Re: I have undertaken the greatest challenge

In a message dated 03/17/2005 4:49:23 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
grdner03@yahoo.com writes:
I has thought of using them instead of newspaper for my next garden bed
(modified lasagna), but I'm not sure about magazine paper (glossy)
rather than newspaper. What do you think?


I've heard various opinions about the toxicity of inks, etc., but others
say the  scare stories are totally unfounded.  I have used all kinds
with no apparent ill effects.  I believe it's like many cancer scares - 
so massive doses of a substance cause cancer in mice - a human
would have to ingest tons of the harmful substance to have a negative
effect.  I do find that glossy magazine papers are a bit more water-
resistant than newsprint, and degrade more slowly. This can be a 
beneficial effect, depending on where you use them.  I find high-
quality letter-paper is the slowest to biodegrade, and must be used
more carefully.  If you just use it straignt as a mulch, it tends to make
a crust.  Now if I use that I try to mix it well with leaves or wood chips.
As to a lasagna garden, I had the poorest results when I used lots
of oak leaves.  They are terribly slow to break down.  
Auralie

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index