Black plastic landscape fabric is sold in rolls almost everywhere with a garden department. Walmart, Ace and True Value Hardware, Home Depot, Lowes and any similar stores. It is also available online at any gardening supplies website.

Plain black plastic without the holes found in the landscapes fabric is also sold at most any big box store or hardware store. No way do you need 6-8 mil, 4 mil is the normal thickness and even 3 mil works. The rolls come in 50, 100, and 200 foot lengths and and 3' or 4' widths and you cut to fit. I have never seen it available in pre-cut sizes. You have to do that part yourself.

Using it has pros and cons but there is lots of information available about them so I won't list all of them here. If you only want to warm the soil then you'd remove it before the heat of summer arrives in your zone as it can quickly over-heat the soil and cook the roots if not removed or covered..

Dave

Dave

Would you do this if you wanted to warm the soil to get a early start in the garden?

Would you use clear or black plastic?

What are the Pro and Con's on doing this?

Would you kill the Microorganism and the worms in the soil?

Last Fall I put 6 inches of 4 year old wood mulch on top of that I put 5 inches of leaf compost and on top of that I put 4 year old aged horse manure 2 inches thick than I put mulch grass and leave from my yard.

I wan t to do the best thing for it.

Would you till it or not this Spring?

Both black and clear will warm the soil, but since clear is used to actually "solarize" soil(kill life)., I would think NO to the clear.

I, myself, wouldn't buy the landscape fabric. Because it's for gardening, it will be more pricey than plain black visqueen used for construction. I also would shop it around at places like drywall suppliers and paint stores. When I was in construction, I found that Home Depot et al weren't all that competitive when it came to visqueen. Better selection at a drywall supplier too.

Kevin

COLOR OF PLASTICS:

BLACK: absorbs most energy from the incident solar light waves. It can only heat the soil underneat by CONDUCTION. Because it get warm, it will lose some of it by convection (Wind, breeze) and radiation.

CLEAR: it works similar to common window glass: A small percent of light is reflected off. Tiny amount is absorbed. Great percentage is transmitted, heating the soil underneath. If there is some gap between the plastic and the soil, it will act like a greenhouse, The temperature can build up in a warm sunny day and it can kill any vegetation underneath. BUT it is most desirable in early spring when the soil is cold and the temperature have not yet warmed up. So what you do is: Cut a hole ; plant your plant (Tomato, eg). The rest of area remains covered keeping the soil warmer.

little acorn - since you asked, I did it a couple of times but quickly learned that down here it quickly makes my soil too hot. So no, I wouldn't do it again. And if I did I would only use the landscape fabric so there is at least some air exchange. And I definitely would NOT use clear. That would kill soil microorganisms and drive out worms for sure not to mention cooking the roots.

In your zone you might get away with it with no problem but you will have to monitor the soil temp carefully.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for pre-warming soil in the spring for the few crops that need it but there are much better ways in my zone to do that,

I can't help you with the tilling question much as I would never use wood chips/mulch in my vegetable garden. I don't like layers in a garden and am a firm believer in tilling/mixing up all ingredients so the wood chips aside, yes I'd mix it all up.

Dave

little_acorn- There was recently a post here about plastic mulches. I've linked it below. I think it will help explain the pros and cons of using plastic and also about what different colored mulches are *supposed* to do.

I'm with Dave when it comes to using wood chips in a vegetable garden and also about mixing the ammendments together. Different ammendments have different textures and dry out at different rates. The top layer might be dry so you water but the layers underneath might be wet (or vice versa) and obviously that's not good for the plant. Mixing them together also helps to distribute the nutrients in the ammendments more evenly throughout the soil.

Rodney

Here is a link that might be useful: Colored Plastic Mulch?

To get the true benefit of warming the soil to transplants you need to plant thru the plastic. If you just put a shhet of plastic down and then remove it a few days prior to planting you'll lose the heat in just a few days.

Although there are sweet corn growers who plant under a perforated clear plastic, this is probably nor for you since weeds germinate in abundance as well as the corn.

Larger sheets of black plastic, available as mentioned, will not allow enough water to wick under and so if you do plan to plant thru the plastic you'll need to first lay rows of driptape. The 4' rolls of plastic don't necessarily need the driptape (I don't use it in the field). What I find is that the soil actually stays more wet under the plastic; however with a prolonged drought followed by I don't agree with the suggestions above as for injuring plant roots from the excessive heat in our zones. In fact I have planted broccoli, cabbage,and other cole crops as well as lettuce,peppers,tomatoes, melons, eggplant and onions thru black plastic for many years now with repeated success. The direction specified for growing "PA Simply Sweet (Candy) Onions is to plant thru plastic with drip irrigation.

The normal recommendation given for warming the soil is to lay the plastic a few days prior to transplanting thru it in order to adequately warm the soil prior to planting. Once you have the black plastic installed and see the added benefits of weed control and plant growth you won't want to remove it. Some even try to get 2 or more seasons out of a single sheet.

I've used rolls of black plastic ordered though a commercial agriculture suppy company. Before rolling it out, I drilled small holes (maybe used one quarter inch drill bit...don't remember it was so long ago) into the roll every 4 inches or so....takes awhile but the roll is large and has been used for several years. Some of the plastic has lasted two seasons. You could probably lay it out and punch holes with a pitchfork if your area isn't large and you start with a large sheet instead of a roll of plastic. Large size sheets are available at big box stores such as Menards and Home Depot. They can be overlapped to cover a larger area if you can't find a wide enough sheet. Put some rocks or landscape fabric pins/staples over the seam and cover the outside edges with soil. I use a pitchfork to add holes to any low spots that collect water.

I've only planted warm weather transplants through it such as peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, squash, cucumbers, and melons. Cut an X where you want the plant, and set the transplant in place. Much of the plastic was covered by foliage by time our days became hot rather than warm....and my idea of hot is over 80-85 F unlike many areas that see 90 and 100 on many summer days. I wouldn't recommend it for those areas unless it is torn out or mulched over before the heat hits. I'm using it over extremely well drained soil with lots of sand. I do not use it on the garden I have in an area with clay/clay loam since I think that soil needs all the exposure to air it can get. However, my daughter has used it on heavy soil and it worked fairly well while she worked to get her weeds under control.

It has been a real help in my far from home garden where it keeps weeds under control and maintains soil moisture when I'm away for a week or more. I usually hand water around each plant which takes time, but during rainy periods the small holes let the water into the soil below and hand watering isn't needed. Automated drip would be wonderful, but that isn't going to happen at that location.

In my area where really warm summer temps can be unusual, the added warmth with the plastic lets me grow the heat lovers and get a much earlier and longer harvest. Perhaps that is what your zone 5 is like, too, and then the plastic might be great for you.