Planted this garden plot this past year and needless to say not much did well aside from beans because of the weed pressure. I’m making it my personal mission this winter to eliminate all of these weeds but trying not to till. Currently solarizing the far end of the field with a tarp but it’s slow going and I’m unsure if it will still work as it gets colder out. Any tips are greatly appreciated!
by slipperyjoel
9 Comments
Always thought solarization was with clear plastic. Would cover with compost and cardboard this fall and when planting just cut a hole in the cardboard
Just till it. It’s significantly easier to keep stuff out afterwards to the point of not having to till again after the initial clearing
Look for a roll of greenhouse cover, it’s thick and durable sheet plastic that’s ENORMOUS. I bought one a few years ago, it was like $100 but if you’re careful with it you can roll it up and store it in case you need to reuse it. Also, line with cardboard before you plant – the thicker the better. You could even mulch heavily with some wood chips on top of you really want to go the extra mile.
Cardboard.
Specifically I would round up a bunch of Amazon boxes or similar, layer cardboard over the entire thing overlapping so that there are no gaps, wet it down, and spread some organic material on top.
In my area where there are a lot of trees dropping leaves right now, my material of choice would be a 1″ layer of compost followed by a thicker layer of shredded leaves. Straw is good (no seeds!) In areas that don’t have a lot of leaves.
You could also use grass clippings in place of the compost.
When you have layered the material, wet it down again thoroughly.
All of this will break down over the winter. Even the cardboard will break down faster than you think, worms love the stuff.
And where the cardboard had not broken down by spring, just plant your transplants through the holes. Keep the area mulched as your crops grow.
It happens to me too when I fall behind on mulching. Yours is weedy enough that it’s worth “starting over” with this method or similar.
Good luck and happy gardening!
It’s either till or cover (or till *and* cover). Cover can be a cover crop, mulch, plastic, cardboard, tarp — anything to deprive sunlight. It doesn’t have to be fancy, though spending some money on a cover material of some sort can make it easier/faster to get done.
Like others has said, solarizing with a large clear plastic tarp like old greenhouse material may work best! I’d mow everything down hard to cause stress then apply the plastic through the winter and see how they do. Since it’s such a large area, it’s going to be a lot of work to keep the weeds down -which I’m sure you know! There’s likely a pretty good seed bank in the soil and it looks like a decent amount of the weeds here have gone to seed. It may take some time to get it all under control, just keep at it!
Not sure what your plans are for the garden outline but it’s would likely be more manageable to have strips that are planted and rows in between that have garden tarp or something to keep weeds smothered (could even do a very deep mulch).
I know you’re against tillage here, totally fair. It could be an option in addition to solarization. Do a light disking to disrupt and kill weeds then cover and let them die as they try to come back/ germinate.
Regardless, a thick compost and mulch application without disturbance come spring where you want to plant would be good. Best of luck!
I have over 4,000 square feet of garden and I don’t do anything until very later winter / early spring then I cover all of it with heavy black plastic until after the last frost.
The plastic I have now has been used for 3 years. I fold it so it dries and then store it in our utility trailer.
Once my garden is tilled and planted then I keep it weed free with layers of newspapers and grass clippings.
The picture is part of my garden shortly after planting last spring.
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https://preview.redd.it/hvcf9m67oyvb1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f861cb42f3cccd66c0040a8710058467e4206366
Yeah, we just tarp the bad areas like you’re doing (with dark plastic tarp) and leave it on for a few months during the winter. It works well for us – some areas we have to re-tarp every other year or so but some areas (that we keep more heavily planted with crops and cover crops) haven’t had to be re-tarped in years.
It very possible we didn’t do it correctly, but cardboard did not work for us. It took forever to break down and would repel water when we watered. We also felt like you had to add a lot of inputs (compost, mulch) on top and it wasn’t really worth it. We live in central Texas so I think it’s too dry here for cardboard?
Chickens