covering up to save moisture

[Derbydal]

Hi ive recently sown a large bed of turnips,radish,beet root, and salad leaves , the bed seems to dry out as soon as I water it! my? is can I cover it over with polythene or that cheap black weed surppressent has anyone got any thoughts on this please ? I carn't get to water at night ! atb Dal.

[nickdub]

Grass mowings would probably work better, as long as slugs aren't a problem.

[Cadalot]

I grow my beetroots through weed membrane to keep the weed down and the moisture in the ground.

[Thelma Sanders]

Yup, the plants growing through weed membrane are doing better than those without it. Maybe a juggle to cut holes to fit around crops already growing, though.

[Jay-ell]

I use grass cuttings - easier to put around growing plants, encourages worms, breaks down into the soil.

Can be home for slugs but can also be home for centipedes and black beetles which prey on slugs.

The thrushes love to root around in the mulch looking for slugs and worms. Most of the time the grass is quite dry whilst the soil is moist and loose.

I weeded the potato bed for the first time the other day and there were hardly any weeds in the bed.

[self-contained]

I have also been using most "waste" green material as mulch this year, as I'm not set up for composting (except for my wormery). All my grass clippings have gone on the tops of my containers (or were used to earth up potatoes) as have tatty outer cabbage leaves and bolted/past it greens. It's definitely helping. Although containers still need quite a bit of water to keep them going, I've noticed that the mulched ones bear up better when they have to get through hot weather or I can't water daily.