road? My thought was to weed the areas where I will be planting and use the carpet like a runway smothering the weeds and then put a thin layer of either mulch or gravel over it with stepping stones.

Any thoughts or comments would be much appreciated. Also, should it be right side up or down?

Thanks,

Bonnie

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Comments (6)

seamommy
20 years ago
I think the idea of using old carpeting to smother weeds is a great idea. The other thing that works really well is old shingles. Carpeting will probably do just fine and I don't see why it would be a problem later. I'd probably put it right side up, but that's just my personal preference. If it's wool berber eventually it will decompose down into the soil and you won't even have to take it out. If it's a synthetic it will probably last long enough to serve it's purpose and then again you may not have to take it out regardless. I wish I'd thought of using our old carpet that we had replaced last year.

Cheryl
wichitarick
20 years ago
hi,
I have used carpet from my house and rugs and neighbors houses on a lot of garden path for base then mulched over it.
the polys ? may never decompose but they are covered .I like old clothes for mulch and use them in my berry patch sucessfully, with grass over them. I can say that once the carpet starts breaking down and gets dirt and weedsin it it is a :'[---++
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purpleroses
20 years ago
EEEWWW .... Please don't do this.

I have to drive past a house everyday that has 'carpeted'
their roadfront area and it grosses me out every time I see it.

In my honest opinion, mulch should start out as something green.
mogardener
20 years ago
The backing will rot away and the synthetic part will be there forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever or be a real pain to pick up.
brendan_of_bonsai
20 years ago
Theres an old area type rug outside of one of my fathers rental houses on Kodiak Island, it has supressed all the weeds below it, and now its starting to build a crop of moss. Eventually something will grow in the moss. If you live somewere wet then you may have a problem with things growing up through it.
joefalco
19 years ago
Just my 2 cents, I say do it but remove it before it starts breaking down causing a mess. Since you said it's OUT BACK nobody will see it right.

Just remove it once it has donw it's job.