Repurposing Empty Feed Sacks In The Garden

by Texas Homesteader ~

What if I told you that you could use an ordinary paper feed sack to significantly reduce your time spent in the garden weeding, plus help preserve moisture in the soil and feed the earthworms at the same time? It’s true, y’all.

Spring is on its way! I’ve already planted up my Indoor Greenhouse with my heirloom seeds. That way I’ll be able to put actual heirloom seedlings in the ground come spring.

Aaaaahhhh… Who else is dreaming of the garden season?

But now it’s time to get in & prep the garden for a new growing season. I’m a big fan of repurposing items wherever possible using my battle cry “Use Whatcha Got!

See how I use these empty heavy triple-layer paper feed sacks that would just be trash as a valuable time-saving asset in my garden.

Bermuda Grass – Gardener’s Enemy

Around these parts, Bermuda grass is a wonderful forage grass for livestock, but a sneaky villain for any gardener.

Although I’ve finally found a way to Stop Bermuda Grass from my landscape plantings, the garden has always been a struggle due to its size.

I mean, how do you stop the dreadful march of common Bermuda grass? It invades from both above the ground with long runners as well as below ground with encroaching rhizomes.

In our area of NE Texas, Bermuda grass is the bane of the gardening season. Try as you may, you can never dig out all the underground rhizomes.

And once the dry hot summer months come it’s neigh impossible to dig through harder dirt and remove the threat. Those rhizomes grow deep sometimes. Deep!

I’ve spent more hot, sweaty hours than I can count on my hands & knees trying to dig Bermuda grass from my raised beds.

And I’ve lost that war Every. Stinkin’. Year.

Planning My Bermuda-Grass Strategy

So I got to thinking about ways to finally outsmart my Bermuda-grass enemy.

I know it spreads above ground by the runners, but with diligence that can be overcome. We’ll keep the grass cut short around my garden.

And any long runners that attempt to get into my fenced garden area will be removed by hand before they get a chance to root and continue their march.

If things get away from me and some of those runners do make it into my garden somehow, I’ll use my homemade Grass Killer Spray to kill the runners before they get a chance to take hold.

This is the only weed killer I’m comfortable using inside my garden area. (besides physically digging out weeds.)

But although this homemade weed killer works great against the top growth, it doesn’t kill the underground rhizomes. So it’s not a complete solution, just another tool in my outsmart-bermuda-grass toolbox.

As a secondary line of defense I’ll also often spray a swath around the outside perimeter of my garden to keep those runners from sneaking through the fence.

But what about those blasted underground rhizomes? How can I assure that the below-ground assault is won? Hummmm….

What if I created a no-grow area just inside my garden wide enough that the rhizomes would have to travel far before being able to finally being able to reach up for the light?

Maybe I could make those rhizomes use up all their plant energy just attempting to get to the other side. Hopefully that will result in weak or even dying rhizomes.

Using Empty Paper Feed Sacks

RancherMan has been saving empty feed sacks for me all year. Now I haul ’em all out of the feed shed, pull the bottom strip off of the empty bags and stack them all flat.

When I get several of them flattened out I haul them to the garden. I’ve also got access to all the Free Wood Chips I want.

I’m using these two waste products to set up my defense against having grass or weeds of any kind growing up in my walkways. This removes the chore of weeding for the most part.

Hot summer months with less weeding in the garden? Um, YES PLEASE!

But I’m also tackling my Bermuda grass problem. So the exterior walkways will be wider than normal.

Before the wood chips go down I first lay these thick multi-layer paper feed sacks flat over the walking paths, being sure to overlap them so there’s less chance of weeds growing between sacks.

I make sure to make the walking paths at the edges of my garden 3-ft or more wide to outsmart the Bermuda grass rhizomes.

(shakes fist) You’ll NOT win this year, sneaky Bermuda grass. You’ll NOT win!!

Finally I cover those paper feed sacks with a very thick layer of that free wood mulch. Done and DONE!

Not only does it look nice and make it easier to walk through my garden walkways even after a rain, but my hope is that it also stops Bermuda grass from entering my garden in the first place.

Winning Against Bermuda Grass

And believe it or not, it WORKED! No Bermuda grass runners made it into my garden. (…and the clouds opened and the choirs sang.)

I’d actually won the war against Bermuda grass in the garden for the first time EVER! No poisons and no hands-and-knees digging sessions beneath that hot Texas sun.

I won the war by just using a couple of free resources that previously would have just been wasted.

I’ll be diligent every year to make sure it stays that way!

I love that I’ve been able to take a couple of waste products and use them in my garden. It not only saves me untold hours weeding in the hot Texas sun, but also preserve the moisture in the soil. Plus the earthworms love paper.

So those lowly feed sacks are actually helping my garden soil as well.

~TxH~

My Favorite Garden Hacks

17 thoughts on “Repurposing Empty Feed Sacks In The Garden”

Marla at

It just goes to show that there are so many ways we can repurpose & reuse. I don’t have feed bags to use but I do use old papers & cardboard. Congratulations on being featuring on #WasteLessWednesdays. Happy Spring! Sharing on twitter & pinning!

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  It’s really effortless most times Marla, just requires thinking outside the box sometimes. What you’ve already got oftentimes fits the bill quite nicely, solves a problem, saves some money or saves some landfill-bound trash (or ALL of the above!) ~TxH~
  
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Katy SkipTheBag at

What a great idea. We use cardboard, but if we had these feed bags I’d be using them! Thanks for sharing on the Waste Less Wednesday Blog Hop. This will be featured next week!

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  How awesome Katy – thanks for the feature! ~TxH~
  
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daisy at

Fantastic idea! I think I will steal it for our new homestead. Thank you!

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  Please do, Daisy. You don’t have to pay for something to reduce weed pressure, you don’t have to weed as much, the moisture in the soil is preserved and you don’t have to throw away the paper-sack byproduct of feeding your animals. It’s a high-five win all the way around! ~TxH~
  
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Marty at

I used feed sacks to plant potatoes in this winter. They are coming up great. When they are done growing I just have to dump out the soil and potatoes. I am using the sacks that chicken feed comes in that is more like webbed plastic.

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  All our feed sacks are typically made of paper, but my last chicken feed came in the webbed plastic bag like you described. I may have to give that a try, Marty. Thanks for the tip. ~TxH~
  
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Anne In The Kitchen at

We do the same thing! All my garden paths are lined with feed sacks and then covered wth mulch. We also started a running gag a few years ago. We use old feed sacks as gift wrap. There have been some pretty creative variations on this theme! Thanks, for sharing!

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  Clever Anne – love the feed-sack wrapping thing. ~TxH~
  
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Christianne at

Wow! I never thought of that! I have been saving cardboard boxes and throwing the feed sacks away! Thank you so much for this post!
Love, Christianne

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  We’re careful to remove the bottom rib before laying the sacks down Christianne. I found the string sewn into the top & bottom ribs just doesn’t deteriorate, so when it’s time to lay more paper sacks the strings from the prior layer of sacks will still be there, creating a mess. It’s worth the extra time to remove the bottom rib (the top rib being removed when the bag was first opened) ~TxH~
  
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  1. Christianne at
    
    I will keep that in mind, thank you very much!
    
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ColleenB.~Texas at

Using bags like that and keeps down the weeds is a Good Thing.
Tonia; if you have a Tractor Supply in your area make a note or flyer stating you; Wanting empty, paper feed bags and put on their bulletin board which is usually located back by the restrooms.

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  Yep, and it gets ’em out of RancherMan’s way in the feed shed too Colleen. And it makes something very useful out of something that would otherwise go to the landfill. ~TxH~
  
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tonia conner at

What a great idea, all we feed is chickens and there are only 8. I going to look to a neighbor who has goats and horses and see if I can get some from him.

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  Any of your neighbors that has those paper feed sacks will be happy to get them out of their way Tonia. Win/win! ~TxH~
  
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~Texas Homesteader~

Working To Provide For Ourselves On Our Homestead