In keeping with national gardening month, and as an eco-friendly alternative to using chemical weed killers, try using your old newspapers.
"Instead of purchasing expensive landscape cloth, herbicides or spending hours on your knees pulling weeds, good old fashion newspaper is a great substitute to control unsightly weeds.
"Use several sheets of newspaper as you would landscape cloth. Cover the paper with soil, mulch or landscape stones. It allows moisture into the soil and blocks most weeds for at least three years. The thicker the layer of paper, the longer it will last. Eventually, the newspaper composts into the soil. (Note: Depending on its lignin content, newspaper may break down very slowly, but it is safe to compost. Caution should be used with glossy magazines, which sometimes use heavy metal based inks. Source: css.cornell.edu)
"Also, run old newspaper through paper shredder and add it to compost pile. It will turn to compost within a few weeks."
Source: Tip Hero
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Buck Stretcher is our daily 2 cents on how to make your paycheck go further. Got other ideas for saving money and spending it more wisely? Send it to Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN .
