USDA-funded 2022 trial found cardboard garden beds had 15% weed cover, versus 45% in tilled beds

Weeds can destroy 50% to 90% of a field's crop yield if left entirely uncontrolled, according to data from the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA). In order to reduce the amount of weeds growing in fields, the USDA in 2022 funded a trial by spreading cardboard beds in gardens. By the end of the second season, weeds covered 15% of the soil in the cardboard beds, whereas 45% of the soil in the tilled beds was covered, according to the project's final report.The trial was funded by USDA's Western SARE program, with the University of Wyoming as a partner and aimed to cultivate the crops without tilling. In the spring of the year, the team conducted the trial at Sweet Hollow Farm, a horticultural farm in Idaho. They covered four raised beds, each about 30 meters long, with cardboard and compost and tilled another four, using the same cardboard-in-the-garden technique that many hobbyists use every fall."If it works, this system could be important for small producers," farmer Jonah Sloven told Western SARE in 2022.At the Sweet Hollow Farms, the problem was bindweed, a climbing plant that spreads by seed and horizontal roots. "Even with spring til...