Hi monte...why not wait until you have a nice day when the wind isn't blowing...that isn't hard to figure out...:-). Saves all that paper from blowin' across the street and gettin' stuck all over your neigbors trees and bushes...anyway...keep things simple...Franklin

Hey Monte,

That's a great idea. I live in a pretty windy area, and don't have many days that are truly calm enough. I've had the same experience you have with the blowing paper, and sometimes trying to hit it with the water hose makes work very muddy.

I'm definately going to try your method the next time I lay paper.

Thanks,

-S

I have never had a problem with the wind and my newspaper because as soon as that section of paper is plunked down I put some mulch on it to hold it in place. Messing with wet newspaper can be more trouble than it is worth because wet paper tends to tear apart too easily.
Put a section of paper down and cover it with some mulch to hold it there and the wind, unless it is blowing at small gale, won't move it.

Definitely a great idea, I have the same problem, once you lay down a sheet or two, then turn to hit them w/ the hose, they're already gone! Sometimes, I also use twigs & sticks to 'pin' the corners...

Great idea! It is the only way I do it. Even the slightest of breeze will take the paper away and there is no better time than now to prevent weeds.

oldmainer

"Hi monte...why not wait until you have a nice day when the wind isn't blowing...that isn't hard to figure out...:-). "

The problem is your window of opportunity to get something done dosen't always coincide with perfectly calm days. Often you have to do things when the time allows.

kimmsr

"Messing with wet newspaper can be more trouble than it is worth because wet paper tends to tear apart too easily."

True enough if your handling a sheet or two. I generally grab 8-10 sheets at a time and at that thickness it is very compliant.

We use a tub, put a large stack of newspapers in and fill with water (have used our wheelbarrow in the past). Once they are soaked through we start laying them out, I like to overlap by several inches to prevent gaps. Once we get a nice sized area done we add our amendments (if my compost pile is overflowing I will use unfinished compost) and mulch and proceed to the next section.

We live in a small town with a small weekly newspaper. DH made arrangements to pick up their leftovers once a month. We had papers stacked in the garage and in his shop LOL so he told them to toss them until we can catchup.

We have DayFlower coming up like crazy and I figured out yesterday we did this to ourselves! We composted what we pulled out so without realizing it we "planted" the stuff in our new beds...I hate the stuff!!

Right now our mulch is grass clippings, during the winter we buy whatever is available at the local Wal-Mart. Our neighbor mows several yards and he brings the grass clippings to us. We are covering up our lawn with lasagna beds so we have very few grass clippings.

Peggy

Monte--

I fill a wheelbarrow with water and dredge the sheets through the water before laying them down and covering with grass clippings. Red neck method -- low cost.

I like the idea of a container of wet paper. BUT - no one has addressed how one PLANTS through newspaper. I have a lot of bulbs to put down tomorrow. I planned to poke or cut holes in the paper - or depending on how well I can kneel and bend tomorrow - leave a narrow (uncovered) row to poke bulbs into. How do YOU plant through 3 - 5 sheets of wet paper? cora

west_texas_peg

"We use a tub, put a large stack of newspapers in and fill with water (have used our wheelbarrow in the past). Once they are soaked through we start laying them out"

A large stack at one time? You must have nimble fingers to be able to seperate out the sheets once they are soaked

Maupin

"I fill a wheelbarrow with water and dredge the sheets through the water before laying them down and covering with grass clippings. Red neck method -- low cost."

Wheelbarrow works fine also. Can someone who has never been south of Cape May be a redneck? If so sign me up. Dredge is exactly the right word to describe the process. Grab up however many sheets you feel are needed and just sort of slip-slide 'em thru the water bath.

corar

"I like the idea of a container of wet paper. BUT - no one has addressed how one PLANTS through newspaper. I have a lot of bulbs to put down tomorrow. I planned to poke or cut holes in the paper - or depending on how well I can kneel and bend tomorrow - leave a narrow (uncovered) row to poke bulbs into. How do YOU plant through 3 - 5 sheets of wet paper? cora"

I suspect bulbs would have no problems coming up thru the paper so you could just set them out, lay in the paper then mulch and you would be fine. As far as planting out I primarily use this in my veggie beds. I lay the paper out over the bed and simply poke/slice in a hole with the Hori Hori (See Link Below) where I need a planting hole but you could easily poke thru it with a dibble or even your finger if you were putting in seed. While it is wet the newspaper is very easy to work with. After I lay in the transplants I mulch with straw or grass clippings.

FYI Fiskars has recently introduced their own version of the Hori Hori, a tool that has been in use in Asia for hundreds of years. Ahh... progress.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hori Hori Tool

"A large stack at one time? You must have nimble fingers to be able to seperate out the sheets once they are soaked"

We do not waste time separating the sheets; just pick up one whole newspaper that is folded in half (our small town paper is not very large) and plop it into place. I have found that if I put that whole paper down I have few weeds or grass getting through. Plan to put more down on lawn today.

In order to plant right away I either put the plant in place and put papers around the plant or I take more potting soil and put on top of the papers with the seedlings I have grown and then mulch heavily. The papers will breakdown rather quickly.

We are getting older, do not have the money to pay someone to mow when we reach the point we can no longer mow and replacing mowers is expensive on a fixed budget plus I do not like the noise and pollution ; ) If we can get perennials established now then the upkeep will be much simpler.

Peggy

monte--if you've ever been too drunk to fish, you might be a redneck.

Thanks, all for your tips and info. I had to cut my bulb planting time short as the smoke from the Georgia forest/swamp fires was starting to get to me. I used a large plastic drawer salvaged from one of those cheap three-drawer storage units to put the water and newspaper in. I seperated the paper into signatures (sections) of 3 or 4 sheets each as I laid them in the water. Then the puppy jumped in to make sure it all got thoroughly soaked. As a barrier against the fence and the edging, I folded the sections into thirds and worked them deep into the soil. Hopefully, this will keep the dollar weed at bay for a while. Since the bulbs were still blooming, I set them in the soil and laid the paper very close around them. I hope this was a good thing to do because the area is now covered with mulch! cora

I jab sticks through it, or quickly sling a little soil/compost on it.