Weed Killer

A couple of weeks after chopping down many of the weeds with my sheers (and realising that I should have probably rented the site's strimmer) I placed some strong black plastic sheeting on top of these cut down plants to kill the remaining weeds. The most cost effective I found was damp proof membrane from B&Q - far cheaper than a proper horticultural black plastic (which is usually water permeable) and also long lasting and re-usable. Damp proof membrane is also very resiliant - given it's intended use, one would expect it to last for many years, like horticultural black plastic - sometimes known as "Mypex".


My theory was that the heat generated by strong midsummer sunshine being absorbed by the black plastic would go some way towards killing the weeds, along with the blocking all sunlight and water that is required for all plant-life. I took care to weight down the sheeting well, in case of high winds that could easily launch it rather like a giant kite and send it onto some neighbouring plot. Not cool.

This did seem to work well: when I removed this black plastic the following spring, many of the weeds had been killed, although the more resilient and hardy perennial weeds like dock leaves were still alive. When I dug the ground over, many large roots were still present, sometimes going down several feet. And unless the whole root has been dug out, then the weed will simply regrow.

Now, if only there were tasty edible plants that were as prolific and had such thirst for life as these damn weeds! Well, yes, there are some, such as brambles and raspberries. But for many vegetables (apart from perpetual spinach) the converse is true: they need careful nurturing and protection from the many pests, predators and diseases. Why are most vegetables shrinking violets?