My no-dig experience with black plastic mulch
My development has a community garden that has been unused for the last 2 or 3 years. Without a water source there wasn't a lot of interest to garden down there because it was too much effort for most residents to carry water to maintain their garden. There is a rain barrel station setup but without a large surface area to catch the water and channel it to the rain barrels, there was never enough water captured for more than 1 bed.
This year I out grew my home garden because I wanted to grow pumpkins and watermelons and lots of tomatoes and peppers. Luckily, the POA decided to run a water line down there and do some rudimentary trimming of the weeds. I'll be using the rain water until that supply runs out because the untreated water provides more nourishment and less shock to the plants
With several years worth of weeds, there was a fair amount of work to clear the beds before anything could be planted.
A few ambitious gardeners tilled their bed and pulled weeds prior to planting but having spent much of the winter researching planting techniques, I knew the better approach would be the no-dig approach.
The advantages behind the no-till/no-dig approach
After cutting the existing weeds down with a gas powered string trimmer, I rolled out a 3.5 mil sheet of black plastic approximately 2 days after a spring rain. I staked the plastic down with rocks and pins and immediately cut a few spots in the plastic and put some seedlings in.
In order to get the seedlings into the soil I did have to dig a hole large enough to bury the small root balls of the various plants. The other gardeners looked at my odd approach with raised eyebrows since I completed my planting in less than 30 minutes and they were still tilling when I packed up to go home.
After about 1 month of growth, my tomatoes and squash plants are pretty big with no additional fertilizer and only 4 trips for watering. I'm impressed with the growth of my plants compared to the neighboring beds.
All of the weed roots killed by the black plastic will eventually be composted back into the soil leaving tiny nooks and crannies in the soil where they once grew. This natural aeration should improve soil drainage and friability.
The weeds for the most part were successfully killed except around the edges where sunlight keeps the weeds growing. Johnson grass seems resistant and keeps growing, ever searching for a ray of sunshine and some water. The thick tuberous roots can store lots of energy for the grass to keep attempting to push taller forming a tent out of the plastic mulch and even pushing the pins securing the plastic. I did have to trim the strongest stands of Johnson at 2 weeks but they are fairly weak at about 30 days.
This approach worked so well that I claimed another bed and threw some spare plants my neighbors had laying around unplanted with another $10 roll of black plastic to cover the 8X16 bed.
I'm planning a simple bucket drip irrigation for one of the beds just to test the idea and compare it to the other non-irrigation bed.
This year I out grew my home garden because I wanted to grow pumpkins and watermelons and lots of tomatoes and peppers. Luckily, the POA decided to run a water line down there and do some rudimentary trimming of the weeds. I'll be using the rain water until that supply runs out because the untreated water provides more nourishment and less shock to the plants
With several years worth of weeds, there was a fair amount of work to clear the beds before anything could be planted.
A few ambitious gardeners tilled their bed and pulled weeds prior to planting but having spent much of the winter researching planting techniques, I knew the better approach would be the no-dig approach.
The advantages behind the no-till/no-dig approach
- the preservation of the complex web of micro and macro-biotic organisms that form a network within the soil which plants use to communicate stress and help fight disease by signaling nutrient demand.
- weed seeds are not brought up to the surface to germinate
After cutting the existing weeds down with a gas powered string trimmer, I rolled out a 3.5 mil sheet of black plastic approximately 2 days after a spring rain. I staked the plastic down with rocks and pins and immediately cut a few spots in the plastic and put some seedlings in.
 |
| Beginning of June |
The advantages of using black plastic mulch
- Soil is warmed for heat loving plants like tomato and watermelon
- Moisture is trapped beneath the plastic reducing the need for watering
- Soil is covered to prevent germination of new weed seeds
In order to get the seedlings into the soil I did have to dig a hole large enough to bury the small root balls of the various plants. The other gardeners looked at my odd approach with raised eyebrows since I completed my planting in less than 30 minutes and they were still tilling when I packed up to go home.
After about 1 month of growth, my tomatoes and squash plants are pretty big with no additional fertilizer and only 4 trips for watering. I'm impressed with the growth of my plants compared to the neighboring beds.
All of the weed roots killed by the black plastic will eventually be composted back into the soil leaving tiny nooks and crannies in the soil where they once grew. This natural aeration should improve soil drainage and friability.
The weeds for the most part were successfully killed except around the edges where sunlight keeps the weeds growing. Johnson grass seems resistant and keeps growing, ever searching for a ray of sunshine and some water. The thick tuberous roots can store lots of energy for the grass to keep attempting to push taller forming a tent out of the plastic mulch and even pushing the pins securing the plastic. I did have to trim the strongest stands of Johnson at 2 weeks but they are fairly weak at about 30 days.
This approach worked so well that I claimed another bed and threw some spare plants my neighbors had laying around unplanted with another $10 roll of black plastic to cover the 8X16 bed.
I'm planning a simple bucket drip irrigation for one of the beds just to test the idea and compare it to the other non-irrigation bed.
 |
| End of June |
Update: at the end of June, my plants have dwarfed everything else in the garden and I'm realizing that I've got too many squash family plants. Next year I think I'm going to grow 2 watermelons per box max.
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