Produced by
Patti Moreno
Contributor to:
Mulching your Garden with Newspaper and Cocoa Mulch
As a square foot/bio intensive gardener, I don't have to worry about mulching very much at all. My plants are too close together and keep the soil shady. To keep my gardens as neat and fragrant as possible I love to compost the newspaper, using it as a mulch and weed prevention cloth. As the Dirt Diva says "Critics should be composted." And I agree. Building and preserving soil is a lot like making a layer cake, layer upon layer of organic material, pilling up and decomposing just like in nature, which is the basis of Pat Lanza's Lasagna Gardening method. Don't use colored and glossy paper. PUT that out for recycling pick up. I then top off the cake with my Cocoa Mulch, spreading it out thickly to keep the paper from blowing away, and off course adding a delicious smell to your garden, making it a magical and wondrous place.
A few more words - AND A WARNING - about Cocoa Mulch. Cocoa and Chocolate can be poisonous to dogs, so do not let them in it. Train them to keep their paws out! Cocoa mulch also has a tendency to mold, so I work with my local garden center to find out when their shipment comes in and I am there first for my bags. I store my cocoa indoors as well, to keep them dry.
