Sheet mulching is a method that can be used to remove a lawn without the use of toxic chemicals and pesticides. Sheet mulching aims to kill off a lawn through natural methods and leave behind soil that can be replanted again easily.
1. To sheet mulch your lawn you need to dig a trench around the perimeter of the yard so that the woodchips don’t spill over the edge of the lawn.
2. Then you are going to lay down cardboard two layers think all over the lawn. Each piece of cardboard should overlap about 6 to 8 inches.
3. Over the cardboard you have the option of laying an inch to two inches of compost or dirt. This can help to improve soil conditions after the cardboard and woodchips decompose, however, this is not a necessary step.
4. Finally, you lay down four to six inches of woodchips. Over the next six to eight months the cardboard and woodchips will start to decompose and in 3/4th of a year you can begin replanting your newly lawn free yard.
A few really important points are that sheet mulching will not 100% eliminate all weeds and grass. You will have to do occasional weeding in order to keep the weeds at bay. However, it will be much easier to weed and there will be far fewer weeds to pull. If you stay on it then the weeds will come back less and less and shouldn’t pose any more problem than in any other garden.