Weed suppressant?

[Knikitta]

So, I bought a roll of weed suppressant from Amazon or eBay (can't remember) and it did nothing. It was down for almost six months, and when we lifted it there were weeds still there but they were not green like the others but sort of a yellowy green but quite rampant!

So my question is: What do you recommend I put down where I want my veg beds on my plot. Anyone that says carpet will be shot immediately with a potato gun!

If tarp is an option, can anyone point me toward affordable 'tarp'? I tried getting cardboard, but no one seems to have card boxes anymore!

[rhubarb93]

Why not carpet? I've used it and it worked. Fell apart after a couple of seasons, but that's OK.
You can pick up cheap on ebay or free from freecycle or from skips behind carpet showrooms, often.

[Knikitta]

....

Because carpets can leech all kinds of chemicals into your soil.

[rhubarb93]

Oh! never thought of that
And I thought my allotment was all-but-organic...
Loads of people do it, though, and I suppose like me never give it a thought.

[scbk]

You need to get the heavy duty woven fabric, looks like the stuff here > http://www.allplas.co.uk/acatalog/Woven ... abric.html (but no idea how good that one in the link is!)

Heavy gauge black polythene also works well too, but obviously doesn't let the rainwater through.


If you want large cardboard boxes try asking at a bike shop

[Knikitta]

Unfortunately I live in a little village, so I am limited to where I can go for cardboard! :)

Would not allowing rain water be much of a problem for a heavy clay plot? I only need to leave it on long enough to kill back most of the weeds before I add mulch/manure.

Hmm... thinking about that, cardboard is going to be best isn't it?

[Mo]

Anything man-made will have chemicals of some sort. Don't know the kinds & amounts. OH uses black plastic (binbags with feed sacks and bricks on top, and a right mess it looks). I expect they leach plasticiser. But some weeds have big roots storing food, and others have seeds that will germinate after years, so there will still be work to do.

[billnorfolk]

Weed suppressent on its own is not very good at doing the job it is named after knikitta,its mane purpose is for going underneath,gravel,crushed granit and bark ,it allows water and air through but wont allow weeds to grow through it so eventually over the years will suppress the weeds.Black 1000 gage plastic is what i use lasts for years and easily folded up and stored after the winter ,but even that wont kill stuborn weeds over 6 months.My beds are fairly clean but any weeds i do fork out before covering and make sure the wind cant get under any edges

[Knikitta]

I was looking for help with the weeds because I can not physically dig the ground. It is solid clay, rock hard, and even after all the rain I still couldn't get a fork or spade into it.

I think, after lots of research I will have to go with cardboard and manure. Even though I am hoping to be organic, I have gone with some good advice from an organic gardener who said that I should have the assumption that the plot was NOT organic before I took it on so I should glyphosate now, do it again in a few weeks, -then- go organic!

Makes sense to me. Couple of phone calls has gotten me some cardboard for collection next week, and I finally found some horse poo readily available, I just have to find a way to collect and deliver it.