Black Plastic Mulch: Weed Free Gardening

Black Plastic Mulch: Weed Free Gardening

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A couple years ago, after a sob session about my very large garden once again being taken over by weeds, a friend shared with me her tactic for keeping a weed free garden for over 20 years: black plastic mulch.

We decided to try it last year. Friends, I don’t think anyone will convince me to go back to gardening without it.

What is black plastic mulch?

Black plastic mulch gardening basically refers to laying a black plastic film over the space you are using as your vegetable garden so the plastic can prevent weeds from growing. We cut small holes or long trenches in the black plastic in order to plant the things we want to grow.

Think having a weed-free garden is just a dream? Use black plastic mulch on your vegetable garden, and someone might just have to pinch you!

Where do you get black plastic mulch?

You can head to Amazon or agricultural stores and buy plastic made specifically for this purpose. Be sure to pay attention to length, width, and thickness of the plastic. There are biodegradable black plastic mulch options available, but know that these options are usually very thin (.5 to 1 ml thick) and can be more of a challenge to work with than thicker options.

We headed to a nearby hardware store and bought a 20’x 100′ roll of black plastic, similar to this heavy duty plastic sheeting.  The plastic we have used has been anywhere from 3 ml to 4.5ml thick. Because I put this over everything (and not just in growing rows or raised gardens) I prefer something thicker that will hold up to me walking on it.

Pros of using black plastic mulch

Black plastic warms the soil.

Spreading a giant sheet of black plastic mulch over your garden space will help warm the soil up. You know what this does? It helps your seeds to sprout faster. I’m in Minnesota and this is a big deal. Any jump we can get on our growing year is an itty-bitty miracle!

The first year we used black plastic mulch, I had cucumber plants popping out of the soil four days after the seeds had been put in the ground.

Think having a weed-free garden is just a dream? Use black plastic mulch on your vegetable garden, and someone might just have to pinch you!

Like I said, itty-bitty miracle.

There are no weeds.

No weeds, friends. You’re covering and smothering where the weeds would normally be growing. They can’t grow if there is a black plastic sheet over them.

No. Weeds.

Think having a weed-free garden is just a dream? Use black plastic mulch on your vegetable garden, and someone might just have to pinch you!

Okay, to be perfectly honest, the only place you might have weeds come up would be in the holes you have cut in the plastic to plant your seeds or started plants. The trick is to a) not make those holes or trenches any bigger than they need to be and b) spend a couple minutes poking around every so often to nip off itty-bitty weeds that do start.

But honestly, the weeds have.not.been.a.problem since we’ve started using this method.

Better yields

Your plants won’t be choked out by weeds. You won’t be searching through a forest of overgrown weedy-ness for those plants you thought you planted but can’t seem to find. Your plants will be healthier when they aren’t competing for nutrients with their friendly neighborhood whatever-that-weed-is-called.

(By the way, what are you planting this year? And if you grow it, will your garden actually save you money?)

It’s beautiful.

It’s actually a joy to look out at the garden. It’s not an overwhelming depressing mess. I enjoy gardening again. I mean, look at my garden!

Cons of using black plastic mulch

In full disclosure and honesty, there are a couple things to be aware of if you choose to use black plastic mulch on your garden. (And remember, some of these things are because we choose to lay the black plastic mulch over our entire garden, not just in the growing rows.)

More time planting

Because you have to cut holes or trenches in the plastic in order to plant your seeds or started plants, it does take a bit more time to plant. But it is completely worth it because have I mentioned, no weeds?

It’s hot to work on

Black plastic is hot to stand on. If there is anything you want to do in the garden, it’s best to try and do it when it’s cloudy, in the morning, or later in the evening.

It can be slippery

It’s important to keep in mind that you’re basically putting a giant slip and slide over your garden space. If it gets wet, it will become slippery. Be careful when you’re walking around. Or, you know, wear a swimsuit and make the most of it.

Before the plants are established, it’s a bit of work to keep the plastic down.

This was our biggest surprise the first year. We had bought garden staples and landscaping stakes with our sheets of black plastic assuming that this would be enough to keep the plastic on the ground.

It wasn’t. It might depend on where you live, the lay of your land, the consistency of your soil, and how big your garden is, but with the first windstorm we got, that plastic looked like one of those parachutes we all played with in gym class. The stakes and staples were trying their hardest to stay stuck in the ground, and they were mostly failing. Our black plastic mulch looked like a tent that was about to launch into the atmosphere. We grabbed every brick and concrete block we could find and even cleaned out my rock garden in an attempt to keep that plastic where it was supposed to be.

Once the plants are established (especially if you’re growing viney things!) this isn’t as big of an issue. Before that, it is very helpful to have heavy items on the plastic. Also, anything used in your garden that happens to poke into the plastic (tomato cages, trellises, t-posts for fencing) is an extra bonus!

Pro tip: the less seams, the better. Every seam is a place the black plastic mulch can potentially lift up in the wind. The first year we had a lot of seams. We planned differently for our second year and only had one long seam, right down the middle of the garden.

How to use black plastic mulch

Here is the way that we go about setting up our garden with black plastic mulch.

First prepare your soil. Whatever it is that you do to your soil before you plant, do it now. Once the plastic is on, it’s much harder to make soil amendments.

On a nice calm day (don’t even try to do this if there is a breeze) we spread out our plastic. This year we made our garden slightly smaller in order to only have to buy one giant sheet of plastic that we could cut in half (therefore only having one seam in the entire garden).

If you have a large garden this might require all hands on deck. Some people may have to lay on the plastic (it’s amazing what a little breeze can do) while other people are staking it down.

Think having a weed-free garden is just a dream? Use black plastic mulch on your vegetable garden, and someone might just have to pinch you!
Me, laying on a sheet of black plastic. Life is tough.

After landscaping stakes and garden staples are used around the perimeter and along the seam, we place large bricks around the perimeter and along the seam for extra wind insurance. We also place more bricks in random spots.

Think having a weed-free garden is just a dream? Use black plastic mulch on your vegetable garden, and someone might just have to pinch you!

Our garden is fenced every year so that’s what comes next. We slam t-posts into the ground (through the plastic) which also helps to keep the plastic down. We then put our netting up. (If you’re fencing your garden, don’t forget to build a super easy garden gate!)

Then the garden sits for a few days until I’m ready to plant. I like to have that soil nice and toasty.

Think having a weed-free garden is just a dream? Use black plastic mulch on your vegetable garden, and someone might just have to pinch you!

How exactly do you plant your garden if it’s covered in black plastic mulch?

For something that you’re planting in rows…

Cut a slit in the plastic the length of the row that you want to plant. Then at both ends of the row, make another perpendicular slit so you have a “T”. (Don’t make it a huge perpendicular slit. Remember, the length of the slit will be the width of your row. The wider your row, the more chance you have for weeds to sneak out.)

Think having a weed-free garden is just a dream? Use black plastic mulch on your vegetable garden, and someone might just have to pinch you!

Fold the edges of the plastic under, opening up the area you’re going to plant in.

Think having a weed-free garden is just a dream? Use black plastic mulch on your vegetable garden, and someone might just have to pinch you!

Dig in (these Honey Badger Gardening Gloves work great!), loosen the soil, drop your seeds where they need to go, and cover them up again with soil. It’s okay if you get a little crazy and some of the soil spills over on the plastic. It’s just one more thing to keep that plastic where it’s supposed to be.

Think having a weed-free garden is just a dream? Use black plastic mulch on your vegetable garden, and someone might just have to pinch you!

You can add more bricks/staples/stakes along the spaces you’ve cut if you’d like. Keeping the plastic where it needs to be while those plants are getting started is super important.

For something you’re planting in hills (or a plant that’s already started)…

Cut an “X” in the plastic where you want the hill to be (or the started plant to be placed). Fold the edges of the “X” under so you have an open square.

Think having a weed-free garden is just a dream? Use black plastic mulch on your vegetable garden, and someone might just have to pinch you!

Dig in, loosen the soil, pull up a mound of dirt to make a hill, and plant your seeds (or dig a hole and stick the started plant there). Again, you can use extra bricks, staples, or stakes around this new hole if you’d like.

Think having a weed-free garden is just a dream? Use black plastic mulch on your vegetable garden, and someone might just have to pinch you!

And how do you water your garden if it’s covered in black plastic mulch?

A common question I get is how we go about watering the garden if we’re using black plastic mulch. Some people that use this method will employ the use of a soaker hose placed underneath the plastic. However, that requires knowing where you’re planting what before you lay down your plastic and I will fess up to you that I’m just not that organized.

When using black plastic mulch it is completely okay to use a sprinkler to water, although it’s a little overkill because you’re watering a lot of space that isn’t really going to get the water. Having said that, if you’re in for windy weather and worried that your black plastic is going to parachute off into the sky, running a sprinkler and letting the low spots of your plastic fill up a bit with water is an easy way to add weight and help the plastic stay put.

When we water, I just walk around with a hose or watering can and water the holes or trenches. It’s a nice way to spend 10 minutes (when it’s needed) and it gives me a chance to look closer at what’s going on in the garden.

Do you have any questions about black plastic mulch? Do you think it would work for you in your gardening set up? Leave a comment and let me know!

Think having a weed-free garden is just a dream? Use black plastic mulch on your vegetable garden, and someone might just have to pinch you!

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21 thoughts on “Black Plastic Mulch: Weed Free Gardening”

  • So – I like this method and used it one year – BUT – we got mice under the plastic!! Ugh. I was out there and saw the plastic moving. Hubby came out and stomped it. Pretty disgusting. Just a little something to keep an eye out for if you use black plastic LOL

      • I am trying black plastic as mulch this year. I went from having a garden as a big as yours to a single raised bed due to invasive weeds that nothing short of moving is going to fix (and maybe not even then). Research on the internet tells me to use paper/cardboard topped with whatever I have as mulch will slowly smother it out, but after five years of trying that and failing, I’m throwing in the towel and trying plastic.

  • How do you rotate your garden with plastic laid down? Surely you don’t throw that away every year and buy more?

    • We do buy new plastic every year, as the sun weakens the plastic and makes it unusable for a second year. By the time the season is over, there are many cracks in the plastic from walking on it.

    • Trying black plastic for the first time. I’ve put in a large garden for many years Now that I’m in my 70’s, I was going to quit because of all the weeding. Your information was a great help. I’m ready to smother those weeds and getting back to doing what I love. Thank you!

  • Love plastic mulch! Have used it for 25 years. started with black plastic and when we got a new swimming pool cover 32 x 16 we used it. Perfect fit for our garden. If you can get ones people are throwing away you can use it for years- we are on year 12 with this one. I use the soaker hose under the plastic on a timer. Before we added the soaker I went around with a sharpened nail put into a long stick and poked holes all over the plastic. Too small for weeds but great for water that pools on the plastic after a rain. I have some long narrow trenches and mostly holes cut every 2 ft X 2 ft. You can rotate the crops some with this method. There are some swimming pool covers that are porous to allow water through them. We have one on my Fathers garden. It makes watering very easy. I like my toad friends and set traps for the mice. Deer have become a problem and we are putting up a 7 ft mess fence this year!

  • In Southern California, water is a precious resource and gets VERY expensive. A few years ago I spent the time and money to install drip irrigation to my entire yard. It is on a timer so the yard and garden is watered when necessary and only where needed. On my large yard plants such as roses, hybiscus, bird of paradise, etc., I took a piece of black ABS plastic pipe, glued an madcap on one end, drilled a line of 3/8″ holes in a line up from the end cap for maybe 4″-5″ and planted it with the plant. I then put a grate over the top so no small critters could fall in, and squeezed my tubing from the drip system through the grate and then put the emitter on. That way these plants get watered at the roots, where they need it. These plants are huge, give off tons of beautiful flowers and are the envy of the neighborhood. Plants respond well to being watered on a schedule with a specific amount of water. No under or over watering! It also keeps the weeds at bay. Using drip irrigation and black plastic together would produce excellent results!

  • For standing water after sprinklering I use a pitchfork and make a few holes in the low areas. Have not had any problem with weeds trying to come up in them.

    • Use the thick black plastic and put chipped wood or pea gravel on top to avoid weathering of the plastic. It will last for years! And you won’t overheat while gardening. Or have to deal with puddles. Plant your rows in the slits. A little work up front but well worth it.

  • Great article on a topic not usually covered. Can you please tell me when to remove the plastic when the season is over, and how to amend my soil before I put the mulch back. Mine is heavy enough for a second year. Thanks!

    • We just remove the plastic when our plants have died off for the year or we are done harvesting, generally late fall. The amending of the soil depends on the year. We’ve never had our plastic last more than one year, so that’s pretty awesome that your does! Sorry, not a very helpful answer. O_o

  • Have you or anyone else had an issue with the plants getting overheated? I just got some panda weed barrier so one side is white and the other is black. I’m worried if the black side is facing up my future plants will get to hot in the Denver heat. Thanks!

  • Thank you for the wonderful article. So, the only part of the garden not covered by plastic are the narrow rows where the seeds are planted, correct? (They would obviously need to be open to receive sun). From there, I can hand water.

    • Correct! Where you plant seeds/seedlings, cut a circle or a strip in the plastic to plant in (depending on what you’re planting) and make sure that part stays open. Everything else gets covered. That’s what has worked for us!

  • installing a deer fence what product and width do you suggest? 220 x 500 x 200 x 500 fence line. either single 3 line fence or 4 line 3D fence.

    • that’s a great question! I’ve never fenced that big of an area for deer (I assume those measurements are in feet). For deer fence around our gardens/fruit trees we’ve had a lot of luck recently with snow fence, actually. 🙂 A deer can jump a fence though (I’ve heard up to 6-7 feet) so that’s what makes fencing tricky…

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