Can anyone help a novice and tell me what the best sheeting or weed cover I should use when I am preparing the ground for raised beds?
Thanks
Do you mean as a weed supresent to grow plants through? or to smother them into submission as a temporary measure before uncovering and planting up the beds?
Yes its a temporary submission!!
I use old carpet from the local carpet fitters, though lots here say NO! (gets very heavy and difficult to move then.)
The other thing I use is weed suppressing membrane, get mine from my local focus DIY.
Please don't use carpets. It is going to cost me over £50 to hire a skip to get rid of the carpets I have inherited on my new plot. I have also had to ask for help into getting it up and carrying it to where we can put a skip.
The guy who had my plot before put carpet down and when the weeds started to grow through he just put another carpet over it - three layers in some places. I am still happy I got the plot though.
I have put sheets of weed suppressor over some of the ground but I find the foxes like to tear it up.
Rosemary
I have used old blankets, plastic tablecloths, someone left me a large piece of lino and I have used carpet pieces anything free haha. As long as the light cannot get through the weeds are suppressed.
I have gone for overkill.
Layer 1 is either or a mix of newspaper/cardboard/horse manure
Layer 2 is weed suppressing fabric from rolls from allplaz.com
Layer 3 is overlapping carpet
Carpets really do become nasty after a year if they are allowed to bond into the soil, which is why I have put the other stuff under them.
They're still lurking there, those weeds, under whatever you put down, but they will be weaker, and more easily dealt with.
Once you take the carpet off you then have the choice of the Wardy no-dig approach, or you can go into attack mode.
What I would love to get hold of but have failed miserably despite hours of enquiries are the curtains off 'curtain liner' haulage trucks. They look perfect for the job. It seems they are binned but no-one can tell me where ::)
Weed suppressing membrane is strong and can be used on paths as well as suppressing weeds in beds,under the cold frame etc. I got mine from Allplas but on here someone has suggested SmithnJones who are cheaper :)
I use cardboard whenever I can get hold of it. You can make paths with it to keep your feet off the soil and put it right up to cabbages etc. It rots down so is harmless. When I made a raised bed I put big pieces in the bottom over the weedy soil to help suppress weeds and stop them coming up in the raised bed
Ani, you must be careful not to put on a completely airtight layer, as this can affect your soil by starving the soil microbes of oxygen. Phormisol membrane allows air to percolate through to the soil underneath.
Brian
Yes the membrane is plastic but it's woven and allows air and moisture through. Its sold under brand names Phormisol, Tenax red stripe, white stripe etc depending on the weight. Have a look at Allplas and SmithnJones and you'll see what I mean. it's dear but it will last as long as you don't light a bonfire in a breeze which my dopey husband did and now it looks like net curtains. Grrr
Quote from: Gardenantics on September 27, 2005, 08:57:03
Ani, you must be careful not to put on a completely airtight layer, as this can affect your soil by starving the soil microbes of oxygen. Phormisol membrane allows air to percolate through to the soil underneath.
Brian
So the pond liner that I have had on my plot for nearly a year is doing more damage than good? ???
I read in a garden magazine this month that they now don't recommend using carpets as they are full of chemicals that can leach into the soil. Some areas have gone as far as banning from use on allotments. Does anyone have any views on this?
My site doesn't ban them but it doesn't like them. One of the problems is what happens if a plot is abandoned. It can take months before it's handed to someone else and in that time the weeds can grow through the carpet so it's hard to see that it's there. Then when it comes to clearing the plot the carpet attacks rotavators and strimmers and weighs 75,000 tonnes.
Cardboard every time for me. Not the shiny stuff however. When it's wet and rotting after a year or so, get some more and dig the old stuff into the ground.
Thanks for that Gardenantics, I hadn't thought of that ( I don't do a lot of thinking)
My main source of weed suppressant is the stuff I get for free from timber yards. It has a woven effect so hopefully it's ok.