Covering soil

[coccinelle]

My husband was a keen gardener and had a very large vegetable plot. I will only be using a very small section of it and would like to cover the rest with something. I can't just leave it to grass over as the vegetable plot is raised. Has anybody successfully covered such an area with say plastic and if so was it a special plastic? or does anybody have any other suggestions. I can't grow anything there as I've got enough to do with the rest of the garden.

[woofgang]

you can get weed suppressing membrane at B and Q or online. Its thin plastic that you lay over clean soil and peg or weight down. If you cover all the plot, you can cut slits where you want plants and it saves a lot of weeding. If you are really green then get old carpet or vinyl floor covering off freecycle and use that. Either way on the bits you aren't going to use, put a thick layer of newspaper (not colour supps or mags) under the top covering to exclude more light. this will also rot down and improve the soil.

[Prudie]

^ I'd then put bark chippings or pea gravel on top to make it look nicer, perhaps with some random pots of stuff

[coccinelle]

Thanks both of you. How thick should the newspaper be? Is there any risk that weeds could push through the thin plastic? there are a few horsetail things in the plot which can't be got rid of. Good idea about pea gravel but will have to have it delivered so would be quite expensive.

[NazNomad]

The best thing is old carpet, if you can get some.

[paddywak]

we've have a part of the garden, aprrox 4yd x 4yd, which we covered in membrane and different colored shales and a few planters. Its been laid about 10yrs and we've never had any serious weed problems,you always get a few weeds but because of the mambrane they can't root properly and you can lift them easily or give then a squirt of round up. Another advantage is that if you get a bit fed up with the way it looks it's not a big job to shift the planters and things about.

[coccinelle]

Silly question maybe but what kind of membrane?
I'm frightened that old carpet will just get so sodden and dirty after a while I wouldn't know what to do with it; on top of this wouldn't seeds sprout up in it after a couple of years?

[paddywak]

If you go to any decent gardening centre or D.I.Y. shop and tell then what you want they'll tell you what they've got. It usually comes in big rolls like carpet, just measure up what you need and they'll cut to length. Its' a long time since I bought any so I can't give you any idea of price but it's not particularly expensive

[coccinelle]

The reason I asked was because I live in France so would need to explain what it is as I don't know the french for membrane (in this context).

[NazNomad]

Ah, I misunderstood the use ... the carpet would be a temporary covering to stop weeds.

As already answerd, a proper weed-suppressing membrane is the long-term solution.

You need 'feutre géotextile' ...

[NazNomad]

Gédimat and large garden centres will stock it.

[coccinelle]

Thank you very much for that naznomad

[johnk]

Hae you thought of renting the part you don't need to a veg gardener?

[coccinelle]

It has crossed my mind johnk as in fact i wouldn't even let it but let them get use it in exchange for some veg. Only problem is that where I live everyone has a garden so it would have to be someone from outside the village and on top of that if they didn't keep it neat and tidy it would really get to me.

[Whoever]

You could make a heather bed from your raised area. There are delightful shades of pink, purple and white weather heather. If you put in enough plants they will soon spread out and cover the whole area of bare soil and give you a wonderful spread of colour in early spring. The good thing is that they can more or less be left to themselves without maintenance and the only work you will have to do will be to trim back any plants back after flowering that are spilling over the edges of the bed onto the lawn.

Yes, you can buy special black soil covering from garden centres but it's not plastic. It's a porous material which will let the rain soak through and is often used under forest bark. You could, of course, put down the black lining to prevent weeds growing, cover it with forest bark chippings and perhaps put a couple of containers on it which you could fill with bedding plants in the summer which wouldn't involve too much work.

[coccinelle]

Thanks Whoever for those ideas. Don't know if heathers would grow on lime soil though.