Now, there you go - great gardening info. Thanks. That’s a lot of plants to tend. Sounds great. I like what you are doing with the newspapers and hay.
I am sure it works out really well. I did something similar back when I had a bunch of old newspaper. It really helped keep the weeds down among other things, now that you mention it. I had kinda forgotten all about it.
Sometimes, I use my shredded paper for mulch. It’s got to be better to put the plants into the space after the newspaper/mulch is already down though. That’s for sure.
Thanks for the info. It was very interesting, and I am sure others will find it helpful too.
“Sometimes, I use my shredded paper for mulch.”
The blackberry plants came in a long box with shredded paper as a cushion. Is it okay to put that shredded paper in the composter?
We don’t take the newspaper anymore but hubby picks up 1/2” of sales circulars whenever he’s in a grocery store, big box store or drugstore and we use those. My MIL saves her papers for us and hubby usually pilfers the days paper out of the garbage can in the break room at work when he can. We end up with a giant stack.
We use cardboard boxes (cereal boxes, jello boxes, cream cheese boxes, etc but no electronics or toy boxes, those are from china) for walkways and around more permanent stuff like my strawberries and other fruit.
YMMV, of course. I’m going to do a bit of raking oak leaves tomorrow and spread those around my already sprouted garlic. I will probably put newspaper/cereal boxes down in between the varieties just so I have someplace to walk in case it rains and the garden turns into gumbo.