i use newspaper and cardboard where i am not planting. yes the newspaper does fly when it is dry for a few days but the end result is less weeds. cardboard works too and seems to get the earthworms to remain. i was reading a few of your blogs in a search about growing hull less oats. in my first year and was looking in images, saw your post of weeds and thought i'd share this idea, it really works well. i water the spot. hand pluck out the aggressive thistles as early in season as possible, place the newsprint one sheet at a time overlapping and continue to add layers water layer water layer. i place rocks old pots around the edges to keep it down for a while. what i find is that these patches will remain without weeds for extended periods. one time i weeded a large plot then put newspaper down and it worked perfectly: no weeds at all. i've used newspaper and some tree chippings over it and got 3 years of weed free area. i use cardboard too when available. just put rocks on edges to make it look decorative and keep it down better. if you do this, you will see how much help this is with your first season of usage. most newsprint now is soy and the paper will naturally break down and you can till and plant without removing the paper.you can also toss mulch when available on top of it and create a new garden area any time you like i also use newspaper in the greenhouse to avoid weeds on the ground. this lessens the time spent weeding. i have 2 acres to farm and maintain and this is the only thing i've found that really works. hope it helps. i would like to hear if you did grow oats? i planted but this will be my first attempt on oats or any grains. looking for easy to follow advice without using store bought fertilizers and with no pesticides. any advice? gertie

gertie --- It sounds like you must be reading our posts from three years ago. Since then, we've settled on what seems to be a very good mulching campaign for our vegetable garden. I use straw alone if the weeds are light, but use cardboard and then straw if the weeds are bad. Newspaper works okay, but cardboard seems to be much more effective.

Not as good news about the hull-less oats. They seemed to be weaklings compared to normal oats and barely did anything. Since then, though, we've mostly stopped eating grains, so have just been using oats as cover crops.