I use shredded paper all the time in my compost. I don't use it as mulch because we get high winds and it would blow away.

the paper is fine - for water conservation it'd be better to put the soaker under the paper, you only need it wet enuff to stay put, but with the hose on top it'll get quite saturated and then evaporate that water back into the dry air, water the paper ocassionally, and sprinkle a bit of soil on it to help keep it down and wet

Bill

Hello,

We have a couple flower beds and shrubs in front of our house, nothing fancy (variegated weigela, burning bush, hydrangeas, geraniums, bulbs, shasta daisies).

We shred all our junk mail, and now have more shredded paper than we can use for packing material! I'm intrigued by the idea of using it as mulch, since we probably need more mulch in the flower beds anyway. I have no idea if the inks in the junk mail are soy-based or not, and no means or inclination to try to chase down that information. However, we don't have any food plants in the garden and don't anticipate adding any.

I read the 2005 post on another thread about filling a water bucket with shredded paper and laying down the mulch, and that sounds like the method we'd be most likely to use.

Would our shredded junk mail make acceptable mulch for our nonfood garden? Or would something in the various junk mail hurt our plants? What do you think?

I appreciate any advice you can offer. I'm interested in all this stuff but pretty clueless! :)

Thank you in advance!