Experts Brilliantly Explain How to Use Cardboard Boxes to Kill Weeds in Your Garden

Keep cardboard boxes out of the trash and repurpose them to remove weeds in your garden using a sustainable technique.

PUBLISHED 7 HOURS AGO

Pile of crashed cartons ready for recycling.(Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | moisseyev)

Every home has a designated corner for stacking up all the cardboard boxes collected from online deliveries, appliance purchases, and others. While the majority of it ends up in the trash, some people like to repurpose these cardboard boxes into their everyday lives. For gardeners, the material can be used to eliminate weeds from their garden and prevent the use of toxic chemicals that harm the environment. Experts at Better Homes & Gardens have weighed in on an efficient technique that helps eliminate garden weeds while also reusing household waste to maintain their outdoor space.

Putting cardboard in a flowerbed to limit the spread of weeds and keep the soil moist. (Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Igor Paszkiewicz)

Cardboard boxes prevent weed growth

Woman pulls weeds in her huge garden in the spring. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images |mikroman6)

Cardboard boxes are fundamentally made of layers of paperboard, which makes them biodegradable and safe to compost. Utilizing these characteristics, gardeners can cut costs in garden care expenses and use the abundance of cardboard in their homes to fix weed problems. Cardboards can be used to smother weeds growing in-ground or in raised garden beds. The material can be simply layered in gardens to stop the weeds from growing. For perennial or annual plants, cardboard rings can be installed to ensure a weed-free bed. Similarly, even walkways in the yard can be free of weeds by placing a layer of mulch and gravel on top of the cardboard spread out in the path.

Toxic plants like poison ivy can be killed without manual removal using cardboard boxes. Sheets of cardboard placed on the spots with these plants discourage their growth while also eliminating the existing ones. Besides that, the material is handy in several other ways to upkeep a garden environment. For unique gardening methods like lasagna gardening, sufficient green and brown materials are needed. The latter includes materials that are rich in carbon, and cardboard is fortunately one of them. Mixing cardboards with dried leaves, straw, and other materials in a compost bin, in addition to nitrogen-rich components, will effectively restore nutrients and organic matter into the garden soil for better plant growth. Stark Bro's shares how to layer cardboards for weed control on YouTube.

Cardboards and pest control

A snail with a black body eats a leaf. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Trudie Davidson)

Not only weeds, but cardboard boxes can also be used to deter pests from your yard or garden. Pests like slugs and snails are a common occurrence in gardens. Kelly Funk, President and CEO of Jackson & Perkins, suggested a simple hack to use cardboards as a trap for these pests. Laying down pieces of damp cardboard on the garden soil overnight will attract these insects and can be used as a trap. As they gather in and around the cardboard, gardeners can easily collect them using a shovel and remove them from the area. This method eliminates the need for pesticides and ensures organic gardens remain chemical-free, per Southern Living.

Cardboard laid out to prevent weed growth. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Igor Paszkiewicz) — Cardboard laid out for pest control. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Igor Paszkiewicz)

For young plants or sprouts, the expert advised making a cardboard collar out of the material, which will act as a protective barrier for the plants. This will keep away the slugs that like to feast on tender leaves. Paper towel rolls and toilet paper can also be used to create these rings, as they will be easy to trim. The biodegradable nature of cardboard boxes will cause the barriers to break down eventually, but they are generally sturdy enough until the plants mature. Linda Vater, an expert for the Southern Living Plant Collection, revealed that cardboard breakdown occurs between two to six months under moist conditions. It also depends on the climate and texture of the material.

More on GreenMatters

Your Bird Feeder May Be Quietly Causing Weed Problems in Your Garden — But There's a Simple Fix

Eco-Friendly and Environmentally Friendly Weed Killer: Does It Exist?

Here's Which Types of Boxes Can Be Composted, and Which Can't