newspaper mulch

Just to add my 2 cents to this topic -
 
With a lazy nature and hot dry summers, plus weeds that seem to prefer our rose beds to growing outside our garden, newspaper mulch has made our lives easuer and ourt plants happier.
 
We use no colour, but just the black printed parts.  After the roses are pruned and we have fertilized (we use ground lupin seeds for extra nitrogen and natural manure) and watered the soil well, I put a thick layer - 8 to 10 sheets - leaving breathing and watering spaces around the roses.  This then gets buried completely with homemade compost.  The compost looks good, keeps the newspapers from flying away and helps enrich the soil.  Weeds are either supressed or weak and easily removed.  It is amazing that by the end of the season the newspapers have vanished. 
 
We now do this around all of the fruit trees too.
 
It's a very good trick!
 
                                                  Happy Gardening and Merry Christmas
                                                  Helene Pizzi
                                                  Rome, Italy
 
 
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