Why not straw?
It's $6.oo a bale at most.
Oh,,, Yeah,, I just remembered the rabbits nesting in there last year,....Hopefully I keep them out this time.
Sraw is extremely efficient at keeping the roots cool and ground moist, being hollow they compost nicely.
Or you could hold your newspaper down with a sterile cypress or dark colored coca hulls or....what ever will protect and keep the soil moist and cool!!!

There are many great discussions on mulches to use in the vegetable garden over on the Soil, Compost & Mulch forum you might want to check out. And I linked a recent one on favorite muches below for you too.

There is nothing wrong with the Garden Guardian stuff, it's just fir bark and corn gluten meal and gives the added bonus of weed control. But it is awfully expensive! Straw or hay either one would be a lot cheaper.

Nothing wrong with using grass clippings either - especially if you compost them some first - but it is hard to get enough. Some use hedge and brush clippings along with grass to get it thicker.

{{gwi:10965}}

I prefer hay - but then I have tons of it to use. Straw too is excellent and both will also improve the soil for the next year - and cheaper than the store bought stuff. I don't care for bark as it takes too long to break down, doesn't do much for the soil for quite some time, and jams the tiller. ;) Shredded paper works great when wet it stays in place but doesn't look all that great but you can top it with anything.

The important point is just to mulch. ;)

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Favorite mulches discussion

Thanks everyone, and thanks for the link, Dave. I should add that it gets really windy in my area, so anything loose I put down will inevitably end up in my pool. Probably why I like the idea of newspaper, ugly, but efficient. But not sure what to weigh it down with...guess I'm not really against straw or hay (can actually get it down the street for $10 a bale, I think it's at, now), but since everyone talks about seeds I didn't want that. Plus, my garden is really small anyway.

Where do you get coconut coirs?

$10!!! a bale wow, the most ive ever paid for either here was $3.50 per bale, I usually buy 10 bales and put it over newspaper. Best comb I can think of is Nespaper/starw or hay.

mark

I agree with Dave..Hay..in this case coastal hay..zero seeds.
7.00 buck per bale here..but it's the large bale..4 filled the back of my dually bed.
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in order from left to right..toms (heirlooms), peppers, hybrid toms, and squash, upper right cukes and trellis.

happy gardening.

Neither hay or straw will blow nearly as much as newspapers. I have strong winds here too and my hay never goes anywhere. And seeds - if you get any as I think that concern is blown way out of proportion - is a minimal problem from either. Plus if you are paying $10 a bale straw (which is way out of line for price) hay is bound to be cheaper as there is plenty of it in CA. ;)

Dave

PS: Good looking mulch there atascosa! ;)

thanks dave..

happy gardening.

In his book "How to grow world record tomatoes" Charles Wilber advocates straw.

He pulls off ~3" slabs, lays 3 rows of 3, tightly together leaving the one slab in the middle out. The cage holds it down and he fills the space in the middle with his homemade compost "about a half inch deep".

To me, this method would be preferable to loose. Less wind blown and should be less rodent nests.

He grew for yield. The book has some handy tips from someone who should know but there is no way I'll be bringing kudzu onto any property of mine for any reason :-)

Are there any problems with using cypress mulch? I have noticed that not many people here use it and I am wondering if there is a cerain reason besides that it takes a long time to break down. All of my plants are in containers so I am just looking for something to keep the moisture in and insulate from the sun. All of the soil will be replaced every year so improving the soil condition is not really a factor for me. Thanks

~~~ Are there any problems with using cypress mulch? ~~~

I used it last yr in containers and noticed no ill effects.

It can be steamy when fresh. 2" is plenty thick and don't let it touch the plant.

Since my aim to use it again, I'd love to be educated of any known problems.