Lining raised beds with weed control fabric

[lottie dolly]

I am having a raised bed using planks,i propose to line the bottom with some fabric weed membrain,then fill with some sifted good soil,my purpose is to try and hold the HORSEtail back,and grow carrots that we can eat,anythings worth a try,it got me thinking when our sarz said about her poor onions,hence my idea,i have already dug over and removed a lot of roots,so it should provide a better drainage,who has tried this way,and was it worth the bother,am thinking the same for the new strawberries beds to,

[Scarlet]

When I set my raised beds up I didn't bother turning over the grass and weeds, I just laid newspapers thickly in the bottom and covered with compost. Its worked really well and Ive had no issues with the grass and weeds coming through even though the newspapers have long gone.

[veggiechicken]

I may be wrong LD, but if the membrane stops the weeds coming up it will also stop your carrots going down. I don't know who deep your raised bed will be but it will need to be quite deep for carrots

[Potstubsdustbins]

Me I would grow carrots in something like a Morrisons bucket and use the raised bed for other things.

Colin

[Lisamcflisa]

dunno what other people think but i dont go much on that fabric membrane weed stuff, i put some on my bed of strawberries and was going to put pebbles on it so the strawbs would grow thru them, however i got waylaid and it took me a cpl of weeks to go back to do it, by which time the membrane was like toilet paper!! i tried to pull it straight and it fell apart, i ended up getting a load of carpet to cover a bit i wanted to cover and stone, and nothings come through that bad boy lol... i grew carrots in a header tank out of someones loft this year and they did splendid, apart from my spacing was a bit dodgy, no carrot fly at all because i read they cant go above about 2-3 ft.... i also got some old ammunition boxes that stand about 3 ft off the ground and they are having carrots in next year too

[bazzaboy]

I'd be a bit dubious that anything less than a very very stout membrane (or maybe foot of concrete) will stop horsetail so think you might be better dealing with the horsetail problem directly first. If horsetail foliage is currently showing above ground level the RHS advice is that now (late summer) is the best time to apply Round Up (and they don't readily use weedkillers but in this case even they do...) - see Horsetail / Royal Horticultural Society

Maybe the new Round Up Gel would work for subsequent invasions (which will happen, you're unlikely to remove it all in one go.....); persistence wins, you'll need to be more persistent than the horsetail!

So look at the horsetail and say out loud "You have had it! You are going! This is a fight and I'm going to win!" and apply whatever. Round 1 to you! Then quietly prepare for Round 2...

PS I agree with VC's and PTD's advice as attempting rootcrops while this horsetail problem persists is probably increasing the challenge e.g. you don't want to be digging out rootcrops and snapping horsetail.... So I'd suggest as little deep digging as pos until you've won several rounds and horsetail is in retreat.

[cazp]

I was tempted to use the fabric in my raised beds but in the end just lined the bottom with flattened cardboard boxes - mainly because I wanted the worms to come through, but also because I didnt want to limit the depth of soil for growing.

Have had no problems with weeds.

[Snadger]

We have mares tiail growing through a tarmac car park at work. I reckon that if it will grow through tarmac, weed membrane will be a doddle to it.

Having said that, I hope it works and you get a decent crop of carrots.

Luckily it is about the only weed that I don't struggle with at the allotments although I feel sorry for the few who do have it on there plot.

[lottie dolly]

Morning peeps,thankyou for the replies,
having read them,took on board ALL the comments,i am going with the planks,they are deep,cardboard on the bottom,then the sifted soil,the bed will only be aprox 18x4 ft,

VC,the depth should be fine for the carrots,plus the card board in the bottom should have rotted away by time the roots are that long,
PTD,i got lots of lottie space,hence my idea,
Lisa,it is that stuff,thanks for the reminder,cardboard it is,
Baza,although there are tails in the ground,they not as bad as another area i have,so will be easier to control,at least with the digging over first,i got out the odd roots of other invasive rebels ,
Snadger,yes it will if there is a way for the root to follow,like the mipex on my infested patch,BUT,only where there is damage does it break the surface,it does however lift it up,mmm,brain having a twitch,i have some astro turf side paths,just realizes,when left for several months,the roots seem to run along the ground between the soil and the covering,they go white,i will keep my eyes' on this one,see what occures,my head has all these ideas running round,am thinking could use what i have left, to cover the infested patch,cannot do any harm,by the way is your car park under water :
thanks again all,my aim is to have the lotties easier to manage,

[northepaul]

I have done exactly that Dolly - and we have pretty good carrots, although they're not ready yet. I put the bed on weed control fabric and filled with MPC and topsoil.

We tried growing them in the ground but its too stony and sluggy!!!

[Two_Sheds]

We have mares tiail growing through a tarmac car park

No you don't

Mares tail


but I know you're all just doing it to wind me up

[veggiechicken]

I have horsetail in my front garden - its grows up between the paviours of the drive and all I can do there is slice the heads off with a spade. A large bed was covered with heavy duty black plastic and stone chippings and I've planted phormiums and olives through this. The horsetail hasn't penetrated the plastic yet but does emerge wherever there is an opening or around the edge of the bed. On the rare occasions when I lift the edge of the plastic its quite easy and satisfying to pull long strings of roots out.

[veggiechicken]

No you don't

Mares tail
but I know you're all just doing it to wind me up

As if we would But the RHS might
Horsetail / Royal Horticultural Society

[Snadger]

No you don't

Mares tail


but I know you're all just doing it to wind me up

Are you a paid up member of the semantics society then...............

[lottie dolly]

No you don't

Mares tail


but I know you're all just doing it to wind me up

thats why i asked,if his car park was under water lol,
there is some lovely stuff from around old tree roots,and not been use for years,and has to be relocated elsewhere,so we can help our selfes,we now got planks ,aprox 50,so tomorrow given the weather,DH is going to start and wap me beds together,1 each for carrots and raspberries,and more for strawberries,soooo,instead of putting astro surf,chemicals or mexican marigolds,on top of the infested patch,we put the plank stash on to hold down the mipex,it can stay there for how ever long,thanks for the feed back north paul,
VC,we have some black plastic to,it was free,useful for covering things up,like planks,