Gardens Planted in Black Plastic

[sumdumguy]

Our nephew in Saskatoon planted a garden with black plastic mulch. The pull-behind machine that he used mounds the soil about 10 inches, 30 inches wide. A row of drip line is laid under the plastic down middle of each row. Seeds were poked in by hand. It’s going to be a very interesting experiment. The objective is to not have to weed the garden and conserve moisture all season. It looks really nice and is an interesting idea but time will tell if seedling can find the hole, whether the depth of seed placement was ok, whether the right amount of moisture will be delivered to the entire row and whether the summer heat will fry the plants surrounded by black plastic. Does anyone else have experience with this method of horticulture?

[Sheepwheat]

Our nephew in Saskatoon planted a garden with black plastic mulch. The pull-behind machine that he used mounds the soil about 10 inches, 30 inches wide. A row of drip line is laid under the plastic down middle of each row. Seeds were poked in by hand. It’s going to be a very interesting experiment. The objective is to not have to weed the garden and conserve moisture all season. It looks really nice and is an interesting idea but time will tell if seedling can find the hole, whether the depth of seed placement was ok, whether the right amount of moisture will be delivered to the entire row and whether the summer heat will fry the plants surrounded by black plastic. Does anyone else have experience with this method of horticulture?

We have not tilled our garden in 20 years. We mulch it heavily with the remnants of lambing. IE manure/bedding from the barn. We cover one side of the garden one year, and plant it the next. When I say mulch, I mean mulch six inches deep. By the next spring, it’s a couple inches thick. We make rows in it, and place the seeds into the mineral soil, and recover with a light layer of mulch. The only weeds are the odd one in the row. We used to be infested with purslane,( portulaca). There is none anymore. We weed the garden once a year, mainly in the rows. What used to be a raging weedy mess is clean. What used to be hard packed soil from excessive rototiling is now mellow year round. The mulch stops the weeds. The mulch builds the soil. And the mulch maintains the moisture level. We NEVER water our garden. Last year I did once when I noticed the corn wilting a bit. But it generally stays nearly muddy under that mulch. Where I bale feed, i unroll hay. The “waste” is less of a waste than a soi builder. Al year last year, under the mulch was mud. Adjacent to the mulch areas was quite dry. Keep that soil covered.

It is such a work free method. When I see ppl still pounding the crap out of their garden soil, sure I guess it looks pretty. But it is hell on the soil, and promotes weed growth, and guarantees the need to weed and water.

We don’t even hill our potatoes anymore. And to dig them, you just pull up a plant and dig a bit with your fingers to get the rest. Carrots still need a pry bar!

I wince when I see rototilled gardens. Maybe our soil is different, higher clay content, but you make this fake, fluffy soil then it rains, you walk on it, and invariably it compacts, and one figures you have to do it again. And again. And ag

Will be interesting to see the black plastic method results.

[Guest]

son in law in saskatoon does it all the time
black plastic over whole garden
drip irrigation under plastic
pokes tomatoes and bedding plants through holes
no weeding
very little watering
will get a pic

[Guest]

FFS sumdum ,chuckles not going to be happy with you putting an ag related topic on his pre-school soapbox forum *********

[Guest]

hereya go sumdum , third year , works well

[littledoggie]

I have tried mulching. It's a great idea especially as a soil builder. I left roots in the ground all winter and would dig them up when needed - so perfectly stored under the straw. Shoveling snow first was a bit of a pain though. The voles found the roots one winter. They lived pretty well, not us so much. Also ended up with a really problematic slug problem as the growing season had been really wet and don't we know what slugs like. I also experimented with raised beds in wooden boxes - slugs like those too. Any of these
problems using the plastic?

[shtferbrains]

We use a plastic fabric about 3 or 4 ft wide under the tomatoes to keep them from touching the dirt mostly.
The rain can go through but the weeds can't.
We have problems with blight on the tomatoes.
If you can keep them up climbing on something and off the dirt they are much nicer.

[Guest]

can't wait till those buggers are ready