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Weed Free Vegetables with Paper and Straw
If your idea of gardening fun doesn't include weeding, I would like to offer a suggestion. Quite a few years ago, when I was growing one of my first vegetable gardens, I was getting very frustrated by the amount of time that I spent hoeing and pulling weeds. It was not a large garden, and it seemed that between work and other pursuits I didn't have time to devote to the weeding. I was getting discouraged with the idea of growing vegetables. Then I read about using paper and straw as a wee preventive barrier in the garden and decided to give it a try.
Since it was already part way through the growing season, I had to weed the garden one last time. Next, I rounded up all the paper grocery bags I could find. After tearing them to make them flat, I soaked them briefly in a bucket of water to make them heavier and easier to work with. Then I laid them on the soil all around the garden. Where the vegetable plants were already established, I simply tore the paper to fit around the stem of the plant. After the paper was all down, I spread the straw over the entire area, covering all the exposed soil in the garden. That was the last time I have done large-scale weeding my vegetable garden. I found that there were other benefits to my layers of mulch. When the weather turned hot and dry, the mulch prevented the soil from losing its moisture cutting down on the amount of watering I had to do. Best of all, at the end of the season I was able to turn the straw and paper into the soil where it broke down, adding organic matter to help feed the soil. This method is better suited to a smaller garden. It can be a chore putting these layers of mulch on the entire garden but the idea of not having to weed makes the task very worthwhile. No weeds and less watering. What more could you ask?