As we all know, one of the biggest pains, is digging and weeding each year.
It's particularly annoying when you lift the spuds in Autumn and you note
how 'clean' the soil is - i.e. lack of weeds due to the cover provided by
the potato foliage. The following Spring, the same plot needs to be dug and
weeded.

One of my neighbours has been given ten 9' x 9' porous plastic sheets. She
uses one for earlies, another for lates, another for leeks and so on. When
she lift the spuds, she'll cover the ground with a sheet. The areas used for
cabbage, may have some weeds and grass, she doesn't weed, but simply covers
the harvested area with plastic.

It sounds a great way to reduce digging, my only concern is that plastic is
a nice haven for slugs and snails.

I don't know if anyone saw BBc2's Natural World on 4th April, where Rebecca
Hosking, mentioned the amount of damage done by the plough, to beneficial
insect life. Most of the friendly creepy-crawlies live in the top 2 inches.
The plough (or gardeners spade) subjects the life-forms to sunlight and
death, which in turn requires extra fertiliser to compensate.

These rolls of porous plastic have been available in gdn centres for years.
Anyone used them? How long do they last and is the slug/snail thing a big
problem. Can slits be cut in them and have plants (say lettuce and leeks)
grow thru' them, or are they simply a weed suppressant? TIA.
..