Sayin' yo,

The purpose of the paper is to make a barrier the weeds cannot grow through. Although the mulch, compost, whatever, can do the same thing if it is thick enough, some of your tougher, hardier weeds will be able to not only break through, but thanks to all of your hard work, will have a wonderful soil in which to thrive.

To sum up, you don't have to put down paper, but it is a good idea.
Ken

And if you're not going to mess with it for a while (like a year, or less), cardboard would be even better. Check out your local furniture stores.

Sue

I have sheet mulched with and without cardboard and am now fully behind using a base of carboard or newspaper. In the beds that I did not use cardboard or newpaper, grass is coming through very thick layers of mulch. Not enough to cause me much frustration, but I do notice some sprouting through. In places that I did use cardboard of newspaper, there are no weeds, and in many places the paper has totally broken down into lovely soil, all in less than a year. The cardboard smothers and composts the weeds quickly and for some reason worms like sheet mulch with paper better than without paper. In every place that I have laid down a paper product seems to florish with worms. Paper is like a magnet for worms.

As for what I use in my sheet mulch...anything I can get my hands on. I have had success with straw, pine needles, shredded paper, food scraps, anything. I have even used bags of citrus peels from the local grocery stores waste pile and covered them with a bit of straw and within a couple of months they are "melting" into the soil. Ignore the folks that warn you not to compost certain materials. I find that any organic material composts just the same.

Enjoy,
josh

I don't know how rural you are but if this is an area that could be let go wild let it do so. If want trees there plant 'em and let the rest go wild. Let succesion do the work for you.
My place in Ms. was once hard pan clay from years of over discing for use as a cow field. No top soil and hard as a rock. Now after several years of first wildflowers (weeds if you must), bushes (thank ya Lord for the wax myrtle!) and now a mix of trees the soil is loose and a rich black.
Use that wonderful free mulch close in to your house for bed development. Let nature work for you on the back 40.
Mike

Do use cardboard or paper, lots of paper. I didn't. I piled up lots of compostable stuff over liriope without covering the liriope. I think I'll be paying for that error for a loooong time, since I've merely created a heavenly environment for the very plant I was trying to kill.
Suggestions will be most appreciated!

I used 4 or 5 layers of newspaper in a small area of my garden about 3 or 4 years ago. I am now just getting some weeds. The newspaper did not break down. I can pull out a piece and read it. I am wondering why it did not break down. This stumped some master gardeners I met a sheet mulching class. I just removed 100 sq. ft. with a spading fork. Great workout. I will be using cardboard this time.

Twister 9, lack of breakdown of paper or cardboard usually seems to mean that the soil is too dry underneath (you should wet it well before you lay down the paper), or there aren't many soil microbes in your topsoil to do the breaking down.

If the area was heavily contaminated with chemicals, that could be the reason. Microbes also need plant material to eat or they die off.

If you want to try again, wet the soil thoroughly to several inches deep, import some quality homemade compost that hasn't dried out (maybe from a friend?) to inoculate the area with microorganisms, lay some lawn cuttings or weeds over the surface (food), then lay your paper or cardboard down and cover it with mulch.

It's like making soup -- you need the ingredients; you can't just put a pot of water on the stove and heat it up and expect chicken/vegetable soup.

Sue

I started the sheet multching process on my lawn 2 weeks ago using brown paper bags and some good compost and leaves from my yard, it has stayed pretty wet from the rain, everyting looks good so far.

Here is my question, Is it too early to start planting a few perennials? I also want to use part of that space to plant pumpkin starts next month, but i imagine the grass underneath hasnt broken down yet....

yes the newspaper is a barrier to control weeds, needs to be continued beyond the bed to blend in with the weed barrier.

if the sheet mulching is deep enough say 6+"s then plant small seedling into using pockets of planting medium eg.,. potting mix or the like.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens straw bale garden

Dana3 - If you have the depth in the sheet mulch to plant without digging through the barrier. If you dig through it might bring the grass roots back up to light & be work again to pull.

We've made several garden beds that way and have planted through the layers adding pockets of a finished compost & soil mix. Moles moved in after the earthworms, so I just pushed the raised mounds back in place.

In the vegetable garden we continue to sheet mulch over existing beds in the fall and plant in the spring. It's a great method for our dry summers because it retains moisture better.

I imagine the pumpkins will love that bed especially if you mulch after the soil is nice & warm.