Small garden / plastic sheeting for weeds???

We want to start a garden this year, about 30' by 30'. The soil around here seems very good. We have had smaller gardens in the past with a little success, but it seems the weeds always took over.

I saw some stuff at TSC the other day that looked like rolls of plastic. The directions said to lay it out, cut slits in it to plant you stuff, and pile dirt on the edges to hold it down. Does this stuff work to help keep the weeds from taking over? How does the water get to the plant? Is it reuseable or a one time shot?

Any ideas for an amature [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Thanks!

You are writing about plastic mulch. If you use a dark color, it will keep down the weeds. If you use clear it will not.

As far as watering, you can put down a soaker hose under the plastic or water with a sprinkler, the water will go down where the plants are planted or leech down through the sides.

After spending the summer outside the plastic will be virtually unusable for the next season.

Thanks for the info! I think we'll try it on at least part of the garden this year and see what happens. Just playing around with it right now [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

i use black plastic in our garden, mostly i cover up the section that im not using right now so that when i get ready to plant later its still nice and weed free, i use newspapers around my plants and mulch hay that way in fall every thing goes back in to the soil.. our corn, once it gets tall enough it will choke out the weeds i usaly weed, and hill about 3 times happpy gardening! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Rose

We used black plastic the last 2 years. I just bought a roll of regular plastic from Home Depot. I covered the entire garden and used 3 soaker hoses underneath the plastic to deliver the water. I also used plastic and metal pegs and some rocks to hold the plastic down. The first year I tried a sprinkler from the top but it didn't work very well.

Last year, we had virtually no weeds and I only pulled one or two that had managed to start around the base of a plant. I caged the tomatoes and trellised the cukes. Squash and pumpkins didn't like being on the plastic and didn't do well. Watermelon loved being on it and did great. Muskmelon were somewhere in between. We lost all our head lettuce, but had plenty of cukes. Tomatoes did so well that we canned all our needs for 2 households and then gave 6 bushel of green tomatoes away when the weather turned.

From this I've learned to always use soaker hgses and not to make the slits in the plastic any bigger than the plant requires. By hooking up an in-line feeder of the Miracle-Gro type, I can deliver fertilizer right to the roots. I also leave the plastic on over the winter to help keep down the weeds. (Just be careful when you pull the plastic up in the spring. I had several snakes decide to live under there.)


Steve

They make some stuff that landscapers call weed barrier. I am not sure of its exact name. It looks like pool table felt and is black and comes in rolls of varying widths from 3 foot to 10' and is sold in 50' rolls. I helped a landscaping friend do a job and we put this material down and then cut out places for the plants. This stuff has a 20 year warranty and is permeable to let the water through. I think a 3x50 roll was around $25

Have you thought of any chemical solutions? I use Treflan in my gardens. I till it up, spray it with Treflan, then till again. No weeds or grass all season and Treflan is registered for use in growing nearly all vegetables. It does not give residues in the vegetables. Only thing is you must start your your plants before you plant them. The way treflan works it keeps seeds from germinating. It won't harm any plant that is already growing. Just keeps new ones from starting.

30 x 30 feet should be weedable by hand tools and fingers. It takes a few years for all the viable seed in the ground to sprout. Do not let any weed get to the seed stage. Those that propagate by risomes are difficult requireing constant removal of the roots unless chemicals are used.

Egon [ Brown Thumb ] [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

We tried several things over the last few years. Last year, we laid down newspaper around the plants and in the walkways then covered it with mulch. It passes water, so that was no big deal. I was trying to avoid using chemicals and didn't want to spend a fortune on covers. Seemed to work just fine. You'll get a few weeds where the gaps are near the plants, but you just pick them out and get on with it.

So this friend was showing me his garden the other day all sprouted and starting to grow. He commented on how the old folks thought he was premature and subject to frost. I allowed as to how if there was no late frost he was going to do fine and have some early harvest.

It will be in the 20's tonight. Two consecutive nights of hard frost. A week or so ago we had a day in high 80's.

SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Pat, our youngest daughter had some surgery day before yesterday and we went to the hospital this morning to take her home, and were sitting in her hospital room in North Dallas looking out the window when it started snowing; came down pretty heavy for just a few minutes, but not enough to even get the pavement wet and the temperature was 38-42 degrees, so it didn't stick.

Bird, I hope all went well and wish her a full and speedy recovery.

We had very light snow in various places around here like near Lexington where the mentioned garden is (was?) Temps were predicted for high 20's last night but we only got down to mid 30's at our place. One outside thermometer claimed 34.x and the other 37.x (opposite sides of the house and so on side shielded from the wind some heating from the brick wall interferes a bit.

If I recall correctly, you can get frost with air temps up to about 37F with clear skies supporting radiative cooling and no wind to provide a flow of "warm" air.

Regarding mulch, weed barriers and such: I prefer news paper over plastic mulch as it biodegrades. Sawdust and wood chips are OK but you need to compensate for their nitrogen requirements to avoid depleting the soil. I have been thinking of trying shredded paper from our efforts of enforcing personal privacy and security.

There is no such thing as long term weed free gardening. The best I ever did was in San Diego where I landscaped our front yard. I covered most of it with heavy black plastic with soaker hoses under it on a grid. I topped the plastic with a couple inches of crushed volcanic rock. Specimen plantings were accomplished by sliting the plasctic and inserting a plant (mostly various cacti but some others like Sago Palm etc.) I watered about 3-4 times a year by turning on the water to the soaker hoses. Most rain water ran off. Eventually blowing dust etc will give a weed seed a chance to sprout and take hold but with little dirt for the roots they are super easy to pull up.

I have tried geotextile as a water permeable weed barrier in gardening but the weave was too course and grass and weeds went right through. Looked terrific for a week or so before failure was obvious. There is some Tyvec geotextile used in leach field applications and such that would probably work a lot better but I haven't personally tried it.

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Pat, I used to have a paper shredder that was not a cross cut; just strips. Newspaper that we shredded wtih it was the best material I found for nest boxes when I was raising rabbits; much superior to hay. And after use, it got tilled into the garden.

still like raised beds. Easier to show off with paths for people to walk on.

You are composing about nasty compost. If you use a black shade, it will keep down the fresh mushrooms. If you use clear it will not.
As far as irrigating, you can put down a soaker garden water hose under the nasty or water with a landscape sprinkler, the water will go down where the vegetation are placed or leech down through the edges.