[bigben]

In a recent post I pointed out that I intended to plant 300+ onions and grow them thru weed fabric. I have recently spend ages digging couch grass and bindweed out of the bed but am sure I may have missed some, so I thought the fabric might help keep down some of the stuff I will have missed. However no less an authority than DD suggested it would be unecessary and I would be better just regular hoeing. He also suggested the fabric might make it even harder to sort out any bindweed/ couch grass. I dont wish to reject his advice lightly, however some of the old guys on my allotment tell me they always grow their onions thru fabric. What is your experience?.

PS - I have just taken over the allotment and have bought the fabric but am happy to use it for paths instead.

[savbo]

having spent a good part of Sunday lifting carpet laid as paths by the previous tenant and digging out the huge reservoir of horsetail and couch that has developed there, I'm going to be careful both where I put weed fabric and how long it stays there...

[JayG]

Did the "old boys" say why they grow their onions through fabric?

Seems to me that if you've got a serious couch problem then weed fabric isn't going to fix it, and if you haven't then why go to all that trouble and expense (other than possibly saving yourself a bit of hoeing from time to time?)

(I experimented several years ago using "light deprivation" techniques on a severely weed-infested patch of ground and gave up after 2 years; couch-grass down but not out-for-the-count!)

[Trillium]

The best thing about weed suppressant is that the weed roots move closer to the surface for light, so when you lift the fabric, it's easier to pull out the roots. but it never stops the weeds. Constant rooting out will eventually set it back a lot, but you can never stop. Its one of the downsides of gardening.

[DD.]

Just to say that I'm not an authority.

Despite the stars, first & foremost, I'm  a forum member.

If I post about planting things, that's my way of doing it and the way it's worked for me.

I'd give GW a run for it's money though!

[Trillium]

I'd give GW a run for it's money though!

That's hardly fair, DD. You know Joe hasn't a chance and you'd leave him way way behind   

[plum crumble]

I wouldn't do it - apart from anything else, that't at least 200 holes I would have to cut through the fabric - and if you get the wrong sort, that's a lot of black ends unravelling all over the place.

Fundamentally, you just gotta dig that couch grass out. We covered a third of our plot for a year with black sheeting, and the next year dug out all the roots which as Trillium said, are now near the surface. Easy peasy compared to not doing it.

[diggerjoe]

I always plant sweetcorn through fabric and this year will do the same for cauli and cabbage and kale as its such a bind taking of the netting to weed, and i might give it go for lettuce as I start rhem of in modules but I have found as long as you leave enough room to get a hoe between, onions are not too bad to keep weeded.

[andtiggertoo]

I've been gardening for 20 odd years but only done veg for last 3 so am a novice compared to most on here.

I always feel planting anything through fabric is a bit hard work, and as a previous poster says 200 holes is a lot of work. The holes will have to be big enough for the fully grown onion to completely emerge through the fabric as they want to be in the sunshine to avoid rotting.

A question for those posters who do use fabric, do you throw fabric away each year or save and reuse for something that requires the same spacings.

[realfood]

I reuse the fabric for several years. Some has been reused for up to 5 or 6 years, but it does depend on the quality and anti UV light properties of the fabric. Liddle fabric seems to be good quality. If you are cunning you can cut the holes using mass production with the fabric folded, accordion style along the planting planting lines, and then cut through 5 or 6 layers with gardening scissors with an X.

[bigben]

Thanks for the ideas - the fabric is reasonable stuff 100gms but is woven so as some have said, cutting lots of holes in it will likely lead to a lot of fraying eventually. The previous stuff I used was not woven but was too thin. I am tending to err towards perhaps using it for my squash where there will be fewer holes. I have not dug this bed yet but am expecting to find the same couch grass and bindweed I found everywhere else . With squash, I understand that the spacings are very wide (compared to onions) so there is perhaps more chance of it surpressing any nasties I miss when I get round to digging the bed for the first time.

[Yorkie]

That sounds a better idea BB

[Salmo]

To cut holes in woven sheet without fraying use something hot to make the holes. If near an electric point a soldering iron.. If no electric a narrow flamed blow torch does the job. That is what the professionals use.

[galen]

Thanks for the ideas - the fabric is reasonable stuff 100gms but is woven so as some have said, cutting lots of holes in it will likely lead to a lot of fraying eventually. The previous stuff I used was not woven but was too thin. I am tending to err towards perhaps using it for my squash where there will be fewer holes. I have not dug this bed yet but am expecting to find the same couch grass and bindweed I found everywhere else . With squash, I understand that the spacings are very wide (compared to onions) so there is perhaps more chance of it surpressing any nasties I miss when I get round to digging the bed for the first time.

I dug and hand sifted forever last year trying to get rid of the bindweed from the worst area on my new plot. Knowing it was the worst area I decided to plant my squashes there through membrane - and still got bindweed shoots coming through the "X"s.  They were easy too pull out with out disturbing my plants, by then all roots were very close to the surface and I did get a decent enough crop 

[bigben]

Thanks Galen - that reassuring. My spuds are going in the bit that was most infested and I am hopeing that all the earthing up and their heavy folliage will help keep down any bindweed I have missed. It is a bit soul destroying to dig a bit for the third time and still turn up bits of root I managed to miss.