Black Plastic to cover garden

I am looking for black plastic to cover my 15' X 15' garden, I would like to have a 20' X 20' piece of black plastic. Does anyone know where one can buy some?

Has anyone put down black plastic to warm up the soil?
Does it warm up the soil to get a early start on planting your garden or is there another reason behind this?

I have put down on my garden last Fall 6 inches of 3 to 4 inches of wood mulch, than 6 inches of leaf compost and than 2 inches of well aged (4 year old) horse manure, than I put mulch grass and leaves on to of that.

I will be getting a soil test sometime this month if I can get into the ground. It has been - 20 here in Northwest Ohio this Winter. So the ground should be froze deep.

Also I see people take clay tile and stand them upright but have no idea why can someone explain what they are doing?

Please give your comments on what I have said and any advise on what to do.

 

We use black plastic, but not usually sheets that size. We did at one time do that for watermelons and cantaloupe. Normally we picked it up at a lowes, H depot, or building supply store of some kind. Menards usually has it back by the paint supplies. We normally dig a trench the width of the plastic then bury the edge of the plastic to create a row that we plant in. We also lay drip irrigation under the plastic when we put down the plastic. It does help warm up the ground and suppress weeds.

And yes, the frost is deep this year. You will need to wait a while for it to thaw. Did you lay fresh wood chips down or aged wood chips? Fresh ones will suck the nitrogen out of the soil to decompose. so, you may need to add nitrogen to the garden this year.

The clay tiles may be for celery. In order to have light green celery it needs to grow in the dark, so it gets blanched in the tiles without much effort. But you need to ask those who are standing them up if that is what they are for or what they are for.

 

The wood mulch is now 4 years old and the horse manure is around 3 or year years old.

would you till all this up? I am sure that I will not get it into the soil.

I was watching a video on Back to Eden and this is about a garden out in Washington State every good.
You see I am going all organic, this makes my second year.

Years ago I was organic and someone talked me into using chemicals which I never should have done. An I regrade it.
But back to the plastic which would be a better choice the black or the clear?

 

The chips and manure are both aged and that is excellent. Personally, I don't see any real reason to go to too much work other than to make sure the plants are well anchored, whether you stake them or plant them deep so they can gain a root zone in the soil they should do well. Tilling too much ruins the structure of the soil. Layering your soil as in the lasagne method is beneficial to the microbes, the earthworms, beneficials etc. The nutrients will leach down from rain/watering or the roots will grow to the most nutritious/suitable layer for them.

Do NOT use clear plastic. You will lose the battle between the weeds or overheating the soil. The only time clear plastic is used is to solarize the soil during the heat of the Summer to kill weed seeds or fungal/bacterial disease.

 

I plant my tomatoes and peppers on plastic. Squash, watermelons and other vines go on plastic also.

The first year I used plastic, I planted a dozon sweet potato plants. After the frost killed the plants, I lifted the plastic and had beautiful clusters of sweet potatoes and next to two of them I had mole nests. They were going to "snack" on the potatoes all winter. Also two small snakes were under the plastic.

 

Don, That is beautiful. I keep wondering how to extend my season to be able to get sweet potatoes and hadn't thought of that. The last couple years haven't been sweet potato years.