Has anyone ever "solarized" their garden soil?

[pjlla]

I am contemplating taking the "year off" from my vegetable garden and solarizing the soil to kill the weed seeds. Has anyone ever done this? I have read about it in Organic Gardening magazine, but can't find the issue where the article was.

Basically, I think the steps would be.... rake it smooth, lay down the black plastic, cover the edges with rocks and soil, leave it for several weeks/months to kill the seeds. Does this sound about right?

I am also contemplating trying it where I have a bad crop of pricker bushes.... mow them down and then solarize the soil to kill the roots....would it work??

THanks for any feedback..................P

 

[Snowwark]

Pjlla, I just noticed your countdown timer and realized you've left for your trip! Since you won't see this till you get home, I hope you had a fabulous time!

I haven't solarized my soil, but I have heard of it. Here's more detailed info on how to go about it.

Solarizing your soil (halfway down the page, under Soil & Composting)

Solarizing soil

Are you going to plant some containers while you let your garden rest?

Do you know what kind of bushes the "prickly" ones are? Just curious.

Kim

 

[pjlla]

Sorry.... guess I need to update my timer.... we went to WDW back in January (seems like ages ago!)... Anyhow, thanks so much for those links... they were just what I was looking for!!! I'm hoping I can talk my DH into taking a year off from the vegetable garden to do this. This time of year he is so gung-ho about getting the garden going, but by about mid-July he is so sick of weeding, watering, etc. that we usually let it go. Hence we have weeds GALORE! Also, we live close to the woods and the woods are constantly trying to "creep in" on the cleared areas we have.

We may have a few veggies in containers if we decide to do this, but we still have a LARGE yard full of perennials etc to care for, so there will be no "rest" from gardening.

No, I don't have a clue what kinds of prickly bushes I have. I just know that they are large, the roots go along underground and crop up where ever they want! I've pulled and pulled and mowed, but they just keep coming back. The hill on the side of our driveway is bad with them right now. When the kids basketball rolls down there no one want to go get it! We usually garden organically, but at this point I am ready to get the industrial drum of Round-up for this problem!!

Sorry to be so long..... thanks so much for the links!...............P