[CH] Plastic for the Peppers
McWilliams, Dan (DMcWilliams@fendall.com)
Wed, 10 May 2000 10:00:56 -0500
Every year my garden has gotten bigger and this year will be no exception,
especially since I have bought a second hand tiller. The increase in size
just meant that the weeds have more space to occupy. In order to make
weeding the garden space a bit more manageable I put landscape fabric down
between the rows of plants. The edge of the fabric will usually end up about
3" from the plants. That leave a nice strip under the plants to worry about
and cuts down tremendously on the area I have to weed. I have also found
that this help drainage off the surface and allows me access to the base of
the plant for cultivation and fertilization. Landscape fabric is more
expensive than plastic but it does allow water through (slowly) and I have
reused my fabric for (4) years now. I simply pull it up, wash it off and
store it. I was using bricks, blocks and homemade staples to hold it down
until I found some landscape fabric staples this year. One way I have used
plastic to control weeds was to cover the entire garden with black plastic
after I had cleaned it out at the end of the year. I left it covered until I
had it tilled and was ready to plant. Killed all the stuff from the year
before and didn't allow new weeds in. Now if I could just get my tiller back
from the guy that's tuning it up....
The Chile Cheese Head
Dan McWilliams
"I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't work." - Thomas Edison