Vegetable Growing using Weed Suppressing Membrane / Mypex

Lots of good ideas/info on this thread!

Sewing machine as I found trying to heat (blowtorch) seal edges or burn holes distorts and shrivels the sheeting and does not work.

Do you mean create a shallow former, held in position with wire pins or tent pegs to hold the fabric apart? That sounds like another idea to add to my list. I'm wondering where I've seen loads of (green?) thin corrugated plastic sheeting that would probably be ideal for the purpose, veg market packaging perhaps? (might be new style mushroom/tomato boxes, I'll check with my contact at the local hotel) Just found some to use as an example! (but white):



The only crops I was thinking of growing through slits were radishes & carrots as that's about all I now sow direct and don't bring on in either pots or cell tray for transplanting, but I'm always looking for new ways to grow stuff through Mypex

I found potatoes really difficult to grow through membrane as you can't earth up to protect against frost and cover tubers and trying to cover retrospectively is a PITA.

I forgot to mention that advantage, plus it protects crops from mud splashes when it rains.

Automatic watering and hose pipes are not an option for me as I have no mains water at my plot, but I'm looking at a way of watering inside polytunnels using leaky hoses and large water tank(s).

P.S. I forgot about outdoor cucumbers as another crop I grow through Mypex. Also intend to plant out bog roll sown parsnips, but I was away on holiday at the time for doing it this year.

 

Have you thought of putting Leaky Hose along the row of Runners? It would use a lot less water (dunno if that matters though?)

 

If I tried covering a ridge system with Mypex on my exposed plot it would be blowing around the tops of the plants in no time, rather than being tight to the undulating surface of the ground.

At the moment I'm physically carrying 4 gallons in each hand to the car, and them emptying at the plot, about 16 x 4 galls a day. This is why the use of Mypex is so important to me (plus being lazy and not wanting to spend any time weeding).

Even if it's pouring with rain, I still need to carry water to my polytunnels.

 

Meant to ask you about this. How does the "fencing straining wire" work to hold the Mypex down pls?

 

I'll take some pics tomorrow [1], but use a diagram for now. I Buy straining wire cheap from car boot sales and bend into rectangular hoops to hold the Mypex down. The length of the horizontal section is always slightly less than the distance between the 2 vertical wires stabbed into the ground so as to make it fit really tight.


[1]Until then ....

 

Ah, I thought the wire ran the length of the Mypex - and I couldn't figure how that held it down. You are making monster staples to peg it down??

 

I've found that using standard (heavy duty) staples fired from one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000I5RD1Q/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (only £13.32 when I bought mine) were inadequate to hold the sheeting down when fixing to edging boards, and my 'giant staples' have always worked best.

 

Excellent, "giant staples" will be far better than the assortment of bricks that I am currently using! Ta for that

 

's ...Really interesting reading,thanks chaps

 

My lettuce i grew with weed suppressant where all black at the bottom when i removed my netting,my fault! i should of checked them previously but with rabbits being on the munch when i let the guards/net down on my cabbage so i just left the lettuce to their own devices and now ive removed the netting the rabbits dont want them..they have taste

 

My 'staples' are made from 3.15mm dia galvanised fencing straining wire 1m girth, 600mm wide with 200mm downturns at each end. I put a downward curve in the 600mm long horizontal section so it presses down hard on the sheeting (help prevent trip hazards, especially as I walk along the lines of wire fixings where sheets overlap) and the down turns are each bent a bit sideways in opposite directions, but both pushed in vertically as the twist in the wire helps improve grip.

I leave gaps of approx. 750mm between staples and if pushing into loose, freshly rotovated soil I'll tread it down on the line of fixings so they get a better grip. After a while the sheets will settle down an lie flat tight to the surface of the ground, but I might hold it them down with old car tyres, small pallets, fence posts, etc. for a while if it looks like being windy.

I'm currently extending my use of Mypex and have nearly run out of cheap car boot bought rolls of wire, so I'm going to order 5Kg/94m from ebay for £15 delivered http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Galvanise..._Garden_Materials_ET&var=&hash=item27e4ea89f6 If I needed twice that amount it would only have saved me 55p by buying 10Kg from Sure-green.

That will give me another 94 staples @ 16p each. My sheets are 6 (4 or 5 staples) x 2m (2 staples), so if they were laid in threes with two long sides lapping and sharing staples, about 30 in total costing £4.80 or 13p/m2. (but as I got those sheets for only 70p each I'm not too bothered about spending a few quid on holding them down).



N.B. Plastic coated straining wire isn't nearly as as good as uncoated galvanised wire. The metal core is much thinner, it's bendy and comes out the ground much easier. I've got some but will only use with an all metal staple either side. They can prove impossible to push into hardish ground, like my clay soil in summer.

My device for getting water poured from a water can into small X holes in Mypex with plants in them (as I have no mains water at my plot and have to carry most of it there I don't like wasting any)

 

I've just laid another five 6 x 2m sheets (still got another 13 left to lay). I've used the method below when taking on overgrown plots that have been neglected for years, but it's taken 3 rotovating sessions in hot weather so most of the couch grass and bindweed roots get dried up in the sunshine. The sheets are left down for a couple of years then lifted for a potato crop, then laid back again.


Strim weeds right down to surface of ground



Rotorvate



Apply fertiser/compost/etc. and rotorvate again



Level surface (with dry soil I find a broom easier than a rake)



Make fencing wire staples (don't bother straightening the wire as it comes off the coil as the bend helps press the wire against the surface of the sheet, just the downturns need straightening).



Lay sheets and pin down with staples



P.S. I also use some sheets of heavy duty black polythene sheet as mulch so I'll always have somewhere relatively dry to rotorvate in Spring/early summer after lifting them. This year right up until June I'd try and plant through Mypex and the holes would fill with water.

 

Kristen chose a cracking title for this thread, makes me laugh every time I see it on the GC home page ......