A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Plastic mulches...

I've heard that laying down plastic then putting your veggie plants through the holes or slits is the ideal way to grow. I could not find any anywhere. So I took a new dark green plastic shower curtain(from the dollar store) cut it in half and laid it down, cut holes to put the pepper and tomatoe plants in and watered well.

I'm just curious to know if anyone here does this? What's the best color to use? Do you cut slits or holes? I think I cut the holes to big (3 inches by 3 inches). Oh well, live and learn. Info needed please, thanks. Happy gardening.

I don't use the plastic...

I have tried alllllllllllllllllottttttt of different kinds of
landscape fabric and they all act differently..

The one that would be closest to what you're talking about,
I wasn't all that happy with...
Well, I had to water alot under the fabric...
NO rain could get there..
It did keep the weeds from growing..

but it did keep in the moisture and it didn't seem to let the soil breathe...
and it had a musty/swampy smell to it the next season when I took it off...

When I do plant with stuff like that.....
I figure out where I want the plants, cut in
crosses like and then plant in the crosses middle..
I do have to keep stuff on top of it, to keep it
from flyin' around...

I'd prefer to use an organic mulch like straw which actually improves the soil as it decomposes. Plastic and soil don't sound like a good mix to me for the reasons Weezie stated.
However!
As the summer ended, i decided to cover the soil of my tomatoes with black builders plastic, to see if it would retain the heat of the cooler days. It would only be on the soil for about a month or two.
I first buried all the plant stems in compost, to try and re-juvenate them and also to make a dish shape with the high spots around the outsides of the bed. Then covered the soil with plastic and made holes for water to go thru. It can't run off because of the dish shape. So it makes watering easy.
Well, i guess we'll see in a few more weeks how it went as it's just starting winter in my part of the planet.
well, you can sorta see here what i'm on about. It's the first time i've done this and it goes against my instincts but the tommies are almost finished anyway so it's an experiment.

I used black plastic couple times, not the one for gardening.. Was a large mistake on the flatland......When it rained often, i had puddles and bug an snail and mosquitos all over .. I guess the garden brand has holes for drainage. But is it worth the price? I like to hoe around tomatoes and peppers.. They like to get air and water around the roots. I think it is healthier for them..

dodge

My sister and BIL tried that back in early 90's in New Mexico they were not happy at all seems like the hot sun caused the plastic to burn everything up heat out there can be 120 in shade and has been as high as 130 on hot days. Flat ruined the crop for that year and almost ruined the soil under the plastic.

seems like the hot sun caused the plastic to burn everything up
+++++++++++++++++
Yeah there's no way i'd do it in the summer months. Unless i lived in Alaska maybe.

They sale this Red plastic stuff in "Garden Helper" It is supposed to help your tomato crop cause of the color. But it is just for tomatoes. I would like to try it just to see if it works. Go on that web site and read about it sounds kinda cool to me at least
Heidi