have just taken on an allotment plot. Does anyone one where to get
cheap black plastic or sacking to cover it until next year? Have
already tried garden centres and DIY sheds.
thanks
R.

"R" wrote in message
om...
have just taken on an allotment plot. Does anyone one where to get
cheap black plastic or sacking to cover it until next year? Have
already tried garden centres and DIY sheds.
thanks
R.

Have a look at "Plastics Warehouse" on www.plasticsbypost.net

They are based here on the Isle of Wight and have a terrific range

Best wishes

Mike

On 23 Aug 2003 09:26:53 -0700, (R) wrote:

have just taken on an allotment plot. Does anyone one where to get
cheap black plastic or sacking to cover it until next year? Have
already tried garden centres and DIY sheds.
thanks


Dunno - but have you considered nipping down to your local tip?
You could either cover the lot with old carpet ( not the foam backed
type - and make sure to cut any large bits into smaller sections, it
gets very heavy when wet ), or you could grab a car load of cardboard
boxes. You'd have to weigh the board down ( a pile of earth will do ).

Cardboard has the advantage in that it will rot down ( so will carpet,
but it takes ages ) and can simply be dug in when its time to
cultivate. Best stick to the plain brown stuff where possible.
Carpet lasts a good few seasons, and can be successfully planted
through - though it can look a bit of an eyesore if you pick naff
patterns!

Both mediums have the advantage of letting the soil breathe - and
they're free.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

In article ,
Mike Crowe wrote:

"R" wrote in message
. com...
have just taken on an allotment plot. Does anyone one where to get
cheap black plastic or sacking to cover it until next year? Have
already tried garden centres and DIY sheds.

Have a look at "Plastics Warehouse" on www.plasticsbypost.net

They are based here on the Isle of Wight and have a terrific range

Or pretty well any decent builder's merchant ....


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"R" wrote in message
om...
have just taken on an allotment plot. Does anyone one where to get
cheap black plastic or sacking to cover it until next year? Have
already tried garden centres and DIY sheds.
thanks
R.

As someone else has pointed out, carpet may be a much better idea, and free.
(the idea of an allotment is not to spend money if you can avoid it) Go to
your nearest carpet warehouse and you'll probably find a skip round the back
and they should let you have a scrounge in it. This saves them landfill
charges, and saves you buying the plastic. Everybody's happy. Incidentally,
always mention the allotment when you're scrounging. Many people still think
you must be a pauper and in need of freebies to stay alive. Don't
disillusion them.

HTH

Steve

HIya
Been through this b4 but AFAIK carpets can leach chemicals etc into the
ground. We use Black plastic 25 metre rolls from Jewsons. About £26 per
roll. Pretty indestructible AND a brilliant weed killer. Jewsons have it
under Concrete liners etc. Comes in a variety of thicknesses, we use 1000
microns.

Hope it helps

Ged
"shazzbat" wrote in message
...

"R" wrote in message
om...
have just taken on an allotment plot. Does anyone one where to get
cheap black plastic or sacking to cover it until next year? Have
already tried garden centres and DIY sheds.
thanks
R.

As someone else has pointed out, carpet may be a much better idea, and
free.
(the idea of an allotment is not to spend money if you can avoid it) Go to
your nearest carpet warehouse and you'll probably find a skip round the
back
and they should let you have a scrounge in it. This saves them landfill
charges, and saves you buying the plastic. Everybody's happy.
Incidentally,
always mention the allotment when you're scrounging. Many people still
think
you must be a pauper and in need of freebies to stay alive. Don't
disillusion them.

HTH

Steve

The message
from Stephen Howard contains these words:

Both mediums have the advantage of letting the soil breathe - and
they're free.

Carpet shops are no longer permitted to dispose of waste carpets except
on designated sites, so this reduces one's options a bit.

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm
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reply.

The message
from (R) contains these words:

have just taken on an allotment plot. Does anyone one where to get
cheap black plastic or sacking to cover it until next year? Have
already tried garden centres and DIY sheds.
thanks

Builders' merchants. Pile all sorts of rottable stuff under it before
you peg it down.....

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm
horrid·squeak snailything zetnet·co·uk exchange d.p. with p to
reply.

"R" wrote in message
om...
have just taken on an allotment plot. Does anyone one where to get
cheap black plastic or sacking to cover it until next year? Have
already tried garden centres and DIY sheds.
thanks
R.

Hello R
I had the same idea, after some looking I found it not to be the cheap
option,
the cheapest I found was for a 4m by 25m roll of a fairly heavy gauge for
about £35,
I would need 3-4 rolls to cover my allotment.
So I applied glyphosate about 3 weeks ago which is now killing all the weeds
off,
now I'm going to put a few inches of manure over it and leave it till next
spring then dig it in
And pray there's not to many weed seeds in the manure.
Paul

Goto the Trussed Rafter Associations website (http://www.tra.org.uk if i
remember correctly) search on google will find it for you.

Go to the member list and find your nearest one. Ring them up and ask em
for some old timber sheets. What they actually are if your thinking they
are pluywood or something silly like that is plastic sheeting which is
used to wrap the packs of timber up with. We cant get rid of the damn
things and in one trip you could net yourself enough plastic to cover
your allotment over 2 or 3 times.

I lifted one of my sheets off my lottie this weekend and the soil was
moist with absolutly no weeds in it at all.

The only problem you will find is that there will be holes in it and
stuff will grow through the holes but you can just cover the holes with
other sheets.

Trust me on this, you`d be doing your local truss manufacturer a favour
let alone the enviroment.

--
email farmer chris on
Please don`t use as it`s a spam haven.

The message
from Christopher Norton contains these words:

Trust me on this, you`d be doing your local truss manufacturer a favour
let alone the enviroment.

Pretty big ruptures in Lincs?

--
Frère Jaques
They knocked the Bell down and erected a charade of pops.

Rusty Hinge wrote in message ...
Carpet shops are no longer permitted to dispose of waste carpets except
on designated sites, so this reduces one's options a bit.

The waste disposal regulations do not prevent carpet being sold/given
for re-use, and as a weed control it would be being used. The waste
disposal regulations do not apply, and no carpet shop would be
breaking any regulations.

Now, what the allotment holder does with it in 15 years time may be
another matter. But as far as I know there is no rule preventing me
taking my own living rooom carpet and setting fire to it, so that may
be a solution.

On 27 Aug 2003 13:09:30 -0700, (Robert E A
Harvey) wrote:


Now, what the allotment holder does with it in 15 years time may be
another matter. But as far as I know there is no rule preventing me
taking my own living rooom carpet and setting fire to it, so that may
be a solution.

Inside or outside the house?
--
Martin

The message
from (Robert E A Harvey) contains these words:
Rusty Hinge wrote in message
...

Carpet shops are no longer permitted to dispose of waste carpets except
on designated sites, so this reduces one's options a bit.

The waste disposal regulations do not prevent carpet being sold/given
for re-use, and as a weed control it would be being used. The waste
disposal regulations do not apply, and no carpet shop would be
breaking any regulations.

Nothing to do with waste disposal regulations, it's some directive about
the use of goods. For the same reason Snetterton Racetrack is not now
permitted to use piles of old tyres as crash barriers.

Now, what the allotment holder does with it in 15 years time may be
another matter. But as far as I know there is no rule preventing me
taking my own living rooom carpet and setting fire to it, so that may
be a solution.

If it's a carpet made from traditional materials it will be a
constituent of good loam in fifteen years' time.

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm
horrid·squeak snailything zetnet·co·uk exchange d.p. with p to
reply.