On Wed, 30 Jul 2003 12:37:00 +0100, "H"
wrote:

What I thought of doing is chopping the weeds down to ground
level, then covering it with a layer of manure followed by old carpet
or black plastic then coming back later and digging it all in.


snip

Does this sound OK? Is there anything else I should be doing? Maybe
add some lime with the manure?

Depends on what your soil is like, and what, if anything, is missing. Get a
soil test kit and find out what it needs.

In the meantime, you've got time to think how you will design your lottie
and what techniques you will use. Eg raised beds and paths, no dig,
'traditional' rows, organic, etc etc.

I don't mind a bit of spade work, so after it's been left a bit I'll
probably dig in loads of manure to make sure it's in reasonable
condition. My sister keeps horses so I've got an advantage there.
After the initial dig I may well investigate the no-dig system;
I don't want too much work...

After that it's organic with companion planting. I had pots full of
tagetes in my old greenhouse and was never bothered by whitefly or
greenfly. I'd rather find the odd insect in my salad than some of
stuff I used to spray on ornamentals.

Ta for the advice,

Andy