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Hi Charles
Firstly, thank you very much for the day course you ran on 26th Feb, it was a great day and has set me up well for the season ahead.
I have created a number of beds by laying about 6 inches of well rotted cow manure on top of grass. However over the past few weeks quite a bit of creeping buttercup and dandelion has emerged from the manure.I have removed the weeds soon after appearing. I’m looking to plant my potatoes and possibly some onion sets over the next week and wondered whether you would advise to lay black polythene on top of the manure prevent further weed growth, then plant my potatoes underneath. Or is there a better method?
Many thanks
TomHi Tom,
Great that you enjoyed the course.
On these weeds, I understand your concern and it can look daunting at this peak time of their regrowing, thanks to the mild winter and current warmth.
I felt similarly apprehensive about a few such beds last spring, but found that removing the new stems, using a trowel to extract 4-6in of any new growth, two to three times over four to six weeks, saw them expire as the parent roots had then exhausted themselves.I would plant as normal and just keep an eye out with a trowel to hand. If you want to use polythene it is an option and helps keep potatoes white, though slugs can accumulate in the damp underneath it.
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