On Dec 31 2011, 2:36*pm, "AL_n" wrote:
I've just turned about 25sq mtrs of my rather wild back garden into veggie
beds. After removing the turf, I dug the ground over and mixed in several
barrowloads of last summer's compost, which appeared to be about 75% rotted
down, but I judged it to be OK for digging into the new veg beds to improve
the somewhat clayish, soil. The compost was made from a well-mixed mixture
of stable straw, horse manure, and grass turfs and grass clippings.

Next came the question of what to cover it all with, to save myself hours
of weeding, come Spring. Someone here suggested "Polyethylenus negra". I
decided to try "Boxus Cardbordinus Maxima"! After all, it's free.

After covering every inch of the beds, I wetted it all down thoroughly, and
placed large stones every 2ft or so, to prevent the stuff from blowing
away. I am a bit concerned about the wind; I live in a spot that can get
very windy indeed quite frequently, especially in winter. I wonder if my
stones will suffice. My research tells me that most people cover the
cardboard in a couple of inches of tree bark or other mulch. I'd like to
avoid shelling out for tree bark if I can help it. I do have a great pile
of grass sods that I could use for extra weighting-down, but I'm not sure
how that would work out. I also enough remaining half-rotted compost to
cover the cardboard to a depth of about 1", but I fear that would just blow
away, as soon as the first dry, windy day arrived!

Perhaps someone here who has first-hand experience of this muching method
could advise me if they thing the stone-weighting method will be
satisfactory or not...

Thank you..

Al

If it's that windy, you want to be thinking about fixing up some
windbreaks.
You will never get stuff to grow without.