Should i use newspaper under mulch

The newspaper mulch will not only keep the weeds down, it will also fertilize the soil, cool the roots of the plants in the summer heat, add organic material to the soil, and save water. Earthworms will be active underneath the mulch, tilling the ground for you and adding worm castings, which is pure gold for plants.

Melinda R. Cordell, a former horticulturist who is now working on an MFA in writing for children from Hamline University, lives in northwest Missouri with her family and five hens. This is a basket I made after teaching myself a new skill one year. Photo by Jenny Underwood Winter is fast approaching in our neck of the woods, the Midwest.

Window boxes add charm and a pop of color to your home and they take very little work to go from drab to fab! Do what you can, with what you have, where you are is our motto or in this case with the backyard gardening space available.

Gift Cards. Newspaper under mulch. Second Are the daylilies planted first or the paper put down first? Third Should all weeds be removed first or can paper be placed over them? A creeping grass is one of my worst followed by a sedge type thing Fifth Once down do you replace with more paper on top of mulch when remulching or is once enough? Trying to gain control of weeding chore. Email Save Comment 7.

Featured Answer. I'll try to answer your questions - I used about 20 pages at a time. I had a BIG stack of newspapers and figured the thicker the better. Most of my daylilies were already planted. I've added a few since laying the paper down and the shovel cut through the paper easily. The newspaper has already started to break down. I removed all weeds first. It seems to be working on most weeds in my yard. But I didn't lay it close to my lawn grass because my husband would've shredded it when edging the beds.

The paper and mulch is back about 4 inches from the lawn. I'm sure I'll have to replace the newspaper the next time I mulch. It is breaking down faster than the cypress mulch I used in the back yard and faster than the pine straw in the front yard. Like 1 Save. Sort by: Oldest. Newest Oldest. Like Save. Related Discussions Masonry heater newspaper Q. Definitely not opposed to a "furniture" type piece I just want it to look good It can be seeds from trees.. They are easy to pull out and probably, if covered with some mulch, they will die.

Every year I see different weeds, so I don't question anymore their origin:. Landscaping with bushes, shrubs and mulch Q. I think you should take your water hose and pretend it's the border of your mulch bed. That way you can visually see the space created for plantings. If you can't buy a lot of plants right now, then don't make a huge plant bed, or else it will be a lot of work controlling the weeds. You can also use some pots or buckets to represent plants and lay them out in the grass.

Maybe something linear to represent the shrubs as hedges Doing it on the computer helps, but there is nothing like gauging the scale of the space while walking through it. From the computer image I think you definitely need more shrubs. Look up the size of the shrub as it matures and the recommended spacing and then measure the space you have under a window.

Be sure to factor in for pruning if it's a hedge. When I was heavy into landscape design, I would always start with the specimens I would figure out the places for those and then work to fill in the rest.

These would usually be against the home or adjacent to a hard surface of some kind. Next is the flowering shrubs, which are strategic in drawing the eye through color. The remaining gaps get filled with perennial flowers. I always kept to consistent and repeating color schemes and kept the variation of plants to under Hedges and linear plantings I would do in even numbers and staggered triangulated plantings would be in odd numbers. Never plant one of something unless it is big enough or interesting enough to stand alone and never plant two of something unless it is flanking something like an entrance.

Follow this advice and you can't go wrong. It's not really how many inches of mulch but where you put it that matters. Needless to say that got hauled away and composted. No thanks. So I used cardboard all around my house last year.

Topped it with shredded leaves and grass clippings. Getting ready to plant soon. Only problem was dandelions that came right through the cardboard so will have to dig separately. Also wanted to plant tomatoes last year so lay down cardboard and clippings and then poked holes through to plant the tomatoes.

Worked great. Thanks so much for the reminder! I had forgotten this tried and true remedy. Alas and alack, I made the mistake of buying landscape fabric so-called year by the way and putting mulch over that last year. Halfway through the season, the weeds pushed through.

Have done it before and have been so pleased. I can actually see the tiny primroses this spring, the bloodroots etc. It is so effective. Now, I need to whip up my rabbit deterrent once again and spray my tulips before they sneak by to have dinner! Hi Kevin… This is our 2nd year in this home, and the weeds every spring are getting worse…. Also, we live in Georgia. Will all this newspaper attract roaches? Thank you…. Can you do this procedure if you want to plant grass later? Would you have to remove the newspaper or just thrown good dirt over it and then plant grass?

Wondered if I can use the papers or cardboard in the flower beds around the perimeter of my house? Someone told me to not use any paper products close to the foundation of my house because it would attract termites. Hi Kevin, Dumb question maybe but — do you have perenniels growing in the same location as the weeds? If so, how do they grow when covered with newspaper? Thanks for the great tips on how to get rid of those nasty weeds in the garden, with using a layer of newspaper and leaves or mulch to cover them up.

I plan on trying it on several areas in my yard. Hi Susan — I always wait until my perennials have emerged in spring before laying down the newspaper and mulch. The newspaper is arranged around and between the perennials. Kevin, I look forward to your emails and share with my friends in the Herb Society and Master Gardeners.

Many have enjoyed your treats as well. The newspaper mulch has been used in my garden with great success especially in starting a new bed. Perennials are a favorite of mine and they appreciate a little room without the invasive pests knocking on their door.

I have asked my husband to mow throwing all of the grass seed away from my beds to also reduce the added growth where I do not need it…Thanks so much for a very welcome website. You may have even more earthworms if you use cardboard. I use cardboard to create trails in the weeds. It rains a lot here in Panama from about April or May through mid November.

The weeds grow like crazy! The weeds are a big challenge, and the newspaper will help. This is one of the most beneficial posts I have ever read. I love my gardens but with age and arthritis I am finding it harder every year to do the necessary work.

This years I put in a large rose garden and for Mothers day My kids did the planting and the newspapers and wood chipped the top. I am looking forward to a beautiful garden with minimal work. Thank you Thank you. Kevin you are wonderful!!!

I know the onion weeds keep growing, but I think my rocks have babies!!!! Sooo many, been clearing my garden for years now! My neighbor planted bamboo and his yard is overrun with it. I am now getting his runners and several sprouts in my yard, will newspaper stop bamboo? If not, do you know what will? If it keeps coming over, I will have to sell my house.

Thanks you so much for this tip Kevin. I have done this to two problem areas and it does work. Just have to do the watering quick if the wind is blowing.

Hi there. The garden I have trouble fighting weeds in is full of peonies and bearded iris. The iris are the problem… if a beautiful one. Wondering if there is a way to use the newspaper without the iris rhisomes rotting… I love my iris but the yearly weed battle has me about worn out.

My neighbour has been advocating the newspaper method for quite some time. I had a property management company come and do a spring cleanup, weeding, mulching, etc. Garden was a mess. I requested that they lay newspaper before spreading the mulch and they did not do so. Just wondering how I shoukd proceed from this point? Then you can lay down newspaper about 8 pages thick to really smother the existing weeds , and cover it with the mulch you removed. This works amazing. First I took boiling water and poured it all over the area I was making a plant bed for this season.

Then i put down the newspaper and we poured more boiling water. I was amazed this year how clean the area was with all the rain we got. I was going to do a planter bed there but found some beautiful planters and we put down fresh mulch and the planters with beautiful color and it looks amazing. I want to try this but am wondering if I should do this now fall or spring? If I do it now I run the risk of pulling it all up when I rake up the impending onslaught of leaves.

Come spring perhaps I should rake remaining leaves, put paper down, mulch….? Hi Dawn — You are right — spring is the time to apply newspaper as a weed-barrier. Have fun with your project! I was initially thinking of buying a sod cutter to remove the existing lawn and then renting a tiller to till the soil before laying the sod next spring. I never thought of using cardboard or newspaper to smother grass. Instead of compost or wood chips place on paper or cardboard, could i put dirt from my container garden.

I grew tomatoes in containers and now need to do something with that soil and a flower bed that could use some more dirt. I love the idea of the newspaper. I live in Uruguay, South America, but I will certainly try it.

Plus the ground here is poor and I have to battle all kinds of pests in my plants. Working in my garden is relaxing and enjoyable for me. Thanks for all the good ideas. Could I use this trick to rid my garden of weeds so I can sow a lawn in a month or so when hopefully some nice Spring weather arrives?

I am in Oklahoma and have beds with iris and daylilies and Bermuda grass has crept in…overa period of years will I have to dig up all the plants and get rid of the grass and weeds before I can get the weeds out , then put the iris and lilies back in the soil and then use the newspaper and much? The newspaper directly around the plants and cardboard in lager areas.

Kevin, I have a question. Housing development butted up to farmland. The trees make a great natural wind block and add privacy.

Our lush, green grass originally from seed goes up to the tress. The problem: The spruce trees which are now approximately 20 years old are starting to get thin on the bottom, so we would like to add a few rows of bushes and perennials in front of them to make a thicker screen. Would your newspaper method work to smother lush sod?

Hi Kevin. So glad someone else grows Baptisia. Love those plants. Ordered 2 new ones this year from Bluestone. Love your column. Thank you for all your great recipes and helpful hints. No matter how much I pull it comes back every year. Any remedies? Garden Design is a good mag. Used to have a scrip but let it lax. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks for showing us the nice-n-easy way to weed-free garden areas. Roughly sq. Hello Kevin, as good as newspapers are for weeds, I wonder whether you have a natural solution to curbing or getting rid of Mosquito infestation?

I have a small potted garden and the blessed mosquito as invaded and making my life a misery when sitting out. Pots have roses, impatient, portalacula,sage, rosemary,basil, geranium. I do hope you have a solution!

Thank you in advance. Yes I could see where the NYTimes could be good smothering material… ha! Love your blog, your ideas and you.. I have tried for years to create a very low maintenance perennial garden and have been pulling my hair out yearly trying to stop weeds.

And spent a fortune. My fingers and toes are crossed. I have to try something. I have been using newspaper, phone books and junk mail for years. I highly recommend wetting the material shortly before putting it down. To the dirt if possible. Apply about 4 deep sheets, more if you have stolen grasses. Wet paper adheres to the ground and does not blow around. Straw, leaves, wood chips are placed over the paper.

The wheelbarrow idea was great because you can move the water and paper as you go. Cardboard should be used with caution in walkways. Soaked it works great BUT Corrogated cardboard is glued together. It sometimes slips apart and you end up walking on a slippery sliding path that can dump you. I have also used old natural fiber carpet that I find on the curb in the community clean up. Have not tilled a garden in years.

Just move the carpets around. Normally get 2 to 3 years before they go back in the trash. Nothing grows through these. I am 68 and expect them to last the rest of my gardening days. Biggest problem seemed to be staples and soda pop spills which attracted bees for awhile. I now keep the bottom smooth side facing up. I once found large amounts of this in a dumpster and thought it would be sort of like paper mache.

It did not take water like newsprint and it was difficult to cover with wood chips. The birds loved it! Especially the starlings and sparrows. They carried it all over the neighborhood and soon there were messy nest of white, pink, blue and yellow paper.

If you are able to locate it and just need a no till garden the best material I ever found was sheets of corrugated roofing tin. Highly frowned on by neighborhood associations but if you have high fences and a backyard or live out in the country it works awesome. We used ours for over 15 years. We had sections 8,10,12 foot long and about 30 inches wide from a demolished outbuilding. We put it between most of our planting rows but especially rows of corn, tomatoes and peppers.

The metal helped warm up the soil and squash and warm weather crops got an early jump on the season. It seemed the reflected light seemed to be an extra bonus also. When weeds did appear in the planted rows they were pulled and tossed on the metal paths where they dried up in short order.

Sometimes I left them there and sometimes they went into a bucket with rain water to make mulch tea. Raccoons will eventually lose fear of the metal but the deer would not walk on it. It also seemed to cut down on some bugs. Actually discouraged some neighborhood mishchief makers one night. Oddly enough the metal actually conserved moisture. Once the plants grew they shaded the metal and rain was channeled under the sheets of metal.

Corn was taller and sent side roots under the metal. One year winds flattened the neighbors corn but mine stayed upright. In the fall we mowed the planting rows. Later you just shift the metal to cover the mowed area and plant the previous years path.

We did have several garter snakes that seemed to like to stay under the metal where they seemed to be eating crickets and worms. So I took your advice and covered the spaces with newspaper — aah! Much less weeding to do! And I do have leaf mulch gleaned from the gutters ready to put down. Thank you Kevin! Looks interesting but how about inks leaking harmful chemicals in the ground? I thought that was why newspaper should never be composted. Hi Anne — Regarding newspaper ink, be sure to read the paragraph under the last photograph.

Thanks for the great idea. Have been looking for ways to stop weeds and grass from invading my rose plants. BUT, once the grass dried and so did the newspaper, the wind blew the grass off the paper and the paper went flying. So what to do now?? I am in Florida, to prevent weeds growing in the flower bed , I put cardboard on the soil then rocks on top. Do these card boards cause termites? Please, let me know. But more importantly, the mass of the medium is pulp, which contains dioxin, chlorine and many other nasties like BPA, all of which concentrate as paper gets recycled.

Same applies for cardboard, except that boxes, like shipping pallets, are often sprayed with insecticides for shipping. The newspaper ia a good idea, if you do not have Robins. They scratched throug the mulch and made a mess of the paper underneath.

Looked like a battlezone. Had to put my privacy slat from the chain link fence down to discourage them, so will not use that method again. How would you handle weed abatement for the weeds that grow in the bed of a long, wide drainage ditch bordered by large rip rap rocks and some desireable flowers and plants?

I have considered your newspaper and mulch solution but am worried it would be washed away in the first big storm. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance. I first heard of this trick a few years ago from a friend. I have been battling with horsetails at our weekend home for years. I tried newspaper and cardboard with mulch or compost on top. Last year we finished a kitchen remodel and have a ton of cardboards. I laid two layers of cardboards.

I still have to hand weed every weekend and a week later the yard looks the same — a horsetail garden. Can you tell me what I have done wrong? I have tried this in spring and fall. The area is on a slope so I have to weight the paper or cardboards down with rocks. I read somewhere that horsetail likes poor soil. Do you think some fertilizer would help? Love your post — just got a gallon of vinegar to kill the docks on driveway. Barbara Bush would approve of using the NY Times this way.

You must have known that I was in a bit of a state today wondering how to rid my garden of chickweed!! I shall try the newspapers and hopefully it will cut the weeds for a while.

Hello, I have a lot of weeds in my garlic bed and want to do this. However I also want to plant my garlic fall planting will my garlic pop through the newspaper or should I try to place it on top? What do you suggest?

Also side note: recycling is great, but if your in a pinch and you need a lot of news paper you can go to any local newspaper and they will have paper end which are dirt cheap pun haha , it also easier to just roll out a big roll if you are trying to cover a large area. I have heard some great success stories regarding the use of newspaper instead of traditional weed mat, and newspaper is much less expensive.

The key is to use very thick layers, ten sheets or more, to create a more dense barrier to smother the weeds. The newspaper will break down as it gets wet and weathered, so the thicker the layers the longer it takes to break down. I have been hoarding the pennysavers and local papers that are thrown on my driveway every week.

I am also collecting the old pennysavers from the local paper stands, which just get recycled anyways. I am so tired of pulling weeds, although it is good exercise. Hi Kevin, Question: We have an ailing ancient sugar maple and our tree service recommended removing the grass from a large area around the tree and mulching to help with moisture retention. Can I assume that your method would work on large swaths of lawn as well as within existing gardens? This seems like the perfect solution — yes?

Thanks so much for all of your fascinating gardening advice. I just recently started my milk-jug winter-sown seeds. Hope they sprout! Thanks for not just telling us but showing us too. Got it and will try it in my blueberry shrub bed. This is a form of lasagna gardening at its best. I finally found a good source of organic matter. There are House Rabbit Societies all over the U.

I pick up bags and bags of their rabbit litter. I apply a layer of mulch over the fertilized hay and bunny droppings.

My soil is so much better now. I have two favorite garden sayings regarding mulch: 1 No one knows what lies beneath. Thanks for getting the word out. An excellent use of the NYT I live in a major metro area. I and my friends or neighbors do not subscribe to our local newspaper.

It has been next to impossible getting old news paper. Ive tried the usual sources-no luck. I have resorted to cardboard amazon but weeds still come up, although not as many.

And the worms love it. Are there no foragers among this group of gardeners? I love you, Kevin, this site and all I have learned. I am surprised, however, that all weeds are spoken of as the enemy rather than as a free and highly nourishing food!

Kevin, I would love to see you incorporate them in some of your wonderful recipes. Or create a category of recipes just for them. Wild onions and garlic mustard can be quite delicious. Dandelion greens, that were mentioned in the comments, are a gift and the flowers are quite medicinal. On Long Island in New York, I harvest many of the weeds I like to call them native plants and cultivate them as I do herbs, not allowing them to take over, but growing them either in pots or in their own confined area of my edible garden, as I would rapidly spreading mint or oregano.

My favorite natives to include in salads in addition to dandelion greens are chickweed, purslane and lambs quarter. Mallow flowers make a beautiful addition to your salad, and their leaves can thicken your soup or gravy!

I was excited to see some broad leaf plantain growing this year in my backyard. My daughter, who is an herbalist taught me to use it externally as well. For those of you who prefer to avoid dousing yourself with toxic chemicals, mugwort can be brewed as a tea and sprayed on oneself every couple of hours to keep away mosquitos and other insect pests.

There are many informative books and articles on the subject of the positives of weeds. Just my two cents.. Hope I have provided something of value although not the original topic. As others have asked, will it work with the kind of pokey weed grass with root system that spread underground. It has taken over my flower garden and seems impossible to eradicate.

Chemicals and soy ink and mice—oh, my!