BDN interviews UMaine, Extension faculty about making mulch at home
The Bangor Daily News interviewed several University of Maine and University of Maine Cooperative Extension faculty for the article “How to make your own mulch at home.” The article explores ways gardeners can make their own mulch and reduce the need to buy it at stores. A couple of them recommended using newspapers and cardboard. Sonja Birthisel, a postdoctoral research associate at UMaine, said gardners can use cardboard to help control weeds by lining the spaces between garden beds with it. Matthew Wallhead, Extension ornamental horticulture specialist and assistant Extension professor, said water permeates through newspapers more easily than cardboard. He encouraged gardeners to layer several inches of newspaper when using it as mulch because it breaks down faster than wood chips. Katherine Garland, a horticulture professional at Extension, says she lays newspaper, cardboard, or paper bags under straw or bark mulch to serve as a weed barrier. Eric Gallandt, a professor of weed ecology and management at UMaine, says topping cardboard with other mulch helps deter the newsprint from becoming an eyesore in a garden. Newspaper is also cheaper than organic mulches and helps suppress weeds. “You could just put it out there but it’d look terrible just by itself,” Gallandt said. “The newsprint would allow you to use a little less of the organic mulch on top and have less gaps in it. For any mulch you use, the newsprint tends to improve weed supressability.”