[Paul Canning]

I hope this is in the right area :-/

I was wondering whether or not people make use of lino offcuts on their allotment at all?

I was thinking of using some offcuts I have leftover from doing the kitchen as weed suppressant to lighten my regular weeding schedule?

Anyone got any thoughts?

[bigben]

Someone did this on mine and I found it is not UV stablised so it becomes very brittle and just breaks into little bits after a while. It also stops water getting to the soil so will effect the micro-organisems in the soil. If you do want to still use it then just use it for a short time until you get on top of things. I swear by weed fabric and grow stuff through it on about half of my allotment - onions, garlic, pumpkins, fruit bushes.

[brown thumb]

do you grow raspberry canes though membrane and if so does it cause any problems as i am redoing a raspberry bed next year and if it  cuts down weeding i am all for that but at the same would like the canes to increase a little

[DD.]

You'd have problems with raspberry canes, as the new growth that is necessary for future crops can come up several feet away from the parent.

[JayG]

do you grow raspberry canes though membrane and if so does it cause any problems as i am redoing a raspberry bed next year and if it  cuts down weeding i am all for that but at the same would like the canes to increase a little

Don't think raspberries would be a good choice for this technique because the plants increase by throwing up suckers which can appear anything from a few inches to a few feet away from the parent plants.

[DD.]

Ahem.... 

[JayG]

Ahem.... 

You're younger and quicker than me (but not by much!)   

[m1ckz]

interesting,how about strawberrys,can u use weed fabric for those,would save lots of weeding

[DD.]

No reason why not, just don't expect your runners to root in the soil!

[Paul Canning]

I may use some short term  to keep on top of some sections of weeding then. thanks all.

[Nige2Plots]

You could always lay it in your allotment shed

[heloise]

About the raspberries - weed suppressant has worked fine for me around the autumn raspberries as they come up from one obvious place. Haven't put any round the summer ones for the reasons already mentioned.

[JayG]

About the raspberries - weed suppressant has worked fine for me around the autumn raspberries as they come up from one obvious place. Haven't put any round the summer ones for the reasons already mentioned.

Your autumn raspberries are obviously much better trained than mine (where is this "one obvious place"?)

[heloise]

By 'obvious place' I mean in the place near the stem where you cut them down last year  The weed suppressant has helped with controlling the suckers and anything that comes up away from the weed suppressant (it's the heavier duty stuff, by the way) gets dug out. It's not perfect but makes life that little bit easier, for me.

[JayG]

By 'obvious place' I mean in the place near the stem where you cut them down last year  The weed suppressant has helped with controlling the suckers and anything that comes up away from the weed suppressant (it's the heavier duty stuff, by the way) gets dug out. It's not perfect but makes life that little bit easier, for me.

I see! That wouldn't work for Brown Thumb though because he wants to encourage his suckers, not control them!