Nate,

It looks like you're ready for planting season to just go ahead and get here. Now, if only the weather will cooperate a little bit.

I don't use plastic sheeting because it sheds water and I want the water, most years (2004 and 2007 being exceptions) at least, to soak down into the ground instead of rolling off. I do use weed block fabric in my tomato rows and have done so for many years. If you put your drip irrigation beneath the weed block fabric and mulch heavily on top of the weedblock (or the plastic sheeting) you'll be able to irrigate your rows of tomato plants without growing a multitude of weeds along with them. Just be sure that you promptly pull any weeds that pop up in the mulch on top of the weedblock. Otherwise, the weeds will root right down through the weedblock and you'll have a hard time getting them out. The weedblock doesn't guarantee no weeds, of course, but if you promptly remove any weeds that pop up on top of or beside the weedblock, you'll be able to keep that area weed free with relatiively little effort. I never would be able to maintain our large garden as well as I do without the use of weedblock fabric in some rows (generally those with plants requiring wider spacing but not in those with closely-spaced plants like beans). I also have it in all my pathways every year which further reduces the need to pull weeds.

I hope you'll put mulch on top of the plastic once the plants are in the ground and growing. I mulch very lightly early in the season because I want the ground to continue to warm up to a point, but once the soil temperatures are getting hot, I cover plastic and fabric weedblock with mulch so the sunlight's heat won't roast the soil, earthworms and other beneficial soil-dwelling creatures i ncluding beneficial soil microbes.You can literally cook your soil in hot temps underneath black plastic if you don't put mulch on top of the plastic. With weedblock fabric, without a couple of inches of mulch on top of the weed block, weeds will get enough sunlight through the weedblock to sprout and grow and as they growth they will lift up your weedblock fabric somewhat.

The wind here has been crazy all day but none of my weedblock has moved at all, and only some of it has mulch on it at this point, while other sections are completely bare because they aren't even planted yet. I do think the wind has dropped some this afternoon. This morning it was gusting in the upper 30s and low 40s.

I'll be headed outside in a little while to cover up a few things with row cover (which I first learned about long ago from Dr. Cotner's excellent book) so they won't freeze tonight. If my forecast is correct, our temps won't actually drop low enough to damage the cool-season plants. But, we have dropped 5-7 degrees lower than forecast quite often this winter, so I'm going to cover up a few things just in case this is one of those nights. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

Dawn

I have used Walmart plastic over drip-tape with great success. It is difficult to keep my sandy soil irrigated. The plastic solved the issue and saved a lot of valuable water. I did not experience excessive soil temps with the black plastic. I could not re-use the plastic, I think the UV degrades it too quickly. The cheap weed cloth you mentioned will likely suffer very quick UV degradation if exposed to the sun. This year I am trying a commercial woven polypropylene landscape fabric that is designed to be used uncovered, exposed to the sun, and will still last for years. I have a small garden so I am going to cover the entire garden with it, not just the rows. I got the idea from a Youtube video. I will enjoy the minimal weeding but for me it's mostly about keeping my soil from drying out too quickly.

I coulda swore I attached an image to my last post...