Using Newspaper As Weed Mat

Here are 5 ways using newspaper totally trumps laying down landscaping fabric in your garden.

Using newspaper as weed mat.

We have used newspaper a lot in the past for weed barrier and it works great but doesn t last as long as cardboard. Newspapering your weeded flower beds is a cheap easy way to keep our unwanted weeds by denying them light. Get everything out of there. But for small ish areas and areas that you intent to dig over and change every so often it is a very good choice i think.

This approach can also be used in an area to plant. Using newspaper under mulch prepare your garden bed as you would prepare before you laid down mulch remove any weeds you see this isn t totally necessary. It s a great way to recycle old papers. Pluck out all your crabgrass runners.

When you re first starting out you want to weed real good all around the plant in the row. However the cardboard and newspaper will truly decompose and not leave lingering pieces of litter everywhere. We don t get the newspaper delivered anymore however you can still get ahold of newspaper for gardening. Simply lay a barrier of cardboard or thick newspapers and cover with compost and rich soil.

Have plants in the ground already so you can lay newspaper around them consider. Pull back any mulch you might have already put in place. However the weeds could leave. Newspaper amends the soil leaving it soft and loose if it is currently hard and rocky.

If you have a large area to cover or expect it to last a long time than a proper weed mat is the way to go. If you use newspaper we would recommend several layers like 4 6. Using newspaper instead it takes about three layers of newspaper to provide the same weed blocking benefits as fabric but the paper is easier to tear into smaller strips so you can arrange it in. Cardboard and newspaper will eventually decompose so over time we will need to repeat.

User 10698 34417 posts. 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. If you re really good you would just lay the paper bags when you put the plants in.