Where Do I Start? Brain Bamboozled!

[OverWyreGrower]

Ooo, may I ask why - be useful to know?

Better late than never!

Weeelll.... I managed to get loads of cardboard from local shops etc, nice big pieces as well...

However, I needed LOADS of bricks to hold it all down with, as none of the card was large enough to cover a whole bed (obviously), so whilst there was all the muck and compost on the beds, there was a layer of cardboard and multiple bricks everywhere.

I found that the wind blew it all over the place, even after we'd put more bricks down. We are in a very windy location - north west coast (about 500 yrds from the beach), but it was a real pain, having to pick up and reposition the card after a windy night/day. I was finding that I was doing it at least 2 or 3 times a week when the weather was really bad. Added to that it was very rainy, so the card was disintegrating in my hands/when it blew around...

We're also very unfortunate to be full of nasty perennial weeds. We found that docks, bindweed, mares tail and couch grass (plus some creeping thing that I don't know the name of) all grew THROUGH the cardboard (that had managed to stay down) and we ended up doing as much weeding as we had been doing in the spring and summer.

This year, we have weedkilled, strimmed and burnt the weeds... covered with about 2 inches of straw/manure/compost and topped off with large sheets of black building plastic. Overkill? Maybe.... but I don't have the time or the daylight hours during the winter to do as much to the veg patch as I'd like!!

BTW - this is my opinion only, and lots of Grapes may get on very well with cardboard!!

[RobintheBobin]

I'm going to print this thread as it has given me such a better idea of how to get cracking...SARZWIX I had a look at your previous thread and it was so useful in particular the following:

"Tentative plan (when i manage to pull my head outta my ass...!), is to mark out where the raised beds are going to be, then cover all but one with black plastic/weed control fabric, and clear them one at a time. Then anything that grows back after the plastic is taken away will be blasted with glysophate! I've already drawn the plan (properly to scale and everything!), but getting help with heavy stuff (base for shed) is proving very difficult.... I just want me shed up...!"

I'm quite excited about this weekend although I do have to paint half the house, get carpets fitted and pray for the rain to pass us by but even then its wellies, rain mac and a flask

Looking forward to it...xxx

[Two_Sheds]

lots of Grapes may get on very well with cardboard!!

I prefer wet newspapers to cardboard, myself, but have used both successfully.

They need to be thick (a whole newspaper, soaked in a bucket) and overlapped with each other.
They will def. blow around unless weighted down with soil or muck.
This is next year's brassica bed: first with paper mulch, then I emptied the Dalek on top of the paper, adding some guinea pig hutch sweepings too

[Steve]

When I first had my allotment I covered the whole plot with black plastic held it down with old tyres which the local garage were to willing to give away,I then cleared a little at a time,the tyres then came in handy to grow spuds in

[OverWyreGrower]

I prefer wet newspapers to cardboard, myself, but have used both successfully.

They need to be thick (a whole newspaper, soaked in a bucket) and overlapped with each other.
They will def. blow around unless weighted down with soil or muck.
This is next year's brassica bed: first with paper mulch, then I emptied the Dalek on top of the paper, adding some guinea pig hutch sweepings too

I did do wet newspapers, later in the season to plant through, admittedly!

Do you completely cover your wet newspapers with manure (etc) then?

[zazen999]

I don't use manure - but we cover the cardboard [or newspaper] with compost and just plant through. Once it has been covered a while, a bulb planter cuts through it nicely. If it is being planted without any time inbetween - then water it and plant up the next day.

[OverWyreGrower]

I don't use manure - but we cover the cardboard [or newspaper] with compost and just plant through. Once it has been covered a while, a bulb planter cuts through it nicely. If it is being planted without any time inbetween - then water it and plant up the next day.

Do you leave it covered with compost all winter (if you've got a bare patch?)

[zazen999]

Bare patch?

Whassat?

[SarzWix]

That's the way I do it too - paper/cardboard cover first, then whatever muck/compost you can get over the top. My best bed for weed suppression was one that had half rotted compost, then thick cardboard, then manure, then a layer of straw on top of that. It was put down about this time of year, left until late May and then had sweetcorn and courgettes planted through the straw. Didn't see a weed poking through til late summer, and then they were pretty easy to pull out by hand

[Two_Sheds]

Do you leave it covered with compost all winter (if you've got a bare patch?)

I rarely have bare patches, what with winter crops and green manures, but the patch I have done (next year's brassica bed) was a bit weedy and nasty, so I thought I'd beef it up a bit.
Plus I had six bags of guinea poo to use up

When I come to plant (April) I will just cut a planting hole in any remaining mulch - I won't bother removing it or turning it in.

The soil underneath will be black, crumbly and just lovely.