The Magic of Newspaper Mulch

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PHOTOS: EUGENE ENGELDINGER
LEFT: Tuck newsprint around the sprounting spuds to keep pesky weeds at bay. RIGHT: The result of the simple newspaper mulching process: a tremendous harvest of tasty potatoes!

When our family moved to a new country home in Wisconsin, the first thing we did was scout out the property’s most promising garden spot. We eventually settled on a sunny site which, judging from its thick growth of grass, was highly fertile. However, when we tilled the plot that fall the furrows revealed a thick mat of quack grass rhizomes . . . and we began to suspect that the fight against the weed might be more than we’d bargained for.

We gave the battle our best shot, though: In the spring we found a quack grass digger at an auction, attached the tool to our tractor, and vigorously worked the soil to expose the weed’s roots to sunshine and drying winds. Nevertheless, soon after our crops were planted, the quack came back with a vengeance … along with an unbelievable number of other weeds.

Worse yet, the time needed to fulfill various other responsibilities (such as building a new roof on the chicken coop, fencing in the sheep, etc.) prevented us from devoting the many hours of labor required to purge our uninvited garden growth. Soon the weeds pushed right through the thin layer of mulch we’d applied, and when a drought came in August the garden dried up. While weeds flourished, our corn leaves curled … the beet tops wilted … and the cucumbers, melons, and squash stagnated. Our harvest was poor to say the least, but the rich, lush growth of weeds convinced us that the soil was fertile and that our chosen spot was a good one. 

A Careful Experiment

Throughout the next winter, we gave a lot of thought to how we might be able to defeat the weeds (especially the quack grass) with the least amount of work. Herbicides were rejected out of hand because of the effects they’d have on the soil and our produce. We considered using heavy mulching, but experience has taught us that the pernicious quack blades can penetrate all but the deepest covering of compost or mulch, and since we have a sizable garden, we felt we could never accumulate sufficient organic material.

  • Published on May 21, 2021
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