I put about 5 layers of wet newspapers down before I put any shreddings
down. Keeps any other weeds down successfully. I use shredded leaves that
I collect in the fall but my mother uses grass with great success.


--
Dana
www3.sympatico.ca/lostmermaid
"David Bockman" wrote in message
9.11...
"Tom or Mary" wrote in
:

People in my neighborhood dump their lawn clippings in the woods. I
have gone over there, and taken them and have used them between my
bushes. Now I plan to use them in my garden for mulch around my tomato
and pepper plants. Is there anything I need to be concerned about. If
chemicals are sprayed on my neighbor's yard, would those chemicals
affect the tomatos? One place on the internet says that the clippings
should not be deeper than an inch.

Thanks

Tom




Pesticide uptake by tomatoes is almost nil. I would be more concerned with
uknowingly distributing weed seeds into your veggie garden from the
neighbor's yards. Also, it's been my experience that anything thicker than
a thin sprinking of green grass clippings results in a fetid, stinking and
cloying mat of decaying grass to form.

IMHO, green grass clippings are best used in the garden as a top dressing
soil amendment, sprinkled lightly but frequently everywhere you wish to
improve the soil. Weed barrier mulching (aka, the Ruth Stout Method) is
best left to straw, pine needles, even shredded newspaper.

--
David J. Bockman, Fairfax, VA (USDA Hardiness Zone 7)
email:
http://beyondgardening.com/Albums