Grass clippings on veggie beds

Having finally bought a lawn mower (grumble, grumble - don't get me started) we now at least have a source of mulch before the fall deluge. I've seen people 'round town using various forms of coverings (including grass clippings, straw, what appears to be tar paper, etc.) over their vegetable patches and so I did a little internet research on the topic.

According to this page, peat can do the trick nicely, along with grass clippings. Bark and sawdust (!) are less desirable. The justification for using mulch boils down to:

• Pest control
• Water conservation
• Control of "soil crusting" in hot weather
• Control of soil erosion

... and so, we're giving it a try. Here is the partially-mulched rows of artichoke and pepper:

The above link suggests an interesting approach: newspaper (which is ugly) covered by grass clippings:

Moistened sections of newspapers sometimes are used as mulch between the rows of vegetable garden plants. Never use color print sections of newspaper as the color ink is detrimental. Although they are a means of controlling weeds and grasses, they tend to be rather unsightly. A friend uses the newspaper under his grass clippings, that way the clippings do not take root. It works great and the newspaper does not show!