Michael Rand, North London allotment gardener, on how using carpets as mulch is a toxic option
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| Michael Rand: allotment gardener
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'As soon as your carpet-mulch starts to rot you're in trouble, since whatever chemicals it contains will mostly head soilwards.'
Two or three summers ago, I was surprised to notice that one of my allotment neighbours had put down on her plot, as a mulch, a splendid and almost-new-looking Persian rug.
A handy size for such a purpose, at about 7 x 5ft, it had a chalky blue-grey ground, picked out with intricate symmetrical patterns of stylised vines, flowers and leaves, all in curious shades of salmon pink, fawn and cream - every one outlined in rich indigo. But, handy size or not, I thought, it's far too gorgeous to fling on the soil!
Most readers will be familiar with the two-fold purpose of a mulch: prevention of weed growth; and reduction in groundwater loss through evaporation when it turns dry and hot. There's little doubt of the usefulness of mulching, but the more intriguing question becomes: what's the best thing to put down?
What about the chemicals in rugs and carpets?
The use of abandoned rugs and carpets presents a problem, and this isn't just to do with looks – they're out of place in the self-respecting garden. Visually-speaking, you can (and many people still do) get away with using such stuff on the allotment,
but then there's the matter of what goes into all those gorgeous-coloured carpet dyes.
Being technically ignorant on this issue, I decided to seek an expert opinion from Andy Strachan, who is senior adviser at Garden Organic, the new working name for the HDRA, Britain's leading organic growing organisation. Garden Organic has also recently changed its view on carpets-as-mulch in the light of new research. And the results of this came, I must admit, as a bit of a shocker.
As soon as your carpet-mulch starts to rot you're in trouble, since whatever chemicals it contains will mostly head soilwards. Cheaper carpets, stuck with foam backing and copious glue, are a particular hazard, but even posh jobs aren't much better, since they're loaded with anti-moth insecticides.
The trouble with dyes
As for the dyes, they might possibly – and how can we ordinary gardeners tell otherwise? – contain all manner of heavy metal compounds. These can be taken up directly by plant roots as redundant, poisonous passengers alongside essential metal particles such as phosphorus and potassium that plants need to grow healthily.
So, unless you really do want to risk mulch madness by spicing up your home-made carrot and coriander soup with lashings of extra cadmium and cobalt, dump those old carpets anywhere you (legally) can, but emphatically not on your vegetable plot.
As for alternatives, my own choice is to use natural materials, whether leafmould, compost, manure or grass clippings, these all present good possibilities. Woodchip is another option, particularly in urban areas where tree surgeons have a disposal problem and will gladly dump a vanload on you for nothing.
And as for that Persian rug – well obviously I had my eye on it from the first, and soon exchanged it for a spare wheelbarrow, fair exchange being no robbery as we all know. Slow puncture or not. I rolled it up and brought it home, slung it in a soapy bath, walked up and down on it for ten minutes, then hung it up to dry. Now it graces the floor of my living room, which, I hope you'll agree, is a far more fitting place for it than rotting away on anyone's allotment.
About the author
Michael Rand tends an allotment in North London and is the author of
Close to the Veg: a book of allotment tales, price £10.99, published by Marlin Press.
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