The Magic of Newspaper Mulch

Image Gallery 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! PHOTOS: EUGENE ENGELDINGER

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.

Black plastic was also a possibility, but because we wanted to give the land the benefit of decaying matter it was soon rejected. We wanted to use a material that would decompose but that would (for at least three months) deny the weeds access to sunlight, yet allow rain and air to penetrate the soil. Finally, we decided to try newspaper mulch ­— a layer or two of newspaper covered with a mulch of leaves and grass.

Rather than use the "new" method on the whole garden right away, we figured we'd test it out on our potato rows. By April 20th the garden was tilled, and we had planted 10 pounds of Norland Reds, 10 pounds of Kennebecs, and 10 pounds of Sebagoes.

No more attention was paid to the crop until the end of May, when the sprouts were two to five inches tall. The weeds were also coming in strong at that time, but instead of hoeing them down we mulched right over them ... in an attempt to smother the pesky plants out.

Two to four sheet layers of newspaper were spread over the potato patch, leaving three-inch-square spaces around the sprouts. After that, the contents of numerous bags of leaves, grass, and pine needles that had been collected during spring lawn cleaning were placed to a thickness of two or three inches over the paper. (The extra organic material kept the sheets from blowing away and provided a cushion, allowing us to walk down the rows throughout the summer without making holes for the weeds to grow through.)