There was an article on this subject in this month's Gardening Which.
The idea was that instead of laying down black plastic sheeting/old
carpet or whatever on bare soil over the winter, you sow the ground to
grow a crop eg. mustard, which will cover the ground, prevents weeds,
nourish the soil, and then in February/March, you simply dig it into
the soil which will then be ready for sowing/planting whatever you
really want to grow.

Sounds like a good idea to me, but what do people think about it?

Ken Cohen