Should I Line My Garden With Plastic Sheeting?

Plastic sheeting helps prevent weeds in your garden--especially vegetable gardens.

Benefits of Plastic Sheeting

Plastic sheetings conserves moisture in your garden.

Using plastic sheeting in the garden prevents weeds. In addition, it helps the soil retain moisture, reducing water usage and requiring less maintenance time. The sheeting also warms the soil. The rise in soil temperature benefits early spring gardens. The heat kills garden insects, another benefit.

Overcoming Disadvantages

Using black plastic sheeting warms garden soil.

If you live in a hot climate, black plastic sheeting, an inorganic mulch, heats your soil too much. When the weather turns hot, cool the soil by adding an organic mulch on top of the sheeting. Examples of organic mulches include straw, non-colored newspapers, sawdust or compost.

Bottom Line

Squash plants can be started earlier in spring if you use plastic sheeting.

The use of plastic sheeting holds many gardening advantages that master gardeners use it throughout their gardens. If temperatures turn too hot, cool the soil temperature beneath the plastic sheeting by adding organic mulch on top of the sheeting. Organic mulches sometimes improve the aesthetics of your garden.

References

• Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service: Summer Care
• Arizona Cooperative Extension: College of Agriculture, University of Arizona: AZ Master Gardener Manual: Weed Control in the Garden

Resources

• Central Wisconsin: Gardening in central Wisconsin
• Vegetable Gardening Guru: Caring for Your Vegetable Garden