This is an old question. However, I want to clarify a bit for folks who are new to growing with plastic mulch in large sheets. Dennis explianed it well. I'lI just add my four cents. Which is way too much. So here's the short version 1- Dennis is right and use big sheets 2- make round holes, they tear less. 3- pick up and store plastic away from winter UV 4- don't worry about the weeds and grass. do not till, add compost only at the holes, before putting down the plastic. Water only until the plants are established. A week or 2. No irrigation needed. Ever. Well, maybe in the SW. 5- soil is 5° cooler under black plastic in the summer (Rodale c.1985). 6- Relax, until Mid August then protect from fifty-five° I'm not kidding! The long version. I have been raising melons, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and more, using six mil or thicker black plastic since the nineteen seventies. My parents started with ten mil (I think), which I inherited and it lasted eight years of leaving it out year round. The winter UV finally killed iit. My first suggestion is that you roll it up and store it in a dark place. I get six years or more out of six mil black. Pre-drilling with inch holes is a great idea and I'll try it at about one foot intervals. I just poke holes in puddles when they appear. His nail on a broomstick in a better idea than my method of using whatever is at hand. Why? Because plastic tears in a line. If you make a longitudinal cut, instead of a round hole or puncture, in later years it will tear more easily. So, do not make your planting holes with an "x". Make them round with scissors, or as I do. I cut both ends of a can, around four to five in diam, hold it with vise grips and heat the other end with a propane torch. Take a deep breath and psst, cut a nice round, sealed hole and put the circle in a trash bsg . For melons I use six foot diagonal spacing. Less for tomatoes, even less for peppers, eggplant, basil, etc. Plan well, because that's the configuration for years to come. I often use twenty by twenty sheets so I could just turn it each year for crop rotation. You might just slide it down the length of the garden, if north south orientation augers against turning the layout Now, its about time to plant. Clear plastic will heat up your ground before you plant. Black plastic will not. Clear plastic solarization is thought by some to disturb/ destroy the beneficial biota of you topsoil. So heat with caution and read more to find your way. That aside: in spite of the wind, lay the black plastic on the ground...no need to weed or cultivate. Drive a short stake into the center of each hole. Pick up the plastic and prepare the area at each stake as you wish. I try to remove a half bushel or more of soil to my compost and fill each hole with a compost soil mix. Replace the plastic. Batten down the edges with soil, stones boards, etc. Plant and water individually, as needed for a week or two. Then forget about it. You may need to weed three inches on all sides of each plant. You will not need irrigation. You have stopped evaporation. The ground in most regions is wet when you plant. It will stay perfectly moist all summer. I have had a few six week periods of eighty to a hundred degrees and no rain w/o water stress. Rodale tested mulches sometime in the eighties and determined that six mil black plastic kept the soil five degrees cooler than bare soil. For me the major problem with melon production is that i crowd them. So stepping on the vines as I pick and some mildew. I do not lift the melons off the plastic, but puncture a puddle occupied by a melon. Bigger still is that after over thirty years, I cannot tell if a watermelon is ripe. Beware the heartbreak of late collapse in canteloupes! Fifty-five degrees will make you cry in the August dawn. Get some cover material and get out there on that cool evening, when the clouds go away. A few nights later,you can relax until fall. That's for Western Oregon, Wash, Penna, and the garden state. In NH prepare to keep the patch above fifty- five. Sorry about the length... I just love eating melons!

Being a plumber I am not really worried about the effects of premature failure of a piece of pipe, I can replace that easy enough but in researching Reverse Osmosis I found dozens of reports on the health hazards associated with it. During the 70's NASA studied the idea of using RO to recycle human waste to produce fresh water on long space flights, and the U.S. Navy conducted studies to determine the effectiveness of using RO to produce freshwater from seawater. The WHO (World Health Organization) and a half dozen top universities all over the world also studied the idea of using RO to produce safe drinking water in arid third world countries, and all of them came to the same conclusions. Extended use of RO water has a twofold health risk; 1. There are a number of essential elements that we normally injest from our water, such as, but not limited to Iron, Calcium, & Iodine. 2. not only does the RO water not contain those essential elements, RO water is so aggressive that as it passes through the digestive tract it actually absorbs those elements from our food and carries it off in our waste. As if that is not bad enough, when RO water enters the body it absords those elements from the organs in our body, by example, it may absorb iron from the red blood cells reducing their ability to carry oxygen and it absorbs calcium from our bones and carries it out with our body waste. But don't take my word for this, run a search on Yahoo or Google for "Reverse Osmosis Water & Health Risks" and read it for yourself.

I currently live in W.PA however; it doesnt matter where I live, if you live in the United States of America that is the rule! In the "General Rules" of all plumbing codes it states that we must install all pipe, fittings, fixtures and appurtenances in accordance with the specifications & guidelines set forth by the ASTM, ASSE, ASME and the individual product Manufacturers. All plastic pipe, fittings and fixtures have a "UV rating" (Ultra violet light rating) by example, the UV rating for PVC & ABS pipe states that when it is run in direct exposure to sunlight the pipe is to be given a minimum protection from UV light by painting the pipe with exterior grade latex paint. The specifications for PEX tubing state that it is to be protected at all times from direct or indirect prolonged exposure to UV light sources. While sunlight is the most significant source of UV light, all sources of light in the visible spectrum, including but not limited to sunlight, reflected sunlight, moonlight, incandescent light, fluorescent light and open flames also produce varying amounts of UV light therefore it stands that if you can see the pipe without opening a cabinet door, removing a cover or using a flashlight the ambient light level at that location exceeds the guidelines for PEX UV exposure.

I am a grandma and tried to install myself since the $ was the same to buy x 2. My brother helped and we got it up. I have had to replace the closer as it stuck and I had to take it off to close the door. The lock never came out on the door either. My closer (which I was soo excited I could put on myself) now is also bent when I was attempting to take the dam lock off and the top lil thing that goes in and out when you shut the door was locking. what?? I had to go around the house and keep forcing that thing down w a screwdriver. I thought I may attempt DIY's but I told a friend I just CANNOT complete this storm door nightmare.. I have a nail where I am using a twistie to keep it closed in the meantime. I guess I also need the Lock Replacement. argh