![borderdone2.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wildhomesteading/nrk1lbjy-border-done-2.jpg)

This week has been mostly about working on the garden. But I also want to share a bit about why I'm so intent on getting rid of grass. Plus, I got a chop-and-drop experiment to share that could help boost your homestead.

## Mulching the Garden
![grassalongedge.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wildhomesteading/mbWklcdT-grass-along-edge.jpg)

This is what my garden looked like before I started mulching. Lots of grass which is what happens when I build my garden in an old lawn area.

Luckily, burlap bags area great initial layer of mulch for sheet-mulching. But I have noticed that sometimes grass can snake its way through the weave of the bags though it seems to only happen rarely.

All my burlap bags are used coffee bags that I got from a local non-profit for a small charge.

![pushingitunder.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wildhomesteading/MlC1MHtg-pushing-it-under.jpg)

The hardest part of the mulching and the most time consuming part is getting the burlap bags down next to the beds. In order to keep the grass from coming up I ended up pushing the bags under the logs of the garden beds with my [hori hori knife](https://amzn.to/2GFuELv).

Hori hori knifes are really a fantastic gardening/homesteading tool. I use mine all the time for all sorts of tasks (planting, chop-and-drop, pruning, etc.). The one I got is sold on Amazon (see the above affiliate link) by a great small company.

I highly recommend adding a hori hori knife to your tool belt!

But with the help of my hori hori I now have all the burlap bags down and pushed under the logs of the raised garden beds. The next step is to mulch the inside area of the garden.

![borderdone.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wildhomesteading/9QXiJMCB-border-done.jpg)

The entire middle area of the new kitchen garden will soon be covered with burlap bags. Once the bags are all down I'm going to start dumping loads of wood chips on top of it all.

Using 2 or more layers of mulch is often referred to as sheet-mulching. Often the bottom layer is something like cardboard or burlap which helps to kill off the existing vegetation.

The reason I'm using burlap bags is because it will last longer than cardboard and this area inside and around the garden will get a lot of foot traffic. I want to make sure the mulch sticks around until the grass is killed and burlap bags will last longer than cardboard.

I really can't wait to finish this garden and start relaxing in the middle area watching the plants all grow and picking fresh garden vegetables to munch.

It really will be a nice addition to the Wild Ride Homestead.

## Chop-and-Drop Experiment
![lotsofmaterial.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wildhomesteading/1wpTg1mj-lots-of-material.jpg)

A while back I talked about [lupines and why they are an awesome permaculture plant](https://steemit.com/permaculture/@wildhomesteading/lupines-the-amazing-permaculture-plant-you-likely-don-t-know).

This week I went through and chopped and dropped a bunch of my riverbank lupines (native lupine to my area). I dropped everything around my little dwarf southern blueberries. These blueberries are covered in flowers despite their small size!

The lupines got too tall and were shading the blueberries so it was time to chop-and-drop.

They have put on a ton of growth resulting in a lot of biomass. This is fantastic nitrogen rich mulch which could boost my blueberries. But I don't know how these lupines will respond to the chop-and-drop.

Here are the before and after pictures of one patch of lupines.

![chopanddropbefore.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wildhomesteading/G4HC6KVQ-chop-and-drop-before.jpg)
*Before cutting*

![chopanddropafter.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wildhomesteading/NIDDefQp-chop-and-drop-after.jpg)
*After cutting*

As you can see I cut a lot of the lupine back. But what is interesting is that this type of lupine still had a lot of leaves that were from last year's growth. What I cut back is all the new growth which is not woody.

I'm hoping that since I left the woody older material and the leaves on it that the lupines will easily regrow. I may even try cutting them back one more time this year.

Since lupines are nitrogen fixers I think this could really provide fantastic mulch.

I will post again later with how well the lupines regrow. But assuming they do I think these plants could be a fantastic chop-and-drop plant that could even rival the mighty comfrey ;)

## Be Gone Grass!
![grassmustgo.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wildhomesteading/rEpk5yiH-grass-must-go.jpg)

That picture is showing the garden area before I started working on it (the flags are marking the garden area). All the grass you can see on the inside of the chain-link fence except for the new lawn to the right will be removed via mulching.

Ultimately, around my house what you could call my front and backyard I will end up removing all the grass except that one lawn area.

But why?

One big reason for me is less maintenance needs. I really hate mowing and having all the grass to maintain is a lot of work.

I could let it grow tall but that would make it hard for my 2 year old son to run around and play.

Plus, when the grass goes to seed I would either need to cut it or deal with grass coming up in new areas. And of course grass spreads through rhizomes into new areas anyways.

Basically, keeping it will just be a pain and a lot of constant work I don't want to have to do.

A big part of making the homesteading life work is picking the chores that you are okay with keeping and eliminating the rest. Too many chores and you can get stuck running in place. If you still have new projects to complete this can be a big problem.

But there are more reasons than just this. When I remove the grass I can replace it with trees, shrubs, and smaller plants. These plants can be native and/or edible which will support my family and I and local wildlife.

While there is still some maintenance it is a lot less if I'm careful which plants I get established.

The other reason is that while there are fungal communities in grasslands these are not the fungal communities I'm trying to cultivate for the benefit of my food forests, and other perennial systems that focus on woody plants.

The grass essentially isolates my other planting areas from each other. Once the grass is all mulched, the fungal communities I want will be able to spread and interconnect across my entire front and backyard.

I still have a lot of grass to mulch but I'm getting there. I hope to have it all mulched by the end of the summer.

I have already noticed a huge boom in birds and other wildlife in the areas I have mulched and planted. The grass areas do get some visits but far less than the areas where I removed the grass.

Is this approach the right one for you? I think there are a lot of benefits of going down this route but you need to make that decision for yourself.

I am still keeping a lawn (I just seeded it last fall) but I picked a selection of grass that doesn't need watering/fertilizer and it came with micro-clover and some other plants mixed in. For me this works great and is much more environmentally friendly and time friendly.

## Moving Forward

This weekend will be busy as always but I will be spending most of it sitting in front of my computer. I need to batch a bunch of blog posts so my next weekend homesteading report will be a bit lighter than normal.

But I do hope to finish mulching the garden and I might sow some zucchini and bean seeds.

Also, I will be starting a new contest here on STEEM next week. Watch for an announcement next Tuesday! But to get going make sure to do something related to homesteading, gardening or restoration this weekend so you can enter the contest!

Thank you!

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![Wild-Homesteading-New-outlines-50-x-250.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcEDeAQeBBpG2CJ8L5uQoxNQjD2dD9Ae9peS83Qtrd2GJ/Wild-Homesteading-New-outlines-50-x-250.png)

**Weekly Blog Post**
- [What is a Hedgerow and Why You Should Plant One](https://www.wildhomesteading.com/what-is-a-hedgerow/)
- *Companion Post on Steemit -* [The Benefits of Planting a Hedgerow](https://steemit.com/homesteading/@wildhomesteading/the-benefits-of-planting-a-hedgerow)

**Related Blog Posts**
- [Chop-and-Drop: A Quick and Easy Way to Abundance](https://www.wildhomesteading.com/chop-and-drop/)
- [3 Things Your Garden Needs to Attract Birds](https://www.wildhomesteading.com/attract-birds/)
- [What is Mulching? The Complete Introduction to Mulching](https://www.wildhomesteading.com/mulching/)

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*And check out my blog - **[www.wildhomesteading.com](https://www.wildhomesteading.com)** for weekly in-depth posts on working with nature to grow your own food and start/build your homestead.*