Topic: weed suppression fabric?

[Si D]

In an attempt to do anything to avoid hard work I've been considering porous weed suppression fabric.  The plan, should I decide to do it, is something along the lines of:

dig over and weed several 2mx1m beds
add compost/fertiliser
bung a bit of 2mx1m weed suppression fabric down in each bed
stick wooden board around the edges to hold down
stick old carpet/cardboard/etc round that to keep the paths clear
make appropriate holes in the fabric to stick my seedlings/sets/etc  in
stick seedlings in
water as appropriate and await harvest

after harvests take up fabric, refresh soil and then rotate fabrics between beds so that I grow the appropriate crop for rotation scheme in each bed each year.

Apart from the initial outlay for the fabric (about £25 for the amount i need) and scrounging the rest of the materials, what unobvious shortcomings am I missing?  I'm sure that there must be some or everyone would be doing it  ;D

[SMP1704]

You may find that the fabric doesn't last longer than one season and the weeds will still grow on the bits of visible soil.

If you have weeds like horsetail or bindweed, it will just slow it down.......they will just grow up, through or around it (depending on the quality)

Personally, I think it would be too much phaffing about for seeds, but works well with seedlings like brassicas .

If the weeds are annual, why not mulch instead?

[donlottie]

I dont know about using it on plots but I went down this line in my brand new back garden a few years ago. Fed up with the continual fight against weeds at my old house I was determined not to let it get to my in the new one. Spent a fortune on weed matting for all my borders. Planted through holes (difficult to do I might add). Plants grew but I found they are restricted by the holes which were big enough for the first year or so. Anyway trying to plant new plants through the matting was a total pain and also found I didn't like the plants where I had originally put them. Needless to say all the matting has now gone and instead my new best mate is the HOE. Wonderful tool, highly recommend you save your money and treat yourself to new tools instead. Put your matting on the paths instead if you feel the need to use it - either way good luck

[Dadnlad]

There's no escape from the 'hard work' as you put it, but you can make things easier for yourself, by only having to hoe and dig where your veg are growing and not the paths inbetween
Don't get the thin fabric mesh stuff from DIY chains etc, it rots/tears and weeds just grow through it !  Use the woven plastic membrane you see at some nurseries, and cover it with old carpet - this blocks out all light and prolongs its life
We built gravelboard edged beds, and used this method on all the surrounding paths, which allows us to concentrate our weeding etc where it matters
Agree with Donlottie,  as important as the hoe - carry a sharpening stone in your pocket while you hoe  ;)

[donlottie]

Hi dadnlad, can you tell me how did you make the gravel boards and what was the cost as I have just laid a raised bed out of wood. Which is fine but I am looking at an allotment 50m so can fit around 15 beds expensive as raised but that is what I am aiming for in the long run

[real food]

You can see how I have been using ground control fabric for years to suppress the weeds round crops if you go to my web site at www.growingyourown.info  >organisation > outdoors pg 2.
I would suggest that your proposed beds are too small, and I would forget about the raised beds.

[MrsKP]

donlottie, as she who has just ordered a load of gravel board for the lottie, I can say with certainty that it's a fairly expensive business.

OK, they're delivering and have cut to size (£30) but for 6 No. 8' x 4' x 1' beds and 1 No.  8' x 2' x 1' bed I have come out with precious little change out of £190.  That's including most of the 2" x 2" for the corner posts.  A 16' length of 6" x 3/4" of gravel board was £6.65 inc VAT.  I can't do metric.   8)

It was spare cash lying around doing nothng  ::) and I've been fed up searching skips and waiting for the OH to help and I want them done this year (prone to flooding over the winter so I've been told and don't want my garlic or onion sets drowning).

I will have a final two beds to do, but currently that space is being occupied by the leeks so they can wait until next year when my sawing technique will have improved and I can do a bit more myself.

I am comforted by the knowledge that my plot will look absolutelybloodyfantastic this time next year with no more hard landscaping to do.  Just the sowing and growing and hoeing. 

Oh and I've not accounted for filling the beds yet.  I've a feeling last years halfbaked leaf mould will play an important part.

Hope that helped.

 ;D

[Si D]

thanks for the info.  think that I might still try it on a small scale and then decide whether or not to go the whole hog after a year or so.

BTW, I do have a very sharp hoe and the flesh slices to prove it  ::)  It's not actually the weeds that's causing me to look to this solution, but rather the reappearing couch grass - the weeds readily succumb to the hoe but the couch grass laughs in its face.  Anyhoo I'm sure I'll get there in the end :).