Sheet Mulching

We're finally ready to work on the backyard!

I mentioned in a previous video that I'd be sheet mulching the yard instead of digging up the dry grass and weeds. I'm told that I shouldn't disturb the soil by digging it up. So sheet mulching is a technique that one could use to quickly create a soil bed. Granted, it'll take a few months for the layers to decompose into good soil. However, I'm told that I can put a cover crop of peas and lettuce and such for the first few months while we're waiting.

My friend Ty is helping me out on this one as he teaches me and my friends this technique. He references a book by Heather Coburn Flores called "Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Lawn into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community". (Check out www.foodnotlawns.com and www.foodnotlawns.net).



Big thanks to Long Beach Organic's Wild Oats Community Garden for giving me the free mulch and thanks to my friend Michael for helping me get a truck full of mulch with his truck. Thanks to Ty for teaching us and Ofelia for bringing the food (she's the Catalyst mom!). Thanks to Tanya for the green matter and thanks to Jerry for the green matter and wood chipper. And thanks to my friends from Green Long Beach Sharon, Chris, Earl, Matthew (and buddy - the pup), Ana, Bree, and Sonia for coming to help out!

Here's Ty explaining what we're gonna do:



Here's some pics of our progress!