Newspaper for Weed Control

I was given this tip by my precious friend who dreams of owning her own nursery one day.  A landscape designer recently confirmed it is one of the best ideas he's ever heard of.

Instead of fooling with black plastic sheeting to control weeds in your garden, use newspaper!  After placing plants in the ground, lay several sheets of newspaper around them and then mulch on top.  The newspaper will keep the weeds at bay and will eventually decompose and improve your soil condition.  I love this tip because it's free, super easy and it actually works!

Have you been successful with newspaper (or some other material) to control weeds?

Photo courtesy of Binuri Ranasinghe on Flickr.com