Those of you coming to our strawberry days will see the plants are planted through a woven fabric. This is the first time we have used it in the field. It allows water and air  to flow through. It is tough and long lasting. We had some on the floor in our greenhouse for over ten years. Our hope is to use it again and again for many years. It does cost more money but as we have seen with the Strawberries the crop is much happier. This will translate into extra yield.

We are now using it on Peppers and Eggplant. These crops have a particular problem with weeds later in the season, they can choke out the crop. The added benefit to us is that after we plant the crop we can turn on the sprinklers to water them in. Later we will run drip lines adjacent to the crop. Having the drip lines above the plastic will mean we can repair them easily. We try for improvements every year!