A Country Rag Whole Woman

When Richard’s parents died in 1994, he began adding shredded newspaper mulch to the garden as a way to conserve water and recycle newspaper at the same time. The result is a garden, only needing water about every three weeks because the mulch retains moisture in the ground. A soil test done several years ago, after using newsprint for some years, showed no fertilizer needed!

Standing in the large garden one sees veggies happily growing in newspaper mulch. Corn, beans of several varieties, tomatoes, garlic, peppers, strawberries, black raspberries, potatoes, onions and flowers make up the vegetable garden. The gardening team of Charlene and Richard plant, tend, harvest and preserve the vegetables for winter use. Charlene says potatoes planted on top of the ground, then mounded up in layers, are a lot better than digging. The day I was there, Charlene made two gallons of black raspberry juice, which will become jam and jelly.

Both Charlene and Richard grew up in families who farmed and gardened, learning from their parents and then teaching their families, thereby passing along the art of growing and working for their food. This garden, in continuous use since 1957, has special tall fencing for pole beans and tall tomato cages neatly made of heavy wire. Richard, in a family of five boys and one girl, says they all worked in the garden as a regular way of life.

Sitting on their porch in the shade one wonders why newspaper companies do not sell or give away shredded newsprint to home gardeners for mulch to use in their gardens. What a wonderful greenway of life, giving used trees back to the land as newsprint mulch. This is something to consider in these wiser times of use it up and replenishing the earth.

In our garden, whether planting veggies or flowers, Jack and I put down about ten layers of unshredded wet newsprint, not the shiny stuff, and then cover it with about 3 inches of mulch. The mulch holds the paper down until it begins to decompose, adding a neat appearance to the planting. The rows of our raised vegetable garden are paved with cardboard boxes cut to fit with all tape and plastic removed from them. Weed seed cannot see light, so fewer can sprout in the paths. Happy Gardening Everyone!