USING NEWSPAPER AND CARDBOARD AS 'WEED CONTROL'

Zach and I finished spreading our big beautiful pile of compost dirt this last Wednesday! Yessss! But, before we dropped the compost down, we covered the rows with cardboard and/or thick layers of newspaper. (Thank you Joe Fox at Community Bakery for the newspaper donation!) The cardboard and newspaper are biodegradable and they will act as 'weed control', helping to stop weeds and grass from thriving in the new soil. Instead the nutrients in the compost will go where they are supposed to go... into our produce. (If you plan to use cardboard or newspaper to block weeds, be sure to remove all tape from off the cardboard and try to use only B&W newspapers, as the colors have chemicals in them. We were able to fill one entire 70' row with 8" tall raised beds with compost and another row covered in about 4". We worked it in and around the already existing sunflowers, peas, garlic and poppies, hopefully giving them a bit of a boost in the process. We have already filled the 8" raised beds with plenty of potatoes, tomatoes, Calendula, basil and squash. The plan is to fill the other beds with beans and okra, which grow well in Arkansas and are able to withstand the heat and even periods of drought. Both of these newly composted beds will solely grow food for the WFRC food bank this season! We chose to focus on potatoes, beans and okra for the food bank because they are well known, easy to cook with, they have a longer shelf life (after being harvested) and are pretty easy to grow as well!