permaculture

["C. Suzanne Myers" <solarsonicdove@yahoo.com>]

The look is definitely the issue, the nightmare is labor and the mass of 
square footage we have to deal with in the hot blazing sun. 
I'm researching the math on how many square feet exactly, the owner has that 
written down somewhere and I've asked him for it. I do not know how old the 
plastic is, these folks are the new owners as of March we don't have that 
info. I can also research that with the other locals or people who have been 
here longer than the 5 years I have. I do not remember the plastic being 
installed. The area is so large that the condition and depth of the plastic 
varies greatly. Our prevailing winds come mostly from a Southwesterly 
direction. They are the primary erosive factor in our landscape and they blow 
from May thru the beginning of June. They deposit a lot of debris around 
various obstructions and as you can probably guess we have a very unevenly 
distributed layering of plastic, soil, and 2 to 3 to 4 inches of bark 
depending on the area in question. Some areas have many weeds growing, and in 
these areas like I mentioned earlier,  the plastic could be much deeper or 
breaking down more. These
 areas could be the place to do the island plantings and work our way outward 
to make the pine bark spaces smaller in increments. Good call.  Thanks Claude 
for the ideas.
 


"genest@pivot.net" <genest@pivot.net> wrote: 
How big an area does the plastic cover ?

What kind of shape is it in ? ( how old ?)

What exactly is the "nightmare" ? The tumbleweeds ? lack of grass?
The "look " ?
Depending on all this, I'm thinking, why not work with what you've got and
use the plastic as a mulch ? I.e poke holes in it to plant your plants and
then mulch it over with something "aesthetic" ( bark, chips, leaves, hay,
straw, rocks) then gradually keep planting it out over a few years ....
There are obvious disadvantages to the plastic ( infiltration of moisture
comes to mind but micro -irrigation could solve that) but there is the
advantage of weed suppression as your plants establish.... So when they go
to seed, just remove an area of plastic around the plant and let those
seeds fall on what will be a perfect seedbed.... In other words, wherever
the ground has been solarized/mulched by the plastic, you have a perfect
seeding opportunity....

Claude

Original Message:

-----------------
From: C. Suzanne Myers solarsonicdove@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2004 10:53:22 -0700 (PDT)
To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [permaculture] Black plastic nightmare!



Anyone out there have any suggestions on how to re-manage a black plastic
nightmare?

I'm working at an older Hotel and Conference Center in a semi-arid area of
SW Colorado, actually in the San Luis Valley. Right now, the ground is
layered with black plastic then dirt and big chunks of pine bark and it
looks pretty ghetto. Mostly tumbleweed and whitetop in any nook they can
find to grow 2 feet tall more or less. Not much Grass coming up in the area
in question. 

The intent is to do a natural arid landscape, I have suggested that we
landscape with a mix of native grasses, like big bluestem and Indian rice
grass mixed with some prairie flowers like sunflower and yarrow, etc... The
main point is that we must not have to water it at all or very little and
the big issue is the Plastic. How can we deal with the plastic? If we try
to rototiller it we could ruin the equipment by tangling up plastic in the
tines, removal by hand is just too time consuming and the labor cost out of
reach. I don't think we can leave it because it seems the soil aspect is
unevenly distributed and this would not seem to bode well for plants to
survive. If weeds with tap roots are growing in this stuff, could it be
okay to plant over the plastic? Or should we toss more soil on it first,
which might not be possible $ wise. I want to bring plants in responsibly,
to make sure the environment is right for them to survive. So, does anyone
out there have any experienc
e or
insightful ideas about this dilemma?

Suzanne Myers

solarsonicdove@yahoo.com 



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