[domw001]

The Cons
While it’s all very well and good to want to supress your plot’s weed growth there comes a time when you may vacate the aforementioned piece of soil in the hope that the next tenant will benefit from the many weeks of loving care that you have spent covering it in bits of old shag pile.

It appears that the previous individual on my plot must have had the off-cuts from the Great Hall of Buck'nam Palace (there’s so much of it).

I am reminded of something my dad said when he was once asked about covering the soil with carpet during the winter.
His reply :  “When was the last time you saw a farmer finish his harvest  then get straight on the phone to Allied Carpets for a quote?”



The Pros
Whilst attempting to shift the huge, rotting stack of  Axminster  from the back of my plot I found a slow worm  .    Then another slow worm.    Then.....well check out  the image. 

All I could do was make a smaller pile of carpet and put them back, with a warning that I didn’t think they were pulling their weight trying to deplete the slug population this year and if things didn’t improve we would have words.

I would miss them if they left.

[Yorkie]

Lovely piccies, you are lucky.

To address your initial heading, though, many sites now ban carpet.  Weeds can still root through it, it is an absolute nightmare to handle once wet and muddy (one member on here slipped a disc trying to lift carpet from their plot which had become rather ingrown in situ  ), it can disintegrate into the soil, and it leaches chemicals into the soil from the dyes and any glues.

[mumofstig]

The slow worms would be just as happy under a log pile or some paving slabs

[sunshineband]

Or under some weighted down weed suppressant membrane too 

Nice to see so many together though 

[AnneB]

 
We took on a derelict plot last year and I can only say noooooooo to carpet.  I was sick of the sight of a nasty blue foam backed number by the time we had finished clearing it.  Especially nice when mixed with broken glass and horsetail that had grown through  it.