Planting 2 Evergreens & 2 Viburnums! 🌲🌿💚 // Garden Answer 

The POOF thing made me LOL. And I think you guys are so blessed to have found someone like Paul. And Paul is so lucky to be working in your garden too. :)

The “magic” planting “poof” is reminiscent of the old Bewitched TV series. Laura just needs to wiggle her nose to complete the effect! Love it!

Great use of the cardboard method. I soak my cardboard first and then use two layers. It will stay in place better and not curl up and come out of the mulch. All the rain your getting will help but put some sprinklers on it so it adheres to the ground. You might need to add a second layer later if the grass finds it way through. 💖

Yaaay Laura is finally getting onboard with sheet mulching. It is an acquired taste... That being said I usually wet the cardboard prior to laying mulch on top. This helps accelerate decomposition. I also mow the grass down extremely low...even weed-whack it to get a jumpstart. If I need to plant anytime soon, I would use a knife to slice the hole through the cardboard. Those viburnums are such no-fuss plants that give so much back for little effort!

Y’all are SO blessed to have Paul, who looks like he is a garden caretaker at heart ❤️...LOL at the “poofs” 😀

Could we have a formal introduction to Paul? Everyone needs a Paul in their lives. How did you all get introduced? Love this channel and watching your family grow as mine does.

I've used the sheet mulching technique to make a bed. It's definitely easier digging if you let the area sit for a season and make sure the mulch/compost is well watered.

Paul got his own montage! You go, Paul, very nice work!

A PAUL CAMEO!!! How fun! The muscle behind the mission! The GA community appreciates all your hard work behind the scenes dude!!!!

We have some old evergreen trees in our yard and this year I noticed these bring pink things growing and wondered what they were. Now I know they are Red Cone Norway Spruce trees! Thank you Laura! Love your channel and following along with projects big and small!

The effects were fun, but I did miss watching you plant. Watching the hole get dug, the crinkling biotone bag, and the dirt getting back filled is SO relaxing and never gets old. 😀🤗

Next time try cutting an X in cardboard and folding it under similar to how you would if planting with the cloth weed barrier. I use newspaper (a couple layers) but also in a smaller area and I don’t get the grass coming through. Everything has a learning curve, it will look great!!

Aaron is more patient then i would have been. I would have found an other spot lol

Great video! I have used the cardboard method as well. I usually wet my down and then cover it with the compost and eventually the mulch. If I have to plant through it I usually will take a knife and cut around and make a hole and then dig and then I do the same thing you did which is take the cardboard and put it back around the plant and cover it back up and make certain that that cardboard stays wet so it can start the decomposition process. Love all of the new additions!

Good Evening from Australia Laura. I've used the laying of newspaper and then mulching over the top quite often in my garden and it has worked really well. Your garden is looking beautiful. It's amazing watching your garden come to life, whereas ours is getting ready to go to sleep. That is one of the great things about the internet, we are worlds apart, but a click of the button makes our worlds feel so close. 😊

Good morning! 😊 I can't believe how hard the ground was! The auger looked like a jackhammer trying to get through that hard ground. I usually wet the cardboard after I lay it down and then put compost on top. It helps soften up the cardboard. 😊

Just make sure the cardboard is completely saturated with water before covering with compost to help breakdown the cardboard faster and get those worms up doing their job. That ground would have been so much easier to drill into if you had saturated it first.

I think we need a "meet the workers" day. I would love to meet Paul and the others who are helping out! Great idea with the cardboard and mulch Paul!!

I've successfully used the cardboard method for landscaping for years. I usually use a box cutter to cut an access hole to plant in. Once you get use to this method, you will like it.

Happy to see Paul!! It must be so nice to have someone that works hard and thinks like you!! I don’t work well with others in my garden! He has your eye for what looks a certain way- the Laura way!!!

Kudos to Paul !!! Love your new planting technique "POOF" .

Paul is a great member of your garden team. I'm glad you guys found him. Laura you're still teaching this old "dog" new tricks. I love my garden but if I'm honest untill I've found your channel a few years ago it was boring. Now I've incorporated all the different colours. I've added a black diamond pride of India this summer, my first almost black leave tree. My cherry plum stays a beautiful deep red with the beautiful white flowers in spring. I also added two maples. I'm waiting for spring, I think I want to add some spruces. I love the red cone spruce. If I tell my husband about all my plans I know he thinks to himself, 'she's been watching Laura again 🤭... thanks for everything you teach us. 🤗❤🌻

I’ve been using the cardboard (or even paper leaf bags work too) method for years. I wet mine too, before adding compost, or black earth. Then mulch. It helps the cardboard break down easier. No more back breaking work turning over the soil. And the earthworms come to help breakdown the cardboard & improve the soil 💕. Love this method! Glad to see you’re trying it, Laura. Makes your life so much easier.

Brilliant move on the red cone pine!!! It’s gorgeous!!!!! What a specimen plant right there!

Honestly, I was looking at the cardboard with a skeptical eye. So great to read the comments on how successful it can be. Seems like keeping it wet is the key. Going to give it a try 😳! Have a great day everyone ❤️🌻🌳

Hi guys! I tried the cardboard method last fall and planted 3 each of the following; lemon meringue baptisia, purple illusion Veronica and Lakota fire coneflower. All of them are THRIVING!!! Usually the things I plant have some sort of set back but these never did, even last year! The only thing I would do better is how I layered the cardboard because some grass is coming up where it wasn’t think enough. I highly recommend trying it to anyone. Love your videos so much. I’ve been watching for about 7 years now. My mom and I are always like “did you see what Laura and Aaron did today?” We just adore your entire family and hope you all have continued health and happiness. I’m always looking forward to the next video! 💕🌱🌿🪴🌸

I do love doing that no dig method of smothering grass. It won’t always be easy and straight forward over tough perennial weeds(thistle, dandelion, quack grass, etc) but over a lawn it’s easy! Lawn grasses just don’t have the vigor to fight through. I’m so glad you’re sharing this method!

Ideally, you would soak the area, as it helps break down the cardboard and not plant in it until the cardboard and grass have broken down. But we all love planting, it will be okay! Tuck the cardboard in and cover again with the mulch!

Laura, so happy to see you get onboard with the no dig method. Have seen Charles Dowding use this method but he adds enough compost where he can even plant potatoes as shown in one episode, 2 years ago. As your area is dry, you really need to water that area and add either more compost or mulch. Cannot wait to see the results.

I just mulched over my entire front lawn in February of this year. I soaked the grass first, then added 2 layers of cardboard which I also soaked with water then I added Kellogg Gromulch over the top and soaked that too I topped with 4 inches of mulch over the top and a month later, everything broke down after watering the area once a week and I now have a beautiful grass free large flower bed. (Fyi, I added the drip tubing after the area was ready for planting).

I have used the cardboard method for a couple of years now and love it. Also a great way to re-purpose cardboard and add brown matter. Great video, as always! ❤️🌻

Good morning y'all!

Definitely Berry Bed Garden! thank you so much for all your hard work keeping us all happy - it is my wind down from work - perfect!!

I too use the cardboard no-till method. After I cover the cardboard with mulch, I wet it everyday to help it break down faster. Works great!

The view with the horses is beautiful !

Benjamin face of concern ❤️❤️❤️ bless him!! But oh my days that was some compacted soil good job Aaron! And I need a magic button too, whoosh planted

GO ON PAUL!!! That bed looks amazing!! Also hats off to Ken for the super cool montage! The Garden Answer team is AMAZING 💚 I thoroughly enjoy watching these videos everyday. I’ve even made my brother start watching so he gets his yard in shape! Much love from Cleveland, Ohio 💚

Looking forward to updates on this area! Different methods to create new flower beds such as this are interesting to learn about and see if successful in the long term.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED that fun animation cut for the planting! how cute!

Benjamin. Great to see him on camera again ❤. He is sooo big now!

Magical landing!! 😂😂😂. After the cardboard hole it was no doubt a relief. 👏🏼👏🏼

I implemented the cardboard method once. After reading so many reviews regarding this method, I installed it as commonly described. A few months later, I decided to move a plant in the area and found the the cardboard being broken down, but not in the way I planned. The area under the cardboard was infested with termites. Fortunately, the termites were isolate to the planter bed where cardboard was added, however, due to that experience, I am so ambivalent about putting cardboard in a garden bed. Apparently this works for many people, or maybe some have not gone back and looked underneath the mulch. I hope it works versus creating an area for hungry termites…

The red cone norway is one of the most beautiful trees I’ve ever seen!! Wow!! That’s now on my list lol

Those are gonna be pretty in full bloom. That tree with the red cones is very pretty. The garden area is looking nice Laura.

So glad to see you’ve embraced the no dig method with cardboard. I don’t wet it because rains will do that and I don’t want it to break down too quickly. Like you did, I plant right away and cut an “X” with a xacto blade to get through the cardboard. As another commenter said, if there are any gaps the grass will grow through in that spot. It’s such a back saver method too.

I enjoy watching you plant. Poof was good too. You brightened my morning after a hard night. Thank you so very much.

Hi Laura, I love the new garden bed and I’ve used the no dig method for years. A trick I’ve learned over the years is to wet the cardboard before you start to dig the hole, also when dampened cut it and lay it back on its self then it’s easier to lay it back into position when the plant is in position. I hope this helps a little for next time. I’ve been following you for years and it’s great to be included in your journey. Here’s Bronwyn 🇦🇺

Don’t we all wish planting was as easy as “poof” and it’s done 😂 I just have to say your videos are my favorite. I look forward to having coffee and seeing what y’all are up to every day. Thank you for everything you do - your family is a breath of fresh air in this crazy world we live in.

YOU HAD ME GIGGLING SO HARD...ABOUT THE DRIP TUBING! YOU ARE SO CUTE LAURA!🌞🌻🌞

Thank you Paul for filming what you did. Knowing you don’t want to be on camera and doing that is greatly appreciated!🙂

Good morning all have a safe and blessed day

It helps to wet down the cardboard thoroughly before you mulch to weight it down.

Good morning all. I am getting back to gardening after raising my kiddos. I didn’t realize how much I missed it. I am loving watching you Laura and getting really great ideas for my small yard. I tell my husband I’m trying to relieve his mowing burden. If I’m being honest, it is all for selfish reasons.HaHa I have been using cardboard this year and so far it’s been great. I did find that scoring it to fold it back again really did help so much. Thank you again for being such a great inspiration to us all 🥰

I really enjoy seeing you developing the new gardens. I feel less stressed about my new gardens not looking so full. Baby steps. Your videos have been soooo inspirational. Thank you Karen E

Favorite time of the day! ☺️

Thank you for showing this process with the hard soil. I live local to you and am always so jealous of your nice soil.

I am happy to see the cardboards method :D I am doing it for few years ! It works really well ! I usually put cardboard before the winter and the flowerbed is ready to plant next spring :D It saves me a lot of time

How do you not smile with a beautiful property as you and Aaron have? Just to wake up and look out the window at your property is definitely rewarding. Many blessings guys.

Hi Guys! I love how you all have sparked the love I used to know for the outdoors and for gardening. Thank you. I used to use a similar method, because removing sod was a nightmare. We have heavy, hard clay soil. I used newspaper and mulched leaves. Come spring, it was like diggin’ budda! The soil was als nice and rich and so black.

I just love your gardens and show so much. Hopefully by the summer of 2023 you will open your gardens to the public to view as my husband and I will be traveling out west at that time. Would love to stop by and get an up close view of everything. Thanks, Wendy.

I love the cardboard method. So much easier than removing sod. Things are looking quite lovely there. Nice to see Paul doing his thing. The bewitched magic was totally cool. That hardpan and auger looked rough. Always enjoy and learn something from watching your videos. Thanks so much to all for working so hard at your jobs! Much appreciated. 😊🌲🥀🌷💜

That cardboard will actually help the soil breakdown. We use it on hard clay, it’s amazing how good the soil becomes. We have a sprinkler system helping to break it down. I love those double file viburnums.

I used the cardboard method last year and I’m in your climate - over here in boise. I had the best luck after getting the cardboard really saturated as others have said. Then I didn’t fight the cardboard so much when making all the planting holes with the auger. So glad to have the auger though! This spring I’m not finding any cardboard when planting so it seems to have taken about a year to break down! Thanks for experimenting with this method! Love tuning in every morning for my daily gardening with Laura :)

Well, I appreciated watching that first hole being dug out. We have some pretty stubborn clay soil here in Indiana and together with abundant surface roots from maple and pine trees, I struggled with planting some bulbs with my auger last fall. I feel a little better about myself now. LOL

Love the progression of your gardens Mr. Aaron and Ms Laura. I especially love the evergreen trees. You can thank Mr. Paul for the gardens too. I hope you compensate Mr. Paul well for all of his hard work. Mr. Benjamin out there asking about the cardboard was so cute. I wonder what new ideas there will be by the time he is grown and have gardens and home of his own, lol ! Have a blessed awesome week.

Wow !! Benjamin is getting so tall.I always love when he helps you.❤

You are a Garden Goddess with a touch of magic, lol. I love how you asked Benjamin if he would put fertilizer away and he said Sure! Very sweet boy!

I'm delighted that you're planting viburnum! I absolutely love them. They're pretty hardy, deer don't eat them, and they're the gift that keeps on giving with beautiful flowers in the spring, then berries, then nice winter interest 💚

Love the cardboard method and have used it many times successfully. One tip is try wetting the cardboard before covering with compost. And if you can prep the bed in the fall for planting in the spring the cardboard will have time to soften. Can't wait to see the viburnum grow. 🌿

The difficulty you had digging that hole brought you into my world, finally.

Good morning Laura and Aaron. I do the cardboard no dig method as you have done in this video. I read to water between layers. Water the ground. Then water the cardboard. Then water the mulch before planting. You got this and I love your 2 new spruce trees!

I love that you are using the cardboard method. I have used it for years. What has helped me is to wet the area down first, lay the cardboard down and wet it also. All your drip lines should be laying on top of the cardboard…also you must soak the area until the cardboard breaks down, especially in a dry area. I am in GA (zone 8), even though we get rain, I still soak the area….Happy Gardening, y’all!

Timing is perfect! I just nervously placed cardboard in a new garden over some grass and was just thinking ...now how do I dig to plant? Your video has inspired some ideas and boosted my nervous confidence! I've never used cardboard either, but needed a time saver so I'm hoping it works! Thank you, thank you and looking forward to see the progress!

The poof graphic is cute, but I do enjoy watching the planting process - it's therapeutic ❤️

i have used the no dig method for years and have had tremendous luck with it. what i like about it is you are not taking away the soil, hence all the nutrients in your soil. it's a great way to start a new flowerbed... if you time it for the Fall and let it set for the year, then you can plant in Spring. LOVE arrowwood viburnums.. excited that you planted the blue muffin bc i'm planting one too!

This is how I always do it in the vegetable garden with cardboard and straw and cover it with a tarp when done! This spring tarp off and no cardboard nor hay and the worms were so happy!

So glad to see you trying the no dig with the cardboard and compost on top a la Charles Dowding. I have started many beds like that. They just get better every year!

shes so awesome

Just beautiful and with every new addition more interesting.

Good morning dear Laura...here its beginning of winter... loving regards from Mauritius..

It should be interesting how you adapt your planting in the cardboard/compost area. I love the magical editing, makes for a fun video.

I wet my ground before laying my cardboard, then I wet the cardboard as well before I add my mulch. I also use a cutting blade to cut away the cardboard circle in the area I am adding my plant. Once you get use to the no dig/cardboard method, you're gonna love the process.

Blue Muffin shrubs are very tough! I'm in the Midwest and mine have grown about 8 feet tall, 4 feet wide from a gallon pot within 2 to 3 years. They were planted in clay hard pan soil with very little water, soil enhancers or fertilizer. We had just moved in and I missed my old garden so badly. We needed a privacy shrub row, but I didn't have much time to treat it well. It is flourishing. I've been successfully using cardboard for over a decade. Not that I'm an expert, but since you are so generous with your gardening tips, may I share a couple of mine? 1. Please don't leave any gaps, none whatsoever. Where the cardboard is cut to fold over on the top and bottom, there needs to be either newpaper, or more cardboard to overlap any opening. 2. Before planting, use a box knife, cut an X and then fold the cardboard under itself. Previous commenters have mentioned it's easier to work with when wet, and that's true. It doesn't take much water to make it pliable. Thank you Laura and Aaron for producing such professional quality videos with such joy and genuineness. You and your entire family are such a blessing!

Love the cardboard method. I started using it last year and total game changer! 😍

Good morning, Laura ☕️. I think if you/Paul wet the cardboard down, it will breakdown faster. It sure does look amazing! 🤩 All those evergreens 🌲 are going to look so awesome in years to come 😍 Have a Blessed Day 😊🐈

Love to hear about these unusual plants for our area. Another great video. Paul did an excellent job! Hugs from N.C..❤️

I’ve always heard to do the cardboard/mulch in fall for it to smother out the grass etc then by spring it’s beginning to compost and ready for planting. I live in the south though so our winter is not a true winter so we still maybe have the temps to help the composting process. We are about to use this method on a spot that we aren’t ready to plant but want to get conditioned for next spring. It’s mostly sand so it needs a lot of love before plants go in.

First off, I have to say that I love all your videos, your attitude and all the wonderful advice you give. I've been binge watching your videos and my garden is looking all the better for it, thanks to all the motivation you transmit. When putting together a no dig bed, in any climate but especially in dry areas, it is very much so recommended to wet the cardboard down thoroughly before putting on the compost. Not that it can't be done afterwards, but then it takes way longer, because first the compost soaks up all the water before it reaches the cardboard. Talking from experience here... I even had the cardboard showing off the edges and the heat would just suck all the water out of the cardboard and then out of the compost and soil... Hard lessons stick I guess. I hope you get a nice deep drenching rain so nothing of what I wrote matters :) Best wishes and greetings from Uruguay

This video is so timely for me! I am adding onto an existing flower bed and decided to try the no dig method but I wasn't sure how I was going to plant in it afterwards! Thank you, as always, for all the content you put out! I have been watching for a few years now and I think this is the first time I've ever commented! I start my day with you guys and I can never thank you enough for inspiring a love of gardening in me that I didn't even know was possible! ❤️

Oh my goodness, don't skip the planting! I LOVE watching that part!! I live vicariously when I can't do the planting myself! Beautiful plants today!

We just used this method in our raised bed area and it has worked so far, 2 weeks in. Good luck!

I used the cardboard method years ago and it worked wonders. I used it in my gardens. I planted my flowers first and then I'd wet the cardboard and tear it then put it around the flowers. After it was all down I put down my mulch.

Nice job, Laura and Aaron. I’ve seen people cut out a circle from the cardboard with a utility knife before they plant. I realize the cardboard wasn’t the issue, but rather the hardness of the packed soil, but cutting a circle would at least get the cardboard out of the way. I think you will like using cardboard. So much easier than digging up the sod. It will smother the grass and roots. Everything is looking so nice.

South garden is looking gorgeous 😍

Ta-da magic planted. I sheet mulched my entire back yard. So much easier than digging out the grass

Just beautiful the things you planted today.

Beautiful Plants/trees. Thank you so much for sharing.

Love that Red cone Spruce😍

Love seeing the garden develop and grow. Beautiful

Thankful for Paul's hard work to be a big help. Your area is looking fabulous. So many beautiful evergreens and flowers. Thank you for your videos that encourage us to make the most of our garden space. Have you ever watched the video from Ouchi garden plus farm. She lives in Japan. Some of her videos have closed captions, unless you can read Japanese. She has a wonderful small garden showing everyone how to make a marvelous garden in a small space.Check out her channel. It is interesting how she plants her pots. Always enjoy your videos. Tab