On 31/10/2012 11:26, Martin wrote:
On Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:55:30 +0100, "Raymond RUSSELL"
wrote:


Hello all

My vegetable garden is swamped in weeds
with very fine hair roots
that are almost impossible to clear by simply digging out.
I think they arrived in the manure a local farmer gave me.
They just keep reappearing year after year
and tend to elbow out young veg seedlings etc.

Does covering the ground with plastic tarpaulin
over winter and early spring actually help ?

Yes, it helps to get rid of some of the weeds.

I'd would use the "Stale seed bed" technique.
Work the ground as normal and get it ready to plant or sow seeds into,
then let a flush of weed come through, hit them with Weedol; a contact
weed killer then plant or sow a couple of days later with as little soil
disturbance as possible.