"Romy Beeck" wrote in message
...
No one has still told me about using stone instead of paper. Will the
newspaper work under stone as good as newspaper. I don't like mulch as
much
as stone becouse you have to had more mulch every year. thank you

The problem isn't the newspaper. It's the rock. Rock is TONS MORE WORK
than mulch. If you persist in adding it to your garden beds, it will
migrate outside them into the lawn to dull your lawnmower blade and be slung
out the chute to break windows and injure people. It will migrate down into
the garden bed soil, even with "plastic" under it, which rips and shreds and
makes the soil anerobic and undesirable for plants. It will hinder routine
maintanence such as raking out leaves and debris, which will always leave a
small amount of organic matter behind that you can't get out and which will
eventually provide plenty of sustenance for weeds of all kinds to sprout and
thrive in it. Weeds will sprout and grow in just plain gravel, especially
if it's not well compacted, like a driveway would be. And, anyone whose
ever had a gravel driveway knows that weeds will sprout in well, and the
drive will need regrading and new gravel as maintainence. ROCK IS NOT LOW
MAINTAINENCE!

Mulch needs to be replenshed annually, but that's a GOOD thing. It breaks
down into nutrients which your plants can use to feed from, and it improves
the texture of the soil. Application of even a thick initial layer of mulch
followed by a topping of preemergent herbicide in early spring will keep the
beds mostly weed free all season. And, if you need to fertilize, it's easy
to scratch it in under the plants and not worry about disturbing rocks.

If you are one of these people that insists on learning through their own
mistakes, then go ahead. You'll be one of the people in the future that is
griping about how they can't dig down anywhere in their beds without hitting
rocks and asking how to get rid of them. But, smarter people will learn
from the mistakes of others and not repeat them for themself.