Topic: I Know This Sounds Nuts But...

[GillE]

... tomorrow I shall be carpeting our allotment.

Carpets make great mulch for suppressing weeds and retaining moisture.  Just cut a hole where you want to plant a seedling, and Bob's your uncle.  No weeding, no watering, just lovely crops.  Eventually the carpet will rot down too and enrich the soil.

That's the theory.

Carpet suppliers are desperate to get rid of sizeable off-cuts because they would otherwise go to land-fill, which is expensive.

[Simon]

It would be amusing for your allotment neighbours (assuming you have them) to see you hoovering it instead of mowing it. 

[Clive]

Seems a good idea to me Gill!   

[Rik]

Pure wool, I take it, Gill?

[GillE]

No, unfortunately.  Modern carpets are made from a variety of substances, some of which are natural and some of which are not.  That is why carpet retailers have to send their off-cuts to land-fill, not recycling.

Eventually the carpets I am using will become so worn that they will be unsuitable as a mulch.  That won't be too much of a problem for me - as a private individual I can take them to the council dump and won't be charged for their disposal.  At least I'm getting some use out of them before they go to the dump and I'm also helping some very nice tradesmen save a bit of money.  I'm doing my bit for the economy (well, for carpet merchants and the NHS, if not for green grocers).

[Rik]

Do you water through the carpet, or do you cut large enough holes to water?

[GillE]

You don't water at all.  The idea of a mulch is that it should establish a barrier to inhibit the amount of moisture that passes into or out of the soil. Caribbean gardeners are very fond of this technique.

[Rik]

So, water first, then carpet?

[GillE]

There's no need to water at all.  At this time of year the soil is very moist (even if it is heavy clay in my allotment  ) so you don't need to water before laying the carpet.

It only took us five minutes to get about half the job done before we ran out of carpet off-cuts.  Oh well, I'll have to see if I can scavenge some more.  There's a retailer in Malvern who will let us have as much as we like, but that's a bit of a drive.  I'll have to look for somewhere more local.

[Simon]

I think we're going to need pictures when this is complete. 

[Rik]

I can't wait to see the wallpaper.

[Den]

Thats known a fence to fence carpeting 

[Simon]