I usually use whole sheets, at least two sheets thick. It can be a pain to put down if there is any wind, but you can dampen the paper as you go to help with that. You'll also need something to hold it down. I have used dry grass clippings, and this year I had some spoiled hay that works great. You do need to be aware of possibly getting weed seeds with what ever you use. Clean straw would probably be good. I have a friend who buys city compost which is so free of weed seeds and the like that he can use it to hold down his paper.

One year I used shredded paper from the office. That worked somewhat like really clean hay, and once watered down it tended to stay in place. OTOH, It took quite a bit to get full coverage.

This year I've got my tomatoes mulched with a good 2-4 sheet thick layer of newspaper covered with a couple inches of hay. Same with the peppers and sweet potatoes. I can get all the paper I need, but I'm about out of hay, so I'll be weeding other crops if I don't come up with something.

Aside from nearly completely eliminating weeds and helping to maintain moisture, having something like hay or straw around the plants means that if you get winds like we do the plant leaves will not hit bare dirt and pick up diseases.

Chuck

Chuck, thanks for such a useful reply. One question I have regarding mulching in general is how close to the stems of the tomato plants should I come with the mulch?

I have run the paper all the way to the stems of tomatoes with no ill results. I use concrete wire cages which make weeding something of a pain, and any clear area around the base of the tomato is sure to grow some weeds in my beds, which have way too many weed seeds due to the lazy fool who takes care of them. This year I ran the newspaper right up to the stems on most plants, though I didn't really work at it, and then I used my hay to build nests for each plant in case we had any strong winds.

Chuck

A word of warning when using any paper sheet type product as mulch. I bought some "paper mulch" a few years back, it was a heavy grade of paper, a little thicker than construction paper. I put it down easy enough, and it looked good for a little while, but then the birds came.

As soon as the paper mulch got wet, it tore very easy if you accidentally stepped on it - I would assume the same would be the case for newspaper. The birds also noticed this, and then they noticed that worms loved to hide right under the paper mulch... So they started pecking at it and tearing it to shreds after each rain. Within about a month of it being down, it had virtually disintegrated.

This may not happen to you, but birds are a definite nuisance where I live and anything other than 6-8" of hay as mulch has been a complete flop. Paper mulch and plastic mulch are all easily shredded by birds (who will even dig little holes in my soft soil with their beaks). The birds do try to steal some of the hay for their nests, but they don't completely rip it apart like they did with the paper mulch.

I've always covered the newspaper with something. Otherwise, when it dries it blows away. I thought I had lots of birds, but the only real problem they have caused my is with my peaches. As soon as the Redhaven start to get anywhere near ripe, the bluejays attack and peck just about every peach. They don't seem interested in the cherries right beside the peaches, and I've never had any problem with birds in the vegetable garden, but I've lost my entire Redhaven crop to them the last two years.

Chuck

Chuck, some apple growers put ziplock sandwich bags around their fruit to protect from insects. IIRC, they snip through the zipper for a close fit around the stem. I think they also make a tiny cut across the lowest corner so water doesn't collect inside.

I don't know if this would work for peaches, but you might ask (or do a Search) on the Fruit forum.

"Chuck, some apple growers put ziplock sandwich bags around their fruit to protect from insects. IIRC, they snip through the zipper for a close fit around the stem. I think they also make a tiny cut across the lowest corner so water doesn't collect inside."

Ha, that's a funny coincidence. I was just recently struggling with birds eating all of my strawberries, so out of desperation, I used nylon wedding favor bags (which I originally bought for blossom bagging) to protect the strawberries and it's worked like a charm, keeps birds and insects from the fruit. Also, since they are made of nylon mesh, they breathe. If they were bigger, they'd probably work wonders for peaches too.

The newspaper seems to be working out well. I put down some shredded paper around some of my tomato plants as well. I've got lots of people that are very happy to provide me with the contents of their shredder buckets, lol.