Friday, June 25, 2010

Five Facts Friday

Extra Extra - Read all about it!

There are many uses for newspaper besides reading the funnies, of course.

1. Slow-ripen tomatoes. For all of those of you out there that have tomato plants (not me - boohoo!) and a tomato gets taken off the vine before it is totally ripe (thank you for helping kids but please pick only the red ones or as Dora would say rojo), wrap the tomato in a piece of newspaper. Put it in an airtight container and place in a dark place at room temperature. Check every couple of days and pretty soon, it will be ready to eat!

2. Cleans windows. Newspaper cleans windows better than paper towels. It doesn't make for as great of a Windex commercial using newspaper but it's true.

3. Add to compost. Using only the black ink part of the newspaper, add wet shredded newspaper to your compost pile. It will reduce odor and give the worms a little snack to eat.

4. Protect windows when painting. Instead of using blue painter tape, simply wet long strips of newspaper and place it on the glass along side of where you are painting. The newspaper will adhere easily to the window and is much easier to remove.

I have never heard of this before but it made me want to paint my window trim. Never mind, the feeling went away. However, if I were to paint window trim, I would try this fact.

5. Use as mulch. Newspaper makes great mulch for those of you who, again, have a garden (maybe next year). It retains moisture and fights off those nasty weeds. Lay down several sheets of newspaper and cover with about 3 inches of wood mulch. Avoid using paper with color on them as it may leak harmful dye into the ground.


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