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Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 15:04
| I'm starting to plan my garden for next year. This year I used plastic mulch and really wasn't to happy with it. I been looking at these Garden Mats
http://gardenmats.com/home_gardener.php Does anybody have any experience with them? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| This was my first garden and everything came up great. But I had a lot of weeds in between the rows of plastic mulch. Also it seemed like I had the water a lot more with the plastic. If I use the plastic again I will definitely be putting something in between the rows. Here is a picture of this years garden with the plastic mulch.
Next years garden is going to be triple the size of this one. So I'm looking for something that would save me some time weeding like the garden mats or any other suggestions. |
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| We used dry grass clippings from the yard. They work great and they are free! We don't fertilize or spray our grass. Nice garden for a first timer! |
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| Thanks Zackey. I was real happy with the amount and quality of the vegetables the garden produced. Just wasn't thrilled with the weeds. The plastic did a good job keeping the weeds away from the plants. I was just looking for a easier way..lol The plastic isn't to hard to put down. I just thought something like that garden mat might be easier since the garden is going to be much bigger next year. |
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| Never heard of garden mats, but the information at the website is persuasive. I may try a couple for really hard to weed crops like onions. It would be quite an investment but I do think the stuff would last the 7 years they claim. I have a piece of black geotextile in one of my row pathways that we pick up and flip every year. It's been getting tromped on for at least five years, and is still intact. There is also a simple, satisfying elegance to using precision hoes. Do you have a shuffle hoe (horseshoe hoe), winged weeder (sharp triangle hoe) and a cobrahead? When it comes to weed control, great tools make all the difference. |
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- Posted by brit_n_rick (My Page) on Tue, Nov 20, 12 at 9:16
| We have always used hay / straw to mulch our garden and it works great. It will allow water to get down to the plants - but keeps weeds at bay. If weeds do start to come up - then you just put down a little more hay. For pathways - you can put down a layer of cardboard and then mulch that with hay also. The hay will keep the pathways from getting really muddy too. As far as watering - We use T-tape which is sold in large rolls. We put the irrigation tape over all our garden beds, plants our seedlings, then mulch it all with hay. Water goes directly to the seedling and not the areas in between so weeds are not watered. We also have a timer connected to the water hose so the garden gets watered automatically. (This helps a lot when we go out of town.) It's a really easy system - totally takes the "work" out of gardening. We don't actually weed much at all and our plants are super healthy. The costs are a little upfront - for the dripline but well-worth it. It will save you lots of money on your water bill and the ttape lasts for several years. And the hay will break down. You can put it in your compost bin or just leave it on the beds to suppress weeds for next year. Good looking garden! Best of luck for next year! |
Here is a link that might be useful: T-Tape
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- Posted by nancyjane_gardener USDA 8ish No CA (My Page) on Tue, Nov 20, 12 at 20:51
| Don't know what T-tape is(I'll have to look into it), but you can also get the soaker hoses for fairly cheap. That would work under the plastic mulch! Nancy |
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- Posted by optimistique 8a (My Page) on Wed, Nov 21, 12 at 12:57
| Honestly, I have found a thick layer of leaves to be the best mulch. You can drive around and pick up bags for free (you may get some bags of sticks here and there). For the walking spaces, you could till every few days to keep weeds from rooting. The cons to the leaves are that they make a nice bed for snakes. We only have small, harmless, grass snakes...not a big deal. You look like you may live somewhere where snakes may be more of a concern. |
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| I thought about just using the plastic mulch again and put grass clippings in between the rows. The plastic mulch isn't the easiest stuff to put down. The garden mats just seem like it would be the easiest solution. Lay them down and plant. I'm not concerned about the initial cost for the mats because this is a hobby for me. I spend a lot more on my other hobbies...lol I saw the TV commercial back in June on the mats and probably would of went with them but I already had the plastic down. I was hoping someone had some experience with them. I like the idea of the soaker hose under the mats. With the plastic I had to make the holes bigger as the plants grew to water them better. I think I will bite the bullet and order them. I will post some pictures next year when I get them down. Thank you for the comments! |
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Here is a picture of the garden mats.  |
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| The picture is from their website not my garden. I wish there was an edit button this forum! |
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| I use grass clippings from my 10 acre lot, pine straw from the tree on the same lot. I use other peoples leaves(OPL), they are free & bagged on the curb. I use Burlap bags too. Never use plastic to stop weeds, only to kill off grass Before planting. |
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- Posted by gardenmats (My Page) on Sun, Nov 25, 12 at 9:26
| I am the owner, inventor of Garden Mats. The pic you saw earlier of the green mats is indeed from our website. All the pics on our website are from our gardens or our customers. Like the one posted here. The other pics with the red, white and blue plastic coverings are not our mats. I suspect they are regular poly, not a woven poly fabric. Regular plastic has no UV protection and they do not let air and water through -- I used the same material for a long time, before I came up with the idea for Garden Mats. I could not fathom bringing all that plastic to the landfill every fall. That's why I insist that Garden Mats will last up to ten years. |
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| Doesn't grass clippings and leaves bring in more insects and weeds to the garden? |
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| Gardenmats thanks for posting. Do you recommend putting soaker lines under the mats? |
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| Also how well do the mats drain water? |
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| I don't know about grass clippings bringing in more insects, but no weeds will grow through the grass if the depth is at least 3 inches. |
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