Black Plastic to cover garden

[GoldenEagle]

I am looking for black plastic to cover my 15' X 15' garden, I would like to have a 20' X 20' piece of black plastic. Does anyone know where one can buy some?

Has anyone put down black plastic to warm up the soil?
Does it warm up the soil to get a early start on planting your garden or is there another reason behind this?

I have put down on my garden last Fall 6 inches of 3 to 4 inches of wood mulch, than 6 inches of leaf compost and than 2 inches of well aged (4 year old) horse manure, than I put mulch grass and leaves on to of that.

I will be getting a soil test sometime this month if I can get into the ground. It has been - 20 here in Northwest Ohio this Winter. So the ground should be froze deep.

Also I see people take clay tile and stand them up right but have no ideal why can someone explain what they are doing?

Please gave your comments on what I have said and any advise on what to do.

 

[Kansas Terri]

I got some woven greenhouse flooring for my garden. It does warm things up a LITTLE bit, I think.

The black plastic weed barrier turned out to be too thin and it allowed too much light through: the weeds loved it and grew underneath! The woven greenhouse flooring worked much better, and when it rained it allowed the rain to go through.

One drawback is that *IF* weed seeds are blown on top and *IF* you get a few days worth of rain, the weed seeds might germinate and send roods down through the weave. I am still working on that. I sometimes pull them and I sometimes drop carpet squares on the weeds and/or grass. Still it is better than trying to keep the garden weeded without the cover. I just punched holes every 3 feet or so and I pop in a seedlings and then the work is MOSTLY done!

OH! Edited to add: I got the woven greenhouse flooring at www.morgancountyseeds.com, but I believe that Stuppy's also sells greenhouse supplies.

 

[firelily99]

Garden Centers, hardware stores including Lowe's or Home Depot are your best bet. If you Google you may find a greenhouse supply wholesaler near by too.

 

[Lostvalleyguy]

I have done this to warm up the soil - The snakes like to camp out underneath which can be a bit startling when you pull it up and see a nest of them. This material is sold at host hardware stores near me. It comes in rolls in black or clear and of varying degrees of thickness. I have also used it as a lining to hold water and to patch the roof on an old cabin (used as a shed) that sits on the property. I don't know what its intended use it.

 

[Gardener]

I am not sure where you may be able to buy some, maybe a local hardware store. I don't use black plastic, and instead use a huge clear plastic. It works very well, as I just lives my entire winter's compost in the garden and cover it with plastic. When spring comes around, I lift the plastic only to smell a nice soil fragrance. It really is a great sight knowing that what was going to go in landfill is instead the brown stuff in your garden! I'm not sure if using black or clear plastic will make that much of a difference (maybe someone hear can clear things up?)

 

[zigs]

Black plastic will warm the soil more, clear will allow light to germinate weed seeds which would then die from lack of rain, so its swings and roundabouts really

 

[Meowmie]

I always put black plastic over my garden beds after I put the leaves and grass on it in the fall. When I take the plastic off in the spring I find it nicely composted and so far I've not seen a snake, but there are so many happy, fat worms there. I got my black plastic at either Home Depot or Lowes I don't remember which.

 

[Chuck]

If you only want to warm up the soil with plastic why not save a little money and only cover your seed beds and leave the walkways bare. When the soil is warm enough cut a slit in the plastic and plant your transplants in the slit. When the temperature gets really warm and your plants are growing good cut the plastic, remove, roll it up and use it next year. If using plastic for solarizing to kill weeds don't forget to give the area a good watering before laying down the plastic

 

[headfullofbees]

I've grown potatoes under black polythene (polyethylene) since I was a wee boy, 45 years ago.