Use Junk Mail for Garden Mulch

By

Laniegirl

I use this under regular mulch. I was always told not to use the colored print but only the black and white but now they say it is safe to use either because most ink is soy based. When starting a new flower garden, I have used both newspaper and cardboard but of course newspaper breaks down faster. On top of that I have used shredded leaves, compost and mulch. I rarely had to weed anything even after 5 years. I just re-apply mulch and if the mulch has broken down a lot, I start all over again with the newspaper, leaves, mulch. They call this lasagna gardening.

By

Cricketnc

OMG! And all this time I've been bagging up my shredded papers and putting them in the trash! No more! And I love Frausnow's part about putting mulch on top of it! Guess what I'll be doing in the morning!

By

druidana

This is brilliant. is it ok 2 put the colored ads in there as well? or should I just use the newspapers? TIA. dru

By

frausnow

I thought of using just shredded newspaper, but was afraid it would dry out between waterings and wind up all over the yard. We have water usage restrictions in our area because of drought. So, I do use it un-shredded under mulch and as cookiesky mentioned, it does meld together, which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing. It works great as a weed barrier and keeps the earth underneath nice and moist. Lots of earthworms, too.

By

Cookiesky

I also do this but find that after several waterings the shredded paper melds together and becomes stiff. What can I do to remedy this?

By

Cookiesky

I also do this but find that after several waterings the shredded paper melds together and becomes stiff. What can I do to remedy this?