Hi Charles et al. I would like to get some thoughts please.
My question is “Do weeds die in winter if light is excluded?”
A bit of background. I moved house last year and have identified an area to make a vegetable and fruit patch. This area was previously a paddock. I got a local farmer to power harrow it; then I met a man in the next village who introduced me to the no dig concept. The cultivation was a mistake! Bought a couple of your books and am inspired. We have horses and lots of plant material to compost (the previous owners were not gardeners) as we improve the site.
I intend to develop the area over several years. To get started I made some beds with 6in rotted/semi-rotted manure over the summer and have had these covered with black polythene since. I intend to take this off soon to allow the frost to do it’s work. What I want to know is whether there is any point in using the polythene to cover the next areas to be made into beds to smother the weeds over the next few months, or should I store it and start again when the new growing season arrives?
The underlying soil is clay and the polythene would concentrate the rain in the run off area and as I am on a slight slope this would always be on the same place, it may create pools of water on the surface.
Thanks for any thoughts on this,
Derek