I saw it on the shelf and grabbed it for my maters. Trying to lay the newspapers in that space was getting under my skin. Wind blowing, knees hurting, trying to lug around stones to hold the papers down. Nah, I figured I’d blow the money (I think it’s actually $10.) and try the roll of paper out. It was MUCH easier to use there than the newspapers. I’ll probably use newspapers between my rows of other vegs., because I think it will break down more quickly.
Our local paper SHRANK in size and went up in price, so for me - the roll is actually cheaper unless I can find a source of free newspapers. Our stores don’t even discount the day old newspapers here like they used to.
When we go to the grocery store or a big box store we pick up 1/2” of their circular or sale papers in the foyer on our way out. Ditto Walgreens, CVS or SuperD. We get relatives to save papers too. Someone usually leaves one in the break room at hubby’s office and he snags that on his way out if he remembers.
If you do this every time it adds up. We collect papers for mulching 52w of the year, ‘flat them’ and stack them in our shop. I sprinkle a perimeter of DE around them to keep bugs at bay. One stack for the larger ‘square’ sheets and another one for the narrow rectangular stuff.
YMMV.
In the evening I take a stack that we’ll be using the next day, lay it on the grass or driveway and wet it with the water hose really good. You might repeat this a time or two. Don’t get them too soggy but good and damp. I lay a trowel or hoe over them to keep them from blowing away and let them soak it up until they’re sort of damp. You might have to experiment to get just the right amount of ‘damp’.
When you’re laying them you have 5 or 10m before they get dry enough to actually blow which gives me enough time to get them covered with the hay. If they’ve dried out in the big stack before I can get to them I spritz them down with a hand sprayer as I’m working. If you have them already flatted and sorted for size it’s simple to just peel off 4 or 5 sheets at a time and lay them without worrying about the wind. I’ve found that around here, very early in the morning, around sunrise, is less windy than other times during the day. We try to mulch during that hour or two.
We also use the cardboard cereal/pasta/cracker boxes too. Those flat down nicely if you split them on the seam. I keep stacks of those in my shop too right next to the papers and sized 2 or 3 different ways. I use those in my strawberry bed and down foot paths for extra support against breakthrough if it rains a lot. They don’t blow around that much either.