How to recycle newspaper: Papier mache your garden!

Just prior to Katrina my mother had a subscription to the local newspaper. After the storm, we both thought it would be a great idea to save all of them with the hope of someday putting together a Katrina scrapbook. Someday. To this end - we collected those newspapers (over 365 of them) in boxes which are currently crammed into William's closet.

Realistically, it will be quite a while before I ever find the time to go through all those papers and use them to make that scrapbook. In the meantime - they're taking up way too much space. So I had the brilliant idea of going through the papers and removing the sports, funnies, classifieds, and advertisements to effectively cut those boxes in half.

We don't have a recycling program to speak of here in Pascagoula. I am not sure that there is a recycling program at all -- which is why I don't speak of it.

What we DO have is many large flowerbeds in need of some serious weed control. It just so happens that newspaper not only makes excellent compost material -- it can be used for weed control when laid in thick layers beneath your regular mulch material.

And you can always read the funnies while tending to your garden duties...

The mat of newspaper prevents light from penetrating to the soil below if laid correctly -- thus preventing weeds from sprouting. And of course you're adding excellent organic material to the soil when it breaks down. How can you beat that? (Especially if you happen to have a few hundred pounds of the stuff just lying around anyway...)

Just in case you want to try this technique yourself -- here are a few tips:

• Use only the 'newsprint' sections of the newspaper. The glossy color advertisement pages not only do not break down properly -- I also hear that the ink used is not always the best thing for your garden.
• Lay paper at least 5 to 6 pages thick for best benefit -- thicker if you dare!
• Get the papers sopping wet before laying them. Dry newspapers blow around your garden before you can mulch over them and make you want to use foul language. Wetting the papers helps keep them in place AND helps to seal the edges of the papers together -- preventing light from creeping in...
  
• Like any mulch or 'weed mat' material - be sure to leave plenty of room around the bases of plants or trees so as not to smother the good stuff.

Now I'm off to spread out our pine straw before the newspapers dry out and litter the neighbors yard....