Even though I have a small “patch” I still have things I need to do before the pumpkin season kicks off later in the year.
The main thing I need to do is remove the weeds that have overtaken every square inch of the area outside.
I would do this by spraying weed killer. This works quite well if you have good coverage of the area, but the weeds will come back later on. So for a change this year I will be killing the weeds with plastic.
I thought I would try something different and see how it goes. It’s all about trying new things, and there is nothing like first hand experience to see what works.
There seems to be two ways to go about this from what I have read online. One way is using clear plastic, and the other way is using black plastic.
What is the difference?
The clear type will allow light through and heat up the soil. This is a process called soil soilorisation which kills the weeds by cooking them via the power of the sun. This works well during summer, and there are a few tricks to doing it well as outlined in this article I found online.
As there’s still 3 months to go until planting, I’m going to go with the black polythene to kill the weeds by taking away their light source. I’m sure there will also be a little bit of heating of the soil happening when the sun decides to come out.
I got paving stones to weigh down this polythene. One of the most obtrusive weeds I have in my patch which I had thought I had got rid of the other year is mint, it spreads and pops up all over the place. Luckily it smells nice I guess.
So will this kill all the weeds?
No, but it will help a lot at dealing with what is currently there. Seeds from the weeds will also be still present in the soil, and will need to dealt with when they appear later on.
I’m undecided on if I will dig out and replace the soil in the actual patch. Growing in such a small area means this is quite an easy thing to do.
I’ll make a decision on what I am going to do in September, as I have the My Noke product to put in there, which I will talk about in a later post.
What are you up to?
Let me know in the comments section below if there is anything you will be doing right now before the season starts.
