Seeking a recommendation for the cheapest effective covering sheet for a quarter plot

Hi,

Apologies if this thread has been done before - I'm looking for the the cheapest effective ground covering sheet, and was wondering if anyone would have an eBay link or similar, please?

Many thanks,

Jonathan

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P.S. It's probably more appropriate, even, if it's just an eighth-plot's worth, as it seems part-occupied by underground planks and all sorts. Thanks.

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Is it just for supressing existing weeds (and for how long), or for laying down to plant/grow stuff through?

 

I didn't know one could grow things through like that, sounds a great way of mulching. Yes it was basically intended to suppress existing weeds.

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The 3 that I've used:

Old carpet (if your plot rules don't ban the use of it) makes good short term weed suppressant cover can be laid over existing weeds, but synthetic material carpet can disintegrate and leave a massive tangle of threads in the ground. Despite being heavy, unless weighted down a gale can blow it onto surrounding plots, wrecking people's crops.

Free from skips.

Mypex (or Yuzet) are woven polypropylene ground coverings and can be used to supress weeds and grow stuff through. If you lay them straight onto weeds it wont touch the ground, leaving a gap that pests will make their home, wont be an efficient water retentive mulch, and even worse it will cause rain to run off to the edges.

If the weeds are strimmed/skimmed, the ground levelled (best rotavated and raked level), the membrane will lay tight on the surface. It will need securing - I use fencing wire 'staples' made from fencing straining wire (got another 360 metres for £3 at a car boot a while ago), but usually need a few heavy items to hold it down whilst the cultivated soil settles around the 'staples', I use car tyres and small pallets plus walk over it on the line of the fixings.

Have a look at these threads http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/...-sheet-for-a-quarter-plot.103240/#post-972960

Whatever you elect to use initially, growing some crops through this in your first season would help overcome the problem of the bank of weed seeds in the ground that's normally found in overgrown plots. Sheets can be re-used year after year.

Think they were about 50p/m2 from ebay last time I looked.

Heavy duty black polythene (damp proof membrane) will stifle most weeds (it still lets a very small amount of light through), needs holding down in the same way as described above (even more so because if wind starts getting underneath in a gale it will lift more than woven sheets), is impervious to rain which will help kill weeds (but also beneficial stuff in the soil) and if crops are grown through it they require more watering than Mypex/Yuzet.

I use sheets to cover prepared beds (clay soil) in the Autumn so they're not waterlogged when removed in the Spring, or covering partially prepared areas for finishing in the Spring, otherwise they would be too wet to rotorvate early in the year.

Always bought (10 x 4m?) rolls from B&Q on 15% off days, or with something else when 20% off £50 spend vouchers about.

 

Thanks. This is very helpful.

I am most interested in the polythene. Will that overheat plants if used as a permanent mulch?

Having trouble finding cheap anything. Diy.com seem to have given up supplying this.

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It can get hot above it during a summer's day (physically noticable if working on it in hot sunshine) and this can increase the likelyhood of susceptable plants grown through it getting powdery mildew.

I'm sure B&Q had it instore last time I looked, will check next time I'm there.

Wilko's Mypex like membrane was a good price when reduced to half price a week or so ago, not as heavy duty as the real thing, but £2.25 for 12m2 (1.5 x 8m) would have provided a good cheap introduction to growing through membranes.

 

Thanks. Having great difficulty finding the wilko product on their website, I wonder if they've discontinued.

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Yes, because because it's the discontinued stuff that gets reducecd, 99% of their reductions are only instore, depending on time of year, if a product dissapears from their website it often means it'll be heavily discounted instore, you need to watch this thread http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/wilkos-half-price-sale.42517/ or check instore to get the bargains.

 

@Jonathan75 I saw rolls of black heavy duty dpm in B&Q this morning, £37 for 4 x 15m 1000 gauge and £40 for 4 x 15m 1200 gauge.

They are both on diy.com:

http://www.diy.com/departments/ndc-black-damp-proof-membrane-1000/35628_BQ.prd

http://www.diy.com/departments/ndc-black-damp-proof-membrane-1200/35626_BQ.prd


If you join B&Q Club they will email you a £5 off £50 voucher to use instore, every time I need to spend around £50 I simply rejoin using a new email address and get another voucher http://www.diy.com/bandqclub That would enable you, if buying the £40 roll, to get another £10's worth of stuff at half price.





P.S. 1000 gauge is 250 microns thick, 1 micron = 1/1000 of a mm, so 0.25mm which is a decent heavy duty thickness.

1200 gauge is 300 microns thick, so for an extra £3/8%, you would be getting an extra 20% thickness.

 

Thanks [emoji3] much appreciated.

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I cannot believe I have found something cheaper than Scrungee and I am certain that he must have overlooked the following for some reason. But have a look through ebay..DPM there.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...+proof.TRS0&_nkw=damp+proof+membrane&_sacat=0

First one up in the above list is 4m x 25m 1200 gauge for £39.49, with free postage. That gives you an extra 10m x 4m for free over what you get at B&Q.

Steve...

 

Good price @ 39p/m2 (B&Q 67p, 60p with 10% card, or 53p if there's another 20% off weekend/voucher) so might get one myself, not for growing through, but for covering up after autumn rotovating to prevent waterlogging delaying planting out if we get a wet spring. I'll often remove it during a mid, dry spell to let weed seeds germinate, then put it back to kill them off.

Allowing for laps, 1 roll should cover about one third of a full size 10 pole plot.

 

You could always try leaves. At this time of year they are free and will only cost you your labour to collect them. If word gets around your neighborhood you want them I'm sure you will have plenty of takers. Cover to at least a foot deep. They will sink so keep topping up til they stay a foot deep (or more). Then leave it for the winter and let the worms do the work. I promise you will have the best planting soil for miles around and most, if not all but the most persistent weeds, will have gone