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Newspaper, but not chickens As the time for gardening approaches I find myself wondering, is it all worth it? The garden seems to get bigger every year, and we (my husband, our 6-year-old daughter, our 2-year-old son and I) love the harvest. But the fight for the harvest is us against them—weeds, grass and the swarm of bugs that sets down on our farm every year. So a few years ago my husband and I used a method we had heard of before: newspaper. Yes, your old newspaper spread under and around your plants will keep grass and weeds from growing, as long as you put down maybe four or five layers and cover it with old hay or pine straw or some other mulch. Wow! Now for the swarm of leaf eaters. We have tried sprays and dusts. They work for a while but you have to keep applying them over the summer. The chickens on our farm love bugs, so I tried to put them out in the garden to try the natural way. In turn they pecked all the tomatoes, ate some of them, scratched up the lettuce and ate beans right off the vine. So much for organic. Liquid Sevin has been our best insect killer yet. Beth Tyner |
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