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Using Newspaper Under Mulch |
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Mulching is a pain, so if you're going to put all that work into making your beds look nice, why not make it LAST longer? I've found that putting several layers of newspaper down BEFORE laying a layer of mulch helps to keep the weeds out for at least one whole season! The newspaper is porous, so water and nutrients can still pass through and reach the plants, but it blocks the light so that weeds can't germinate. As an added bonus, earthworms LOVE to eat newspaper, and will slowly "compost" it to enrich your soil.
So, collect those newspapers and save those junk ads, and put them to good use! I recommend that the newspaper layer be only 2 to 3 sheets thick, and then add a 1.5-2 inch layer of mulch on top. It's best not to use colored newsprint or "shiny" ad papers.
Happy mulching!
Source: A wise lady at church passed this knowledge on to me many years ago.
By Katy from Nashville, TN
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RE: Using Newspaper Under Mulch
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Post By Nance (Guest Post)
(05/08/2008)
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Corregated cardboard or paperboard also works well as a weed barrier. Worms love to "go on vacation" into the channels of the corregated cardboard, and the glue has nutrition they like.
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RE: Using Newspaper Under Mulch
Something like this has the name "Lasagna Gardening". I have the book somewhere. Really need to search for it.
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RE: Using Newspaper Under Mulch
Colored newspaper print may contain lead, which is why you should NEVER use the colored print as mulch esp. in gardening anything you consume.
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RE: Using Newspaper Under Mulch
YES, it works! We've been doing this in our vegetable garden for several years now. Every spring, we put down several layers of spread out newspaper, then put straw down over it, though any mulch would do. Just pull back the straw and cut a hole in the newspapers wherever you want to put in a plant, or you can plant your garden first and then add the newspapers around the plants. The earthworms DO love the newspaper, they spend their time aerating the soil, making it nice and soft to dig. You don't have to water the garden so much...usually, we only water once or twice during a long dry time at the hottest part of the summer. A friend tilled the garden once a few years ago, but I don't think we've ever done it since then. Where it used to be hard and packed, it's now so soft that I can push the shovel in all the way to the top with one easy push.
No weeds or grass to deal with all summer, just enjoy the fresh produce. You get to recycle all those newspapers rather than sending them to the landfill, PLUS you have a clean nice garden without all the work, what's not to love? We clean up the dead plants in late fall, but leave the paper and straw for the earthworms all winter. Next spring, we start all over with new layers of newspaper and new straw. It took a year's worth of newspapers (our local one is thin) and 3 bales of straw (about $18 total at a farm supply store), plus maybe $16 worth of pre-started veggie plants, for a 20 x 25 foot garden. You can also buy bundles of unsold newspapers from your newspaper office for about 50 cents a bundle, if you read your paper online.
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