[Benandbill]

Does anyone know of any ways that this can be done/suggested practical uses for thick brown cardboard before I bin it all?  We've had deliveries of household goods and therefore have tonnes of the stuff!!  I've heard of using it with chicken wire to make a compost bin but I already have a compost bin so don't want to do that.....

[bigben]

It is good for suppressing weeds - either by covering big areas or to make collars to cover the area round fruit bushes to stop weeds popping up under goosberries where weeding is hard to do. It can also be composted but you might need to chop or shred it. Its great if you need to get a fire going if your allotment allows them. I use it to line things that I then plant in. I found a number of those plastic bread trays that loaves are delivered to shops in when I took over my allotment. If you line them with cardboard they are a decent size and depth for use in the greenhouse for growing basil and cut and come again stuff.

[potatogrower]

think i watched one of the gardeners programme a while back and they used it some 5 or more inches below ground, dampened it with plenty of water to line it all up with rotten compost and planted peas on top as you would normally do. said it give vital nutrients for peas to grow and decays as normal.

[Christine]

I used all the cardboard from the kid's new kitchen and boiler in layers on the compost heap over one season. Layer of green, layer of cardboard, layer of green, layer of cardboard. I just let it soak in the water butt so that it was damp when it went on compost heap.

No shredding, no ripping, just a layer. It rotted perfectly. And the courgettes and marrows were quite happy growing on said compost heap this year. 

[paintedlady]

I used large sheets much like a weed suppressant in the fruit bush beds and piled bark chippings on them - also acted like a mulch that summer