I have a garden area that has nothing in it (see photo) and I was wondering if I could finely cut cardboard and evenly place it under this landscaping tarp to increase worm population and then use that for my compost?
If the answer is yes. My next question is – will this attract mice? I am deathly afraid of those speedy little creatures.
by Street-Afternoon-592
4 Comments
Nice garden bed.
Worms won’t make it through that blue fabric. I’d recommend just putting down a few layers of cardboard. The cardboard will decompose in about a year or two. I wouldn’t even shread it.
If the compost is well broken down food scraps, mice won’t touch it.
Adding compost would be a better move. Cardboard is bedding. Compost is food.
What do you plan to do with this bed?
I’m not sure if this is the right kind of covering, what are you trying to achieve here? This doesn’t look like it’s water penetrable and it’s likely to deteriorate if exposed to light.
If you’re aiming for no-dig then I would remove the plastic, replace with brown unprinted cardboard. Then the idea is you build up from there with compostable materials (or just ready made compost).
Vermin can be attracted to food waste but I would not expect plain cardboard to excite them much.
If you remove the plastic entirely and add a thick layer of shredded cardboard, it will improve the soil overall, and yes, if there are worms about, they will be drawn to this bedding (you don’t need to worry about mice, unless you have, like, a *plague* of them or something)