Sheet Mulching Combats Carbon Emissions
We’re aware that one of the resources we’re using more and more of as a company in the distribution of our products is cardboard. Radish, our new complete, comes in a box that’s nearly 90 square feet in size once unfolded. We love these boxes - they protect Radish incredibly well, they are renewable (though certainly at a cost to our forests) and thanks to our graphics team, they’re damn stylish. All that said, the question remains - what do you do with this resource once it’s done acting as the skin between your stuff and UPS?
One option that happens to be seasonally appropriate, is sheet mulching. An outgrowth of Permaculture philosophy which prides itself on creating useful systems (think stewardship) rather than toiling away (think calloused farmer hands). No offense to farmers, or calloused hands, both great things, but if you’re short on time, being a steward rather than a farmer means more home grown veggies per unit toil. First, start with some land. Good old fashioned earth. Don’t go making it look all pretty by removing stones and twigs and pulling weeds. That my friends is called work. Instead, lay down cardboard, newspaper, anything biodegradable and low on fat content.
- Next, cover the cardboard with one to two inches (2.5 to 5 cm) of peat moss, peat moss substitute or other moisture holding organic material.
- Layer several inches of organic material such as straw, leaves, grass clippings, or garden waste on top of the peat moss.
- Continue to alternate layers of peat moss and organic material, until desired depth is reached.
- Water until the garden is the consistency of a damp sponge.
- Regularly increase soil level by introducing large amounts of mulch and compost to your garden and sheet mulched area. Essentially, bury the organic matter, build up your garden, restrict those weeds and still have time to get in a mountain bike ride.
How does this save energy? Well, every municipality it seems can justify picking up cardboard streetside, taking it to a recycling facility that will turn it back into pulp. It’s great, cardboard has a kind of Cradle to Cradle life cycle. But all of that transportation and processing spills carbon into the atmosphere. Hence, an argument in favor of keeping your waste local, and even better, using it to help grow oxygen emitting green things. Like radishes.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Back in the old days (prior to about, say, 3 months ago) all of the recycled cardboard was sent to China where it was used to package iPods and other consumer electronics goodies. These days, though, all of that cardobard is piling up in huge piles at ports in Los Angeles, Long Beach and elsewhere.
I live in an apartment, so no mulching for me unfortunately. Good idea, though.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
But but but… once you eat the radishes, you’re back to loud, gaseous emission problems again. Well, in our house anyway.
November 26th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I am a special ed teacher and am always on the search for big cardboard because we use them to make big posters out of.
December 1st, 2008 at 10:17 am
[...] is sheet mulching. If you want the the nitty gritty on this permaculture technique, read more on our blog, but the essence of sheet mulching is this: by laying cardboard down in your garden, especially in [...]