Would this work?

[Sunflower86400]

Hello all.

I am a total garden novice but I've got the bug.

I have a house in France (south Vienne) with a large garden and I want to create a vegetable plot. A small experimental one to start with.

The part I'm considering is weedy and grassy, couch I think and generally not in that good condition. So I have a plan, but would it work?

We are going out there again in October for 12 days and I thought I would start to prepare the area. First to use weed killer (Roundup) just to get me going, then about 10 days later cover the area with a landscape fabric, possibly heavy duty, to surpress the weeds.

Then in February take off the fabric and dig it over and put in compost or manure, if I can find some.

Is this plan (so far) ok?

Amitiés,
Sunflower.

[tootles]

It's probably what I would do in your position.

The thing with a veg plot is that it will need a fair bit of TLC. Will you have someone to keep an eye (hand) on things in your absence or are you palnning on being there most of the time??
I am worrying about going away for 4 days in a couple of weeks!!

[Sunflower86400]

Thanks for your quick reply tootles.

Well at least I'm starting off on the right track .

I appreciate that veggie plots need commitment and at the moment it would be impossible so I'd thought I would spend the next 10 months preparing and planning. I'm hoping that by February/March/April 2010 I will be in a position ( I will be out there more often) to start growing a few things.

Now, what would be the best way to go after February when I've got the compost in. For example, if I wanted to plant out in April, do I recover it or leave it open? How soon after incorporating the compost can I plant?

Amitiés,
Sunflower.

[tootles]

My compost was good year old stuff and I dug it in about a month age and have already started to put plants out. My onion sets went in the same day as the compost (as have my beans).

I would recommend that you buy your weedproof membane in the UK (unless you have a large bank account and a strong ticker)

[Sunflower86400]

That's ok then. I will have to buy compost from the décheterie as my compost is no way near ready. LOL, as it happens we have fabric there already, left over from planting a hedge, hopefully there is enough left.

[Printemps]

Your déchetterie isn't at St Pierre d'Exideuil by any chance? I only ask as they are always being ribbed by the fact the signposting to it is misspelt ..... they only have one 't' instead of two! LOL!

[Paulottie]

Bonsoir Tournesol,

Bonne idée je crois.

Surprises me that the Mypex is more expensive...It seemed that they must produce miles of it for municipal planting over there.

[smallblueplanet]

...

We are going out there again in October for 12 days and I thought I would start to prepare the area. First to use weed killer (Roundup) just to get me going, then about 10 days later cover the area with a landscape fabric, possibly heavy duty, to surpress the weeds.

Then in February take off the fabric and dig it over and put in compost or manure, if I can find some.....

Why use Roundup at all? If you've got it covered from October to February that should kill most stuff off I'd have thought?

[bubblewrap]

Why use Roundup at all? If you've got it covered from October to February that should kill most stuff off I'd have thought?

I would second that.
When all the weeds are dead(we hope) it's the best policy to dig anyway as the cooch grass roots will survive covering.
You have to be careful when spraying roundup not letting the wind blow it on to "other" parts of the garden.
I have never used weed killer on my allotment & it is almost weed free, it took me the best part of a year to get it this way after taking the plot over in 2005.

[Sunflower86400]

Bonsoir à tous.

My apologies for such a late reply. I totally forgot about this thread.

Yes, there is a déchetterie at St Pierre d'Exideuil, I've not taken any notice of the sign. I will look next time.

Salut Paulottie, je pensais qu'il était une bonne idée aussi mais... I have to admit, after more thought, that it did seem pointless doing both since reading a few more threads on weeds. So may just cover my proposed veggie patch and use the weed killer on the huge patch of nettles we have.

I think we'll be ok as far as wind carrying the weed killer as it's almost an acre garden and the nearest neighbours garden is about 35-40m away.

I have no idea how expensive the membrane is, we bought ours from Buckingham Nursury's before we left. Yes, it is very popular there.

Amitiés, Sunflower.