I dismantled my bean wigwam and dug up the rest of the potatoes on Wednesday.
The weathers been glorious and I have managed to get so much done in the polytunnel and veg plot.
One area where I don't have my plastic raised vegetable beds is a bit weedy after my trip to Blighty. Years ago I would have cleared the weeds or forked them and used them for a natural green manure.
These days I cadge second hand black plastic used for concrete and I have used pit silage black plastic in the past. This soon blocks out the light and the vegetation dies off really quick.
This method is very useful if you take over a overgrown allotment to rent. You don't have to cover it all. Just cover what you can and after a few months you will be able to cultivate where the cover was and then move it to the next area.
I have saved myself quite a bit of work. Some one thinks I have covered it to make another plant area nursery like I covered two lawns with plastic and my perennials and shrubs. What ever gave them that idea?
Do you put your plot to bed with black plastic?
Carboard also works easpecially if you cover the cardboard with compost or well rotted fym. Just remove any Cellotape first.
You could always dig off the vegetation and compost it or even dig trenches and 'bastard trench' your plot like they did when it was "Dig For Victory".
I have used all the above methods but I am starting to think black plastic is the easiest way.
Do you use black plastic sheeting in your veg plot?
That sounds like a much easier method than all that digging. How do you weight it down to stop the gales taking it away?
ReplyDeleteYes it's good to put an area to bed forcthe winter without much effort JayCee. I use paving flags, my grandma's Belfast sink and soil filled plant pots and timber to hold down the tarpaulin. When it rains, puddles will form and that will also hold it down. I could always propagate some perennials or shrubs to hold it down?🤔
ReplyDeleteI never thought to use it for putting the plot to bed, but that is such a good idea. When I was a kid, my dad got the idea to use black plastic for the plants. He just slit an 'x' in it, dug out a hole under it and set his tomato plant (or whatever) into it, pushing the dirt back up around it. The idea was that the black plastic would keep weeds down. Huge "FAIL". He was looking out the window one morning as he drank his coffee and saw a tomato plant gyrating strangely and then *zoop* it disappeared, pulled right under the plastic by a chipmunk or some other small critter that simply ran under the black plastic and did his nibbling. My father was a very unhappy camper. Another thing that I know about black plastic is that if you are troubled with blight, it is said that if you cover your soil with black plastic, the soil is 'cooked' as the black plastic absorbs the heat. It kills the organism that causes blight.
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