When I had a small in-ground garden, I used newspaper mulch. I did it a little differently, though. First, for watering, I laid down soaker hoses. I shredded the newspaper (it's important to use a strip shredder, NOT a crosscut shredder). Then I filled a wheelbarrow with water and mixed in several tablespoons of flour, enough to make the water cloudy. Then I soaked the newspaper strips in the water. I took them out by the handful and laid them down dripping wet, patting them down gently to make sure all the strips made good contact with each other and no loose ends were sticking up. But it was important not to press too tightly, so rainwater would penetrate. I pressed the shreds together more firmly at the edges of the garden, making neat edges. The flour dried into "glue" (like a wimpy version of papier mache) so the shreds didn't blow off. Shreds also allow more rainwater to soak into the ground than sheets of newspaper. (If you think too much rainwater is running off, you can use a stick or thin bamboo pole to poke holes in the mulch. But more holes means more places for weed seeds to sprout, so there is a tradeoff.) You can put a thin layer of some prettier mulch on top for looks if you want. The newspaper shreds are definitely ugly. Earthworms LOVED my garden after I put down newspaper, congregating at the bottom of the paper and in the soil immediately underneath. Weed control was excellent, with nearly all the weeds at the edges of the garden or where I had pulled the paper back to plant. The time spent preparing and placing the newspaper was a great investment, since I had to do very little weeding, even in the heat of summer. To plant, just use your fingers to pull holes in the newspaper right where you want to put your seeds or transplants. You can make planting rows by using a garden knife to cut through the newspaper in a straight line, then pull the newspaper back to expose the the desired width of soil. When you water your newly-planted seeds or transplants, just tuck down any loose edges while the newspaper is still wet. However, it is bulky, so you'll probably need to remove it completely from an area to sow fine seeds or densely-sown plants like carrots and green onions. (You can work it around these plants when their tops are tall enough, but that's a pain. I usually found it easier to just weed the areas where I planted the small plants. But for lettuce it was worth the hassle of mulching after the seedlings got about four inches tall, because the newspaper kept dirt from getting all over the leaves. The lettuce had fewer diseases and was MUCH easier to wash.) The newspaper really shines as a mulch for larger plants. I found it especially helpful for plants that are susceptible to fungal diseases from dirt splashing on the leaves (such as tomatoes, melons, and squash). You can patch the mulch with more newspaper shreds whenever you take out old plants. To refresh the bed after a growing season, remove the soaker hoses, put compost right on top of the old newspaper, lay the soaker hoses back down, and then lay more newspaper on top. (If the old newspaper is still really thick, you may want to chop it up with a shovel, to make sure water will penetrate below it.) If you end up with more newspaper than you need for mulch, shredded newspaper also works well as "brown" material for the compost pile/bin. I plan to use newspaper mulch on my raised beds after DH and I build them this winter. I am already starting to save papers for this. TLDR version: Newspaper mulch is ugly, but effective. It's also virtually free if you can find people who'll save their newspapers for you.

I see an experiment coming on: Soak newspapers in a large pail of water and stir at least daily until the papers break up into pulp. That's how you start to make your own decorative paper. Then, when you've got a nice pulp, spread it around the base of plants. It should act as a nice mulch. It'll form to the ground and when it dries, it'll firm up and solidify. It should absorb loads of moisture. If it looks unsightly, maybe leaf matter could be added to pretty it up. That should keep the weeds down and the moisture level up. Hah! I might have to give this a try. It could mean a whole lot less weeding in the old garden. :)

I don't know either, but I have to say that the open-end toilet paper holder I put in my newly remodeled bathroom is my VERY favorite feature! LOL. It's just a simple Moen holder, but it sure gives me a real surge of joy when I need to take off the empty roll and pop on a new one. Simple! And I know it's not that hard to change the roll on the regular style of holder, but for some reason it really bugged me. Maybe because it took 2 hands. :)

Greta ~ Wow! That's exactly the type of organizer I was looking for!The wooden organizer is small enough to fit on the wall between the SGD and new peninsula (right next to the mail basket on the counter). The mail slots will be accessible to the family but not on the countertop. And I like that it has 8 sections... with 2 adults and 2 kids we can each have 2 sections of our own. And if there's something too big to fit, then the center partition can be removed. I purchased a wicker mail basket from Ballard's that I'll keep on the countertop and use in conjunction with the wood organizer. The wicker basket holds current magazines and schedules. It's working out quite well. Talley_Sue ~ your DH and my DH must somehow be related! Yes, he wants to see his catalogs and car maintenance coupons, etc. But if I leave them on the DR table he moves them onto the chair and vice versa. When I finally get on his case about them, he'll move them into the bedroom where they enter the black hole beside his bed. (House is too small for an office!) Hopefully the mail slots will work... at least we won't be shuffling papers between the table and the chairs!