Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Offwego on January 13, 2018, 23:08
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I want to raise the soil level in my new squash bed and also have some turf from my old grassed paths, I was thinking that I could put this turf upside down on the bed and cover the whole bed with black plastic and when it comes to planting the squash and marrows simply cutting pockets out and leaving the plastic for the whole year.
I think this should not only produce some nice loam but also in doing so also raise the levels
Any thoughts on pros and cons please?
Aesthetic of the plastic doesn't overly concern me as the marrows and squashes will cover most of it anyway
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It would work to rot the grass, but If you leave solid black plastic on for any length of time the soil dries hard as no rain water or air can get through at all.
I think you'd do better changing the bed covering to weed control fabric (yuzet sort) and planting through holes in that.
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Good shout, I will do that.
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If you can plan the planting holes in advance, adding a good dollop of well rotted manure in them will get the plants off to a flying start. You will have to cut them through the roots of the turf, so doing it prior to installing the membrane might be easier
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The black sheet mulch is excellent stuff as it lets rain through The foliage will hide it Actually covering the manureis a good idea as blackbirds chuck it all over the place 😃