cardboard vs plastic (on top of beds)

[firstimer1]

so would you suggest i leave it a few months so it will be easier to dig? and then would i just dig it back in? i am so new to this and have not got a clue (dumb blonde)

[Demeter]

Maureen Hall - there are apparently various benefits, as the roots going so deep bring up nutrients which you can then add to the compost heap and recycle back into your topsoil, also it contains silica (one of the reasons it is so hard to kill!) which if made into horsetail tea is supposed to be a sort of strengthening tonic for your plants - I guess if silica makes horsetail resilient, it might do the same for other plants...?? It's also a medicinal herb for humans if used appropriately. Anyway, like you, I don't have a lot and it doesn't really compete that much so I'm willing to tolerate it / pull it up when I see it rather than get all sweaty about how I'm going to get rid of it!

The guy on the other side of me says he has had his plot for 2 years covered over, not growing anything, because he wants to get rid of the horsetail. Blow that for a game of soldiers!! (And it hasn't worked anyway...)

[Demeter]

so would you suggest i leave it a few months so it will be easier to dig? and then would i just dig it back in? i am so new to this and have not got a clue (dumb blonde)

If you leave it a few months then you will have got rid of any annual weeds and any perennial weeds that hadn't got too well established before you covered it over. However, if you have established perennials (dandelions, dock, nettles, couch grass, horsetail, thistles, creeping buttercup etc) then covering for a few months only will not get rid of them. You will still ideally need to dig the plot over and remove the roots of perennial weeds - which may be hard work however long you leave it because if the earth is cloddy and compacted it will stay cloddy and compacted! Only digging and cultivation and organic matter will fix that. However, it's true that this may be easier once the annuals and weaker perennials are out of the picture. Although in the meantime you will have lost a few months of perfectly good growing time!

My suggestion would be (feel free to take it or leave it lol):

(1) Decide how much of your plot you are going to be able to dig over and cultivate in the short term. Don't be too ambitious or you may get fed up of digging before you've achieved your goal!

(2) Then cover over the rest, dig over the area you have decided to clear and remove ALL the roots that you possibly can. Use that area to start growing in, keeping the rest covered, until you feel ready to dig another area, at which point it is time to go back to Step 1 lol.

This way you can be sure to get rid of the worst perennial offenders, you can keep part of your plot covered for quite a long time, but you can still be using some of your plot to get some actual veg. Which is what we do it for, right?! Even if you think you're fed up of digging, the sight of plants growing in the area you have managed to clear will soon fire your enthusiasm again, trust me!!

Some people would suggest that you use Roundup to get your plot cleared, just to give you a head start. Personally, I haven't and won't but it's better than giving up in despair because the digging is killing you! If you want to do this I would suggest you treat the whole plot ASAP and then, again, cover up the areas you don't plan to cultivate immediately, to stop the weeds moving back in before you're ready for them!

However you decide to tackle it, good luck, and remember it's supposed to be fun!!

[Alice]

Never thought about putting cardboard on my veg beds. I don't know what's in the stuff but I definitely don't want to eat it - or the chemicals that leach out of carpets.

[trebellangeminired]

The guy on the other side of me says he has had his plot for 2 years covered over, not growing anything, because he wants to get rid of the horsetail. Blow that for a game of soldiers!! (And it hasn't worked anyway...)

Our front garden was almost completely tarmaced when we moved in. Not by us but previous owners. The horsetail STILL grows through the the tarmac and we have been here 19 years! I don't think that the covering technique is terribly promising. Just lately I have pulled the odd pioneer from the bottom of the hedge between the neighbours and ourselves in the back garden.

TGR

[firstimer1]

Demeter ive dug 16 foot long X 11.5 just wanna make the rest 109 foot just a bit easier

[womble]

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

I'd be very interested in seeing that, I seem to have my first lot of vegetables sorted, its the following on I have difficulties with.

[HayleyB]

My peas have finished so I left the roots and bottom stems in and now I have spicy salad leaves just poking their heads through after sowing just a week or so ago.

Haven't decided what will replace the runners but once the bladdy courgettes stop cropping I have a pack of broad beans sitting on my desk (to remind me) to plant in October.

I have wintering caulis on one bed netted but still being invaded by academically minded flutterbies, some surviving savoy cabbages in half of one bed (the swedes didn't make it)and not sure what to put in the other half yet (not manured but limed).

I have a whole bed of toms on manure (still green) so not sure what to do with that one for winter veg.

And a bed full of sweetcorn waiting to ripen on manure unsure on that one as well.

Can anyone give me some advice on what to fill the beds with for winter as I don't want them to remain unproductive.

Thanks

[zazen999]

search the forum for dual cropping and you'll find it.

xxx

[HayleyB]

Thanks Zazen999

Couple of questions though.

3) Spring planted Onion sets followed by Autumn sown Peas

5) Summer sown French Beans followed by Broccoli plants

Is there a specific variety of PSB that can be Autumn sown? The one I have says sow April to June (Rudolph)

What variety of peas are winter hardy for Autumn sowing?

Thanks

[katieh1]

I always use cardboard, and leave "edges" for sowing between to make my rows. It is excellent weed matting and mulch as well. The big advantage is that I just throw my compost on top and don't dig unless I have to, just keep layering.

"never too much cardbaord or newspaper on my garden beds"

[squashytomato]

i put a thick layer of horse manure over my spud bed when harvest, its kept the weeds in check to date but should i have put cardboard underneath?

[lainey lou]

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!

I will be growing winter crops on some of my beds. Using the cardboard etc for the ones that would otherwise be empty.

[Snadger]

Thanks Zazen999

Couple of questions though.

3) Spring planted Onion sets followed by Autumn sown Peas

5) Summer sown French Beans followed by Broccoli plants

Is there a specific variety of PSB that can be Autumn sown? The one I have says sow April to June (Rudolph)

What variety of peas are winter hardy for Autumn sowing?

Thanks

I'll try and answer this if I can Hayley.

Feltham Fiirst or Meteor are the two autumn sown peas that I use but any 'round seeded' as opposed to 'wrinkle seeded' peas will do. I think one of the reasons is that round seeded peas don't succumb to fungal rot in the way that wrinkle seeded peas do.
The majority of brassicas are sown May/June/July and kept in a seed bed or pots to plant out at will.
I have planted out some PSB but still have other plants ready to plant as ground becomes available, likewise with winter cabbage and kales.

Spring cabbage can be sown even now and some plants left in situ and others transplanted. I like spring cabbage so am growing three different types all sown at different times. April Spring cabbage was sown today as soon as I lifted my ham onions. Nothing is hard and fast you see,just make sure you pop in a dissimilar crop after the first one!

[Kristen]

Does putting compost on top of cardboard prevent the worms getting the compost into the ground? I'm probably just being thick ...