Allotments 4 All

I want some but am too tight to pay the 40 or 50 quid advertised by retailers.
Could wilko come to my rescue?
Call me a ponce but I don't want my land covered with smelly old carpets or any of the more exotic materials you see on lotties.
Any help would be appreciated.

Gary.

Would this do? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Damp-Proof-Membrane-visqueen-4x25mtr-1200g-300mu-blue_W0QQitemZ280205805097QQihZ018QQcategoryZ26197QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Fab link - I've also been looking for a decent amount of plastic to cover the half of the allotment I haven't managed to do anything with yet, this looks just what we need, many thanks!

Don't know how much you need but ASDA have seets of black plastic with their gardening stuff for £2.99 and it's 1.5m by 10m (if memory serves...)

:)

Mmmmm, asda, sounds good, unfortunately the asda near us is useless, will look next week when I pop in though, you never know. Ta.

The question is ... how good or thick is the one from Asda ?

Ebay is 25m *4m     ie 100m sq.    which at £28.00+post       is 28.0p per sq. m.
Asda is 1.5m*10m   ie   15m sq.    which at £  2.99                is 19.9p per sq. m.


Ebay is 300 mu thick.
Asda is ?

It's not exactly thick (don't know what an 'mu' is I'm afraid...) it's pretty much like a decent black bin liner, but it does the job and I've covered all my beds with it, weighed it down with bricks etc and while it's blown off a bit when theres been wind it's not ripped yet...

There are some pics on my blog, although they're not very close up...

Mu = microns = micro meters

300 microns = 1/3 of a millimeter thick = quite thick plastic.

1,000 microns = 1 milli metre = 1/25 of an inch
1,000,000 microns = 1000 millimetre = 1 metre = 39.4 inches = just over a yard = 3333 sheets of 300 Mu plastic

Have you considered cardboard? Does the job and is biodegradable.

Trouble with cardboard is stopping it blowing away. Unless you've got loads of manure or compost to put on top, I've founf it ends up blown across the plot. Having said that, in the gales we've had, the plastic has done the same, but it's easier to gather up a large sheet of plastic than lots of bits of cardboard.

Also one massive sheet is better than lots of smaller bits - because the light gets in around the edges - even if you overlap it...

I got some of the thick stuff donated to me by someone who had had some building work done, and it's been a god send.  I've covered large bits of the ground, then left it for 9 months + (while I busily work on the rest of the plot) - then when I'm ready to dig it most of the growth has died and you're just left with some hard-core mares tail, bind weed root, etc. 

But with the smaller pieces of covering the top foliage has died back but the earth is still full of roots...

Points taken about
1. Needing to weigh down cardboard
2. The benefits of a BIG plastic sheet above smaller cardboard

I suppose another factor is what you can get free! If you, or someone you know, can get decent sized cardboard (fridge-freezer wrappers!) for nothing, it beats buying! If you can't , then poly may be a sensible way to go - but what happens to it once to take it up?

I await the day someone comes up with a 'biodegradable over 2 years, soil enriching, organic, lightproof mulch sheeting made of grass clippings and straw! If someone is minded to develop one I'll ask only a modest royalty!

If somebody does develop one you can bet that your name won't be on the patent Thomson ;) ;D ;D

I got a roll, 15mx4m of black damp proof membrane from B&Q, cost was about £28, but it is thick, and covers a large area on my plots. I did cut it up into 3 smaller pieces, but need some more for the end of this year, to cover the areas that i will have prepared for next spring.