Hi Rebecca, a very late reply to your question, sorry work has been manic leading up to Christmas!
I used neither. It had been rotavated so I marked out the growing beds, lightly raked it over and put a mixture of homemade compost and bought compost on them. I left paths in between and as the summer was so dry they just got trodden down as I worked from them. I have kept on top of the weeding without too much work and continued through the year with second sowings too.
Today I harvested lettuce, beetroot, parsnips and carrots. I was also thrilled to see my Romanesco has started to heart (nearly gave up on them so pleased I didn’t!) Also have kale and cabbages to harvest soon too. All going really well!
I think once the layer of compost went on the weeds do get weaker over time. There was a lot of bindweed on one end of my plot but that has weakened a lot this year.
Have a great Christmas and enjoy your plot!
