How to Use Black Plastic Mulch

Black plastic mulch, which comes in 3- or 5-foot-wide roll-out sheets, helps conserve soil moisture and impedes weed growth since they receive no sunlight underneath the plastic sheet. Because it comes in sheets, black plastic mulch is very quick and easy to apply--but it must be laid down after the soil is prepared and before actual planting or transplanting. It's been used successfully to grow a number of vegetable crops, including tomatoes, watermelons, cantaloupe, squash, peppers and eggplant.

Things You'll Need

• Drip irrigation hoses
• Spade or shovel
• Rolls of black plastic mulch
• Scissors or knife

Instructions

1. Prepare the soil as usual for planting before laying down the black plastic mulch. This includes tilling the soil, fertilizing it and moistening it; you'll also want to lay down drip irrigation hoses to help irrigate your plants beneath the mulch.

2. Dig a 2-inch-deep trench on either side of the row you're going to plant in. Space the trenches so that they're just under 3 or 5 feet apart, depending on how wide your sheets of black plastic mulch are. Move the soil from inside the trenches to the outside of the bed; you'll need access to it later.

3. Roll the plastic mulch sheeting over the bed, starting at one end of the row and continuing all the way down. Make sure that the edges of the mulch sheeting lay in the trenches you dug.

4. Pile the soil you had dug out of the trenches back into the trenches, on top of the edges of the mulch sheeting, to hold it down.

5. Cut holes or slits in the mulch, as necessary, to plant through. Cut holes as large as necessary to accommodate transplants; for seeds, work soil up into the opening you cut into the mulch and plant the seeds there, just as you normally would.

6. Fertilize your plants as needed by punching holes in the mulch sheeting between plants and adding fertilizer through these holes.

References

• GardenGuides: Using Black Plastic Mulch
• Fort Valley State University: Using Black Plastic Mulch