holes in plastic

[charles]

 Good luck Stephen, it sounds a good start. No holes is best to exclude all light from grass and weeds below. But if your lawn is/was mostly lawn grass without too much couch grass and other perennial weeds, you could cut a few holes to let winter rain through: put squares of cardboard under the holes to prevent weeds growing through them. Then you can remove the plastic in late March/April/May for planting, perhaps roll it back in stages and remove all slugs you see when rolling it back or taking it off. I wonder how moist the soil is at present, if you are in south east Britain it may be on the dry side underneath, but the polythene will at least hold all moisture in.