cardboard vs plastic (on top of beds)

[queen of the cobs]

One of the old timers suggested that rather than using plastic to cover up my beds when everything is finished that I use cardboard which will rot down over the winter and can be dug into the bed come spring.

Anyone else do this? I must say, I've just done plastic sheets in the past which seem to work fine for keeping the weeds down, and then I dig compost in over the winter/spring.

[womble]

I do it, works well. Try it on a few beds and see the difference,

[Winged one]

The bits of beds that are finished with already are all over my plot (very bad planning this year), so I am putting cardboard over those as I get it.

The plan is that this will keep the weeds down for the next while, and I will put my long plastic sheets over the top of entire sections as the whole lot is ready. But the cardboard will stay put where it is at that stage, as it will at least breakdown as added goodness for the soil inthe meantime (my soil is not very good and I can't get much compost into it this year).

I don't think I'd get enough cardboard to do the entire thing (although I am hoping to copy the Dobbies for next summer with cardboard covering my squash/pumpkin patch) but the bits I can now, will save a lot of hassle later.

[lainey lou]

I used cardboard last autumn covered with the local council compost (this year I will use my own - YEY!!!) It worked well, was pleased with the results.

[susieq100]

I am hoarding cardboard with exactly the same intention though I am going to put horse manure as I don't have compost yet - only got my allotment 2 months ago and have not accumulated enough stuff to compost yet. Unwilling to put in nettles, docks, dandelion etc as the compost will hold their seeds (won't it?).

[wiccanlou]

hmm i think I will need to have a word with my mother in law and ask her to raid the skip at work. Thank god she works at a well known price beating supermarket.

[mandi]

I am hoarding cardboard with exactly the same intention though I am going to put horse manure as I don't have compost yet - only got my allotment 2 months ago and have not accumulated enough stuff to compost yet. Unwilling to put in nettles, docks, dandelion etc as the compost will hold their seeds (won't it?).

nettles arre fab for the heap they excelerate the whole rotting down process so add them to the compost heap whenever you can ...

[Snadger]

In my view you'd be better sticking a winter crop in the bed rather than covering it with anything.

Can't understand why people feel they have to leave the land fallow over the winter?

Sorry to bang the drum.............. but around here the mentality seems to be that having bare soil all winter is a tidy allotment. Hoed and prim of course with not a sign of weeds! A bit like a brown desert!
To me this is ugly and wasteful! If you are going to cover with cardboard or plastic or any other mulch, for cripes sake cut holes in it and grow some veg through it!

[Snadger]

.......................cover up my beds when everything is finished .............................

Is there a finish and start time?????????

[Winged one]

I am only covering half my plot, as I don't have enough crops to fill the whole thing over winter. But I was one of the very very few still growing last winter (and the rest were all the old fellas there for years, all the other newbies weren't seen until late spring!!).

[Demeter]

My new plot - had it nearly 2 months - is covered with cardboard, plastic and carpet. Basically - whatever I could get! I started by digging and clearing the areas that I couldn't cover (not enough stuff!) and have planted some dwarf beans, quick peas and kale in there. I've now begun to clear covered areas, lifting the covering to dig and replacing it before I leave for the day.

So far I've only been working on a carpeted bit so I can't say how it compares with cardboard or plastic! However, I can say that carpet has kept the weeds under control and killed off the grass pretty nicely. It seems reasonably easy to dig as well (phew) but I'm touching wood because I know from my neighbour that the half of the plot I'm doing now was rotovated last spring, so I think the other half will be much more compacted and harder to dig... boo. Once I've cleared this bit, it's going to have onions and garlic on it, before I turn to next year's potato patch. I was thinking of using spuds to "rotovate" the half of the plot that hasn't been cultivated for a while...

Anyway, what I started this post to say was that I dont know how much "goodness" there is in cardboard as such (although it will certainly add organic matter to the soil) - to my mind the real benefit is that as well as the weed control (which you get with any effective light-exclusion) you can put manure or compost on top of the cardboard and have the worms mix it in, which you can't do if you are using plastic!

Finally - composting weeds. I chuck them all on regardless. I figure I'm going to have to hoe anyway... The only things I don't put on there directly are brambles, I chuck them on top of the carpet (or whatever) to dry out first. The reason is that I've had some take root in a heap before now! I've had dandelions take root in a heap sometimes as well but I find them pretty easy to deal with so don't worry about that too much, brambles are a bit more of a *thorny* problem...

[firstimer1]

Hi Demeter how long have you left it covered for to kill the grass etc, just aquired an allotment myself mega over grown, got most of it strimmed down now a bit dug but that was to much hard work so thinkin of covering to kill off but am a bit impatient

[Demeter]

The bit I'm doing now has only been covered about 6 weeks or so. Maybe 5 weeks.

But when I say it has killed the grass, I mean the tops have turned brown and started to rot down a bit - mmm, lovely rotting hay smell. I don't mean it wouldn't come back if I took the cover off now! Some of it is couch grass and definitely would come back. I am still planning to dig the entire plot *eventually* to remove perennial roots and suchlike - but not all at once, so I am using the covering to stop the weeds from growing any more until then.

I guess there may not be many perennial roots left if I leave it on long enough, but I imagine that would take at least one full growing season if not more, it won't happen in a few weeks. Especially for the ratted horsetail!! (Which, for the record, I have decided to tolerate for its beneficial properties...)

[zazen999]

Is there a finish and start time?????????

I'm with you - once one crop is out the only time my beds are clear is a week or two at most when I add the relevant fertiliser, then it gets mixed with one of those hand rotavators [which we bought a few weeks back from ebay - soil tiller I believe they are called], cardboarded, covered with compost and replanted. Always got a seed bed full of the next crop to go in. This automatically crop rotates everything.

There again, I do use your dual cropping plan. Bloomin marvelous.

[MaureenHall]

I guess there may not be many perennial roots left if I leave it on long enough, but I imagine that would take at least one full growing season if not more, it won't happen in a few weeks. Especially for the ratted horsetail!! (Which, for the record, I have decided to tolerate for its beneficial properties...)

What's the beneficial properties of horsetail then? I'm not panicking too much about the bits on my lottie, I read that because the roots go so deep they don't take anything away from the crop. Don't want it to get out of hand though if poss.