Brown planting paper

[Callie]

I bought 2 rolls of planting paper this year - 200 ft each for $12 each. I tried it last year and liked what it did for the onions.  So this year, I'm using more of it.  Will it keep the soil cool though?  I was going to put it in the greenhouse around the peppers since there's a ton of creeping charlie that's taken over the space.  But I need the soil to warm up in there.   Has anyone used the paper for planting?  I assume it's like newspaper layers. 

It was so nice to come in today all dirty. It was a long winter.

I couldn't get my small tiller started to I drug the large one out. It always starts with 2-3 pulls.  I planted some onions, lettuce, beets, spinach...that's all I can do here and that's pushing it a bit.  I love dirt.

[barefootfarmer]

Callie I LOVE dirt, too! It makes me happy to smell it and even better when it gets all over my feet.

I don't have any experience with the planting paper but I'm hoping you'll update us to let it know how it worked for you. I'm laying down cardboard in my green house. Thistle is my big problem that keeps popping up all over.

[Deleted]

I also like to come in dirty and tired. It's just a different tired than what I feel after my daytime job as a schoolteacher, where I feel emotionally drained. It's a good kind of tired I feel when coming in from the garden.

I don't have any experience with planting paper. I use cardboard and wood shavings as mulch.
It's good to wait until the ground warms up in spring before you put down any kind of mulch. You could even accelerate the warming up with clear plastic, if you like. Once it's warmed up, mulch shouldn't keep the ground much cooler or warmer than without the mulch, I think. It just keeps the temperature a bit more balanced, I would say.

I am going to experiment with rocks this year. They are supposed to keep the heat they collect in the sun and therefore accelerate the ripening of the watermelons. I'll see if it works. The plan is to let the vines grow across the rock garden.

[Callie]

I've used the paper before. I like it. But it's hard to keep DOWN. I have scrap boards laying across it in all directions and still the wind blows some of it up. The poor onions that I planted in holes in the paper were pulled out of the soil several times. I think they have finally taken root. I'll put it under the broccoli this year too- just to try it. After a couple years of not gardening well-- aka...leaving the weeds to go to seed--I have a real mess on my hands in a couple raised beds. I used cardboard around the blackberries but will use black weed blocker under the tomatoes and in the greenhouse. I think the paper does keep the soil cooler.

[snoozy]

Planting paper sounds like it would be a fine tent for slugs. I don't think it would work here in Slugistan.

[Callie]

So far, no slugs that I see just around the paper. I found some in a bucket I left out last night. I have to use sluggo in the greenhouse though.

[Deleted]

OK...what are you calling "planting paper"? I googled and all I can seem to get are links on how to make something similar to seed tape...

Apparently, my google-fu has abandoned me.