Our climate is far too cold to solarize the soil, especially this early in the year. All the clear plastic will do is create a comfortable greenhouse environment for an explosion of weeds, especially warmth-loving weeds like pigweed, lambsquarters and nightshade. You need temperatures over 50-55 C for days to kill pigweed. Even in July and August, soil solarization works only in certain years.

So yes, DH is right on this one. Sorry ;). Hoe all the weeds before you lay down the black plastic and make sure there are no gaps.
Also, one week isn't enough time. If you plan on removing the plastic, you're better off smothering the weeds with several layers of cardboard before you add the soil on top.

This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Fri, May 30, 14 at 15:35

Yeah, i talked to a guy tonight who used to own a greenhouse and he told me black was better. Darn! I was sure i read that somewhere about clear plastic, but oh well - i would rather follow the right advice! We have pulled as many weeds (mostly grass) as we could but i'm sure there are seeds lurking in there. Maybe we can just use the plastic as mulch for this year and hope that it kills off as many of the weeds as possible. I really wanted to divide the beds into blocks and plant that way, but we'll do what we have to do.

Thanks!

Something else you could try is weed barrier. This way you can put your soil/raised bed on top permanently, since the barrier is porous.

The beds are already lined with a heavy-duty weed barrier. They're 18" high, and the one that was built last year didn't have weeds come through, just the airborne stuff, which is bad enough!.

Hehe, I can provide prizes.

I had also read someplace clear was better. So I tried it for a bit but with lack of patience when I seen the huge germination underneath I pulled it off and nuked the buggers.

I am putting down 3" of fine bark mulch around everything. It really seems to suppress weeds the best.

SCG

I've been putting bark mulch in a lot of places too, in the flower beds. There are still weeds, i see. Maybe not as bad as they could be.

We bought some black plastic today. Tomorrow we'll put it on and plant into it. Yay! It's only the first of June tomorrow, but with the heat we've had lately, it feels as if it should be later in the spring and i feel like i'm way behind in my planting!

Marcia I am absolutely sure if you put that black plastic on you will not have to worry about weeds. Nor will you have to worry about friends, like me most people don't appreciate "odd" folks or those wrapped in black plastic and planting veggies in it. Good luck.

SCG

Hah! You're a funny guy! People remember me for doing a winter sowing demo in my housecoat, but now they'll be seeing me in black plastic instead! LOL