Topic: Planting through

[amanda21]

My plot is now in three parts - the bit I have dug and planted, the bit at the far end which was very overrun with weeds etc that I have just covered in black fabric as I know I won't get to it this year.  My problem is an area in the middle - about 20ft by 10ft which doesn't look like it has been dug over for a good while - ie the soil looks quite compacted - and is covered in dandelions, docks and some sort of long bits of dead looking grasses (couch?). 

I thought I might use this area to grow my squash and sweetcorn as I understand I could do this through black fabric.  Would I need to fork over the ground first do you think and also should I try and get the weeds out before I cover it.  If I leave them in and do plant through will the weeds still be competing for nutrients - how long do they take to die underneath this stuff?

Thanks

[Merry Tiller]

I've grown my squashes through black plastic for a few years now, it works very well.
I dig a 12" x 12" hole where I intend to plant each one and fill it with garden compost, I then shove a short stick into the centre of each planting position and lay the plastic over the whole lot, cut a slot where each stick is poking up and plant away.
On subsequent years I position the plastic first and poke the sticks through the slots cut previously then lift the plastic and dig the 12" x12" hole where each stick is, lay the plastic down again and away you go.
Luckily it's easier to do than to explain

[amanda21]

Thanks Merry Tiller - I do know what you mean.  Was the ground under your plastic cultivated or full of weeds like mine.  What I am not sure about is if I need to get rid of them first.  If I wasn't intending to plant through I wouldn't bother with the weeds just cover and let them die, but just wondered if they would restrict the growth of anything I plant through.

Good idea about putting a stick there - I can just imagine me  having to tred over metres of plastic trying to find the hole!!!  ::)

[supersprout]

Hi amanda,

I've used a mix of methods:
a) Roundup, let the weeds die, thick mulch and then lay black plastic, leave to rot for a year (good with fresh manure)
b) Thick mulch and lay black plastic, then plant through (if the mulch is OK to grow in e.g. compost, coffee grounds and fresh hops)

So far ::) the plants don't seem to have been bothered by competing weed roots and have done well.

If any weeds pop up through the planting holes, I pull them up. Not too many weeds are left after a year under black plastic, and any that survive have been weakened so are easy to pull out. But annual weed seeds seem tougher - when the area is dug or hoed afterwards, I always get a fine crop of annual weeds!

I do use roundup for areas of e.g. dock, thick cooch, bindweed and bramble. But only once.

Thanks for starting this thread, will try MT's method for some of my squash this year, sounds very simple and effective doesn't it? :)

[Merry Tiller]

The first year I just dug holes straight into the weed infested ground and now they're gradually disappearing. It was just a way of using an area that I hadn't got round to clearing yet, killing 2 birds so to speak, grow squashes & kill weeds at the same time