A Way To Garden

A Way To Garden

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margaret roach, head gardener

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You are here: Home / Replies / Re: Plastic Mulch

Re: Plastic Mulch

Home › Forums › Edible-Garden Questions › Vegetables & Herbs › Plastic Mulch › Re: Plastic Mulch

April 6, 2011 at 1:33 am #29670

Anonymous

I think Margaret would agree with the statement from Maria Rodale’s site. To use the plastic sheeting to grow squash (or watermelon, sweet potatoes and other hot soil loving crops in cooler summers), the sheeting is laid down early to heat up the soil and then removed- this way it can be re-used for multiple years and also does not prevent rain water from getting to the squash once they are actually growing. Check out the mulch faq’s for more details on mulch. Plastic sheeting is the 8th question down.

When I was growing up, my mother used plastic sheeting all season long and I always hated the way it would eventually disintegrate into many really annoying little pieces. For environmental reasons, I would like to say that I have never used plastic sheeting, but in my own garden I have used it to heat the soil early in the season for both watermelons and sweet potatoes. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I would get a decent crop with out it.

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Welcome! I’m Margaret Roach, a leading garden writer for 25 years—at ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ ‘Newsday,’ and in three books. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden, and always say no to chemicals and yes to great plants.

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