There are a few uses for newspapers in the greenhouse that maybe you haven’t thought about. Newspapers easily breakdown and can be absorbed in to the soil.
When you are using newspapers in your greenhouse or in gardening only use the black and white sections, the colored glossy sections of the newspapers are more difficult to absorb into the soil and do not absorb water as well. You can cut up or shred newspapers and put them at the bottom of your pots before you place the dirt in the pot to hold a little bit of extra water. You can use newspapers on your shelving to keeps messes under control. When you spill dirt or make a mess trimming plants you can easily wrap up the newspapers and dispose of. When you find that you are running short on pots right in the middle of planting, you can take a section form it into a plastic cup and a little tiny piece of tape (tape takes a long time to disintegrate into the soil) or you can use a rubber band that you can remove easily after the plant grow. You can then put the amount of soil in the ‘pot’ and plant your seeds. The paper cup will hold up long enough during the growing season and you can then remove the tape or the rubber band and put the plant and newspaper right in to the ground or into a larger pot when the plant gets growing.
While it is not as pretty as mulch, you can use newspaper like mulch. To keep your plants moist cut up or shred paper and put over the top of the soil. The newspaper doesn’t allow the sun to bake the soil in your pots as much as with out the use of this newspaper mulch. When you are planting your outdoor garden, you can use newspapers between the rows of your plants, to keep weeds to a minimum and to add back to the soil while you are recycling the paper! Give newspaper recycling a try in your gardening and you may be surprised the money and time you can save!