Things Needed
Plastic sheeting has many uses in the habitation garden . dim plastic prevents weed growth , wipe out the motivation for helping hand weeding between your industrial plant . It also helps warm up up the dirt and keeps it fond . This is vital when turn strong - season plants , such as most vegetables . Both black and clear plastic also preserve grease wet . lay plastic over your garden beds is best done before planting or in tardy winter and early spring when the plants are still torpid .
Step 1
Prepare the bed for lay plastic . take any Mary Jane or detritus from the garden seam . Till the soil and add any fertilizers or amendments , as applicable .
Step 2
Dig a 3 - in deep trench around the edges of your garden layer . set the soil that is removed from the trench into a garden cart for use later .
Step 3
Lay the plastic sheeting over the bed . If you have perennial plants in the bed , sheer a hollow or an X in the credit card that is just large enough to slip over the industrial plant . smoothen the plastic over the top of the ground so it comes in contact lens with the filth and does n’t float above it .
Step 4
Push the edges of the plastic into the oceanic abyss . Replace the soil into the trench so that the plastic is anchored down securely .
Step 5
Punch holes between the plants with the tine of a pitchfork . This allows water from rain and irrigation to seep under the plastic and into the soil , but the holes are modest enough that most Mary Jane will not sprout through them .
Step 6
brood the charge plate with an organic mulch such as bark or straw , if desired . Use organic mulch on unclouded plastic , otherwise the sun shining through the plastic can have a glasshouse effect and lead to more mourning band ontogeny . Also use constitutive mulch in ornamental garden where plastic is unsightly .
Tip
Lay a drip irrigation line under the charge plate to make watering easy . There is no pauperization to perforate hole with a pitchfork if you go this route . Clear plastic can be used to insolate a bed the year before planting . Spread it over a patch of soil during the gay , hot month of the twelvemonth . The high temperature built up under the plastic will drink down any weeds growing under it , giving you a grass - free bed for planting in spring .
Warning
In windy areas , anchor the charge plate down with tilt as soil may not be impenetrable enough .
References
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