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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Polymulch question

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  • From: Shawnee Flowerfarmer <farmingflowers AT hotmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Polymulch question
  • Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:48:48 -0500



> What are people's experiences with polymulch?
>
> I have a berry garden that I'm trying to establish in a pretty weedy
> corner of pasture that tends to get ignored a bit compared to the more
> cultivated gardens. I'm looking for something that will really help with
> weed suppression to give the berries a fighting chance at getting
> established. At the moment, there is no possibility for irrigation up there.
>
> Any advice or recommendations would be helpful.
>
> --
> ~~Danielle
> Touch the Earth Farm

 
Mulch of any sort is the most cost effective answer to your problem.  In areas where I do not want the permanence or expense of petro-chemical based sheet mulch, I have used thick applications of newspapers covered with as much organic material as I can salvage.  Any organic mulch.  Sometimes I have cut the weedy growth, pulled it away, laid paper and heaped the weedy stuff back on to go crispy critters in the sun.  (Obviously, before someone posts this advice, you want to be careful of seedheads.)  This method will kill all existing species although you need to be aware of the plants to judge the time frame for a clean kill under paper and mulch.  Perennials persist much longer.  But eventually, even the dratted bindweed and thistle will succumb.
 
Certainly you can burn away some species etc.  There are many methods to use, but when I need to go cheap with my own labor...it's recycled newspaper and organic mulch.  This mulch will certainly help with soil moisture retention also.  Frequently, after two seasons of this treatment, I can till or disc under the mulch  and sow the area with white dutch clover-sometimes now called New Zealand white clover-as an excellent living, nitrogen fixing mulch.
 
Another thought....you might check with local landscapers remembering that this is the beginning of their highly stressed out season....often they have large pieces of various types of funky landscape fabrics, or worn out pond liners that cause them some difficulty to get rid of.  If you are a salvaging sort of person with energy and the use of a truck, you could get lucky and keep the stuff out of the waste stream for awhile.  Another thought again, if you live near a Menard's store, they put their cheapest tarps on sale for a buck or three about this time.  Should last for a long time also.
 
Shawnee, zone 5, serving the plants
 

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