Weeds, NO MORE!

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It's that time of year!

Getting the garden beds all pretty and 

cleaned up so all those beautiful

blooms stand out and look their best.

Instead of wood chips, we use pine straw.

 We're still in awe that pine tree "leaves" are used for mulch.

I don't think I have ever seen it used 

before we came to the South.

As seen above, 

Pine straw does decompose over time 

so even though I lay it thick,

it does thin out in places and needs refreshing.

 Last year, I laid weed cloth down before I 

mulched but we still got

weeds popping through, probably in the tiniest

 of holes made in that stuff.

I came across an article in Mother Earth News  about using

newspaper as a weed barrier. The comments from fellow

gardeners were great! One person said they used in one of their beds and were weed free for two years.

It's "green", decomposes and saves it from the landfill.

Since our local paper only comes out once a week, it would 

take forever to collect enough to use. 

My impatience wanted to do it NOW so

I made a phone call to the editor of our town paper.

I swung by and picked up two good sized boxes of old papers,

FOR FREE!

I got to work! I pulled up any nasty viney weeds and tore the 

clover and smaller weeds to the ground then

covered the entire area with the newspaper, overlapping it good.

I did it really thick in areas that did not have any plants growing around,

then water as I went to keep it from blowing in the breeze.

Once I got that done, I fluffed the pine straw over it.

We ended up doing it the entire length of our picket fence

and I think it looks beautiful. 

We don't have a mow strip, although, 

I'd love to put brick down {maybe one day}. 

 I've had years of practice with the weed whacker though, so I can get any grass that gets too close, pretty good.

Voila! A clean shaped garden island!

I will keep tabs on the progress of decomposition and let you know how it goes.

Have any of you used newspaper in your garden?

And, I have a surprise!

 One of our Barred Rocks 

laid her first egg today.

I knew it was coming and boy, did she 

let the world know!

Now for the rest of them... :)