"Brigitte J." wrote in message ...
I am new to vegetable gardening and I apoligize if this is a stupid
question.

My vegetable garden is being overrun by weeds. I'm not sure what to do
about this. The process of pulling the weeds is time consuming and
back-breaking. I use cypress mulch in my flower beds with much success. Is
there any reason that I can't use the same cypress mulch in my vegetable
garden? I've heard of using newspaper, and this sounds like a great idea,
but I'm not sure that I could keep it on the ground, as it can get very
windy here in southeast Nebraska. I'd like to incorporate the use of both
newspaper and cypress mulch, by laying the paper down, several sheets
thickness and put the cypress mulch down over it, heavy enough that it would
hold down the paper when it becomes dry and might otherwise blow away.

Any advise/comments/recommendations are appreciated.

Thank you,
Brigitte


As farmerdill suggests, this mulch works as well as other mulches when
it comes to weed suppression and water retention, but in the case of
veggies you would also like a more neutral pH and higher nitrogen
content (of course you could get that by also adding lime or wood ash,
to adjust pH, and fertilizer to adjust N).
But if you have tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and potatoes, they can
usually take the bark's acidity. Beets, chard, and some cabbages will
dislike it though.