Why grow through Mypex?

A video taken in early May 2010 showing various plants growing through Mypex. Mypex is a black fabric that is tough and allows water and air to pass through, but not light. So it works as a weed-block, conserves water by minimizing evaporation and, since it is black, it allows the sunshine to warm the ground thus stimulating growth. Since it is a woven plastic material, the holes are cut using a blow-torch. This seals the cut. If one cuts it with a knife or scissors, it would start to unravel and fray. I want to re-use this for many years to some - it is quite expensive and wasteful otherwise.

In this video, you can see the ground-nuts beds - they grow up the bamboos. Also, strawberries, goji berry bushes, potato, rhubarb, gooseberries, raspberries, sage. And some thyme a friend lent me. It is good to be living off borrowed thyme.

Fit for purpose?

One of the problems with starting a plot is the cost associated with tools: this can be considerable. And it does pay to think carefully and to get the right tools for the job. This fork on the left lasted a couple of weeks - it was a cheap one that cost a few pounds and is designed for light occasional use, and it quickly broke when I used it for digging up some of the mightier weeds. The expensive one is not only a joy to use - it has also lasted longer - almost 8 months so far, it's also bigger and more lightweight to wield. There's a fundamental engineering concept here - "fitness for purpose" the cheap tool is fit for light work, but I think that for heavy use by a strong person digging an allotment, it simply is not fit for purpose. So I now keep the broken fork for small-area weeding between plants.

And this weed-block fabric below was not used properly: I had hoped it would stop the weeds growing around my gooseberry bushes - but it was so damn thin that they grew through it in a matter of weeks. It is supposed to be placed underneath something like gravel, so it was almost useless as a weed block in it's own right. Other things people use are carpets, cardboard and Mypex. Each has it's own pros and cons. Trouble with carpet is that it can contain some nasty fungicide chemicals which could get into the soil and then into crops... Cardboard can be used as a mulch, so I have heard: you can plant right through it by cutting small holes. Mypex has my vote from what I have seen of how others use it - it is strong. But if you want to plant through it - best way is to burn holes in it with a blowtorch which seals as it makes a hole, otherwise if you cut holes in it, over time it will fray. This allows this long-lasting material to be used over and over.

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?

First year: day one (July, 2008)

I was very pleased to finally get allocated a plot in Oliver Road, in Leyton, in late July 2008. I have always enjoyed growing things but never had the space where I live in London. This photo shows how the allotment plot looked on the day I was allocated it. At the back fence where the shed is located, brambles were growing wildly out of control, threatening to swallow the poor shed, having already done a great job at smothering the raspberry canes. The rest of the allotment had weeds varying in height from four to five feet. I was very pleased to inherit this patch of fertile land to cultivate - certainly fertile soil if such vigorous growth could happen in only a few months of neglect. Some interesting looking plants were noticeable beneath all this the undergrowth such as a densely packed strawberry patch and some small gooseberry bushes.

My first job was damage limitation: to try to rescue these valuable and established plants to allow them at least some sunlight and space to grow, so I removed all the choking bindweed and other growth that was smothering these poor plants. Once this localised rescuing work was done, I could think how to clear the remaining 70% of the plot, without loosing the plot and resorting to napalm or roundup. Although napalm did seem more fun...