"David Hill" wrote in message
...
"........Whether I till or not, I'll be sure to have black plastic on all
winter. ....."

Why?

The plastic will stop the rain going into the part covered .....but it has
to go somewhere so all round the sheeting you are going to double or
treble
the amount of water.
If you cover a few weeks before you want to dig, or better, cover AFTER
digging to warm the ground before planting would be a lot better.

It's getting cold fast, so no time to put plastic on the bed first before
digging. I don't plan to plant until spring at the earliest, but I was
hoping to kill the weeds and grass over the winter.

It doesn't matter if you do have weed growth of a few inches if you are
going to dig it in, in fact it will be of more value than a little dead
growth, and covering wont kill off perennial weeds in less than a year.

It's my understanding that with Double Digging, the ground should rest at
least a month, that's why I'm doing it over winter instead of wasting time
next growing season. I'm sure you're right about the perenenial weeds, but
at least I'll get most of it, including the grass.

Remember if you keep it covered then it wont dry out if the water has got
under the sheet half as fast as uncovered ground.

I hadn't thought of that. Maybe I'll double dig, aply the plastic and just
leave it be for a few weeks. I my area we don't usually have heavy now on
the ground all winter, especially at the start of the season. I'll try to
remove the plastic once the grass is sure to be dead



--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk