Using Newspaper Under Mulch

What a good idea. Maybe this would be an answer to the cats fouling in the mulch too - if I suspect cat attack I can lift the paper. When do you add the newspaper? Is it too late to do this now?

Cheryl

February 19, 20090 found this helpful

It's not too late to do it, I add the newspaper around the plants as soon as I plant my tomato plants, etc. I sew rows & "hills" of green beans, squash, so i place the newspaper in between rows and around the hills, so the seeds can sprout. I use the mulch more to help hold the paper down in place. I leave it the entire season. I pull up the plants that die out, and leave all the paper & mulch in place until I till in the spring. I take a garden rake, pull back the mulch and till the decomposed newspaper into the soil.

I have read that sometimes newspaper print may have lead in it's ink, and lead doesn't decompose. May be absorbed by the plants and absorbed by YOU. Please use caution when using newspaper as mulch in growing food.

LENA

February 24, 20090 found this helpful

hubby and i do the same put newspaper down
mulch on top. my son gets truck loads of mulch from the sewer plant.
might smell for a few days in the end have a beautiful flower and veggie garden

Anonymous

February 27, 20090 found this helpful

Newspaper is great for mulching, and for keeping weeds at bay. Newspaper does really great for my cherry bushes.

Susan H.

August 26, 20130 found this helpful

When I put in a new bed this summer, rather than remove all the sod I dug a hole for the new plants, covered the area around the plants with newspapers, then applied the mulch. Later when I wanted to add new plants, I pulled back the mulch and the grass was dead.