8. Six Reasons Why You Should Mulch With Newspaper and Grass Clippings

Mulching with newspaper and grass clippings. Six reasons why you should.

1. reduces the evaporation of water from the soil
2. inhibits the growth of weeds
3. keeps your produce cleaner
4. keeps grass clippings out of the landfill
5. recycles newspapers
6. it's free

One of the challenges of urban farming is finding the time to tend to the food that you are growing. A balance between work, family, kids, husband, garden can be next to impossible to attain.

I like to use my grass clippings as a mulch to inhibit weed growth.
By taking a few minutes each time the grass is cut, I can free up time otherwise spent pulling weeds.

Here's how to do it.

These are my tomato plants. The ground is fairly moist from recent rains. If your soil is dry, water it well before applying mulch.

Lay a double layer of newspaper right on to the soil in between the plants. The newspaper provides a barrier for weed growth and slows down the evaporation of water as well. Make sure to use non glossy news print.

Cover the surface of the newspaper with grass clippings(make sure that you grass has not been sprayed with any pesticides).

Make sure to leave a space around the stem of the plant. Cover the entire surface of the soil with a two to three inch layer of grass clippings.

Even though both grass clippings and news print are biodegradable, I remove them from my garden at the end of the growing season. In my part of the world newspaper takes a long time to break down. I add the 'old' grass clippings to the compost pile at the end of the growing season.

Presto, no more weeds. Such a great thing to do. And its free!
The veggies are way cleaner too because the soil is covered. The vegetables will sit on the grass instead of the soil.
Happy growing.

1. water your garden well
2. lay a double layer of non glossy newspaper in between the plants
3. put 2-3 inches of untreated grass clippings on top of newspaper
4. leave a space around the stem of the plants
5. every time that you cut your grass, add more mulch to your garden