Using Newspaper to Control Weeds

To save money instead of puchasing expensive landscape cloth, herbicides or spending hours on your hands and knees pulling weeds plain old newspapers are a great way to control weeds. Use several sheets of newspaper the same way you would a landscape cloth. Cover the newspaper with soil, mulch, grass clippings or landscape stones. The newspapers allow moisture into the soil and blocks weeds for 3 years or more. The thicker the newspaper is applied the longer it will last. Over time the newspaper will compost into the soil. Also you can run old newspaper through your paper shredder and add it to your compost pile. The shredded paper will compast within a few weeks.