Gardners - how to discourage weed growth over winter?

[Southerrrngirrl]

Any keen gardeners out there? I've had a couple of raised vegetable plots for the last couple of years. We'll be coming in to the second winter with the vege garden. Last winter it grew an incredible amount of weeds and grass over the winter months. Anyone got some suggestions as to how to discourage this? Was a nightmare in spring to weed it all - needed to take the weed whacker to it then dig it up completely. Not fun.

The garden is done producing crops now and I have taken all the dead plants out, weeded it and turned the soil over. I was thinking I could just nail black polythene over the plots? Some else in the office said pea straw would work too.

Any other ideas or suggestions? cheers

[Carlos & Siran]

Personally I'd just use an old silage cover or something like that but a good thick layer of straw or hay would work for a while I guess, you may have the odd plant poke through. And then you have the advantage of being able to dig it in for mulch in the new season.

[Ira]

I'm planning on using heaps of glyphosate this winter.

[Sharkie]

Why not grow your own winter veges? otherwise a good layer of pea straw or sawdust i have also used coffee grindings from my mates restaurant which also makes it smell nice he just got the staff to put aside and i got two big rubbish sacks full.

[Carlos & Siran]

Might be a little chilly for Winter veges in Southland.

[Sharkie]

no its not for some veg like brussell sprouts the colder the better.

[Wok]

As Ira said, Glyphosphate.

Lots of it.

[carznkats]

Covering the soil with straw is great for the winter, you can also add some newspaper under if for extra weed protection. If you cover it with poly you could "sour" the soil as it won't be able to breathe properly, and the addition of straw will mean that you get some goodness back into your soil.

[broms2]

as caznkats said, I put down thick wads of newspaper when not using areas of the vege garden, provides mulch and stops the weeds and...cheap

[Navarre]

I woudl go for Wet newspaper in quanties.

Cheap easy to find and can be dug in

If you use straw and hay then you may introduce more weeds.

Sawdust can be good as well

When we were kids our autum job was to dig old sand and sawdust mix (50/50) out of chook shed and spread on disused garden plot and then mix and fill chook shed up with a new layer...was fun but not pleasant....lol

in spring garden was turned over and planted out

[oneeyedfrog]

I have been told to get an old spoiled bale of silage and spread that out to kill the kikuyu ready for a garden. I haven't tried it yet though.

[spoon]

get some plaster board from the dump or some one renovatiing place it (pieces) over the garden nothing will grow thru it then in spring it will be quite soft then dig or rotary hoe it into the garden as its made from gypsum (calcium sulphate ) it will improve your soil structure like like lime but without altering the ph (a lot of veges like slightly acid conditions and lime is alkaline)

[Ymir]

grow a legume crop! It is great for soil conditioning, adds nitrogen to the soil, protects the ground from erosional efeects and finally, when it comes time to planting time, turn the crop into the ground. This adds 0rganic matter to the soil, returns the nutrients to the ground and generally a healthy, sustainable land management practice.

If you pm me I should be able to find some legume species that will even grow in the cold deep south

[Ira]

If you pm me I should be able to find some legume species that will even grow in the cold deep south

Why not just post the suggestions? It's not classified information, is it?

[Caryl]

Parsnips are another veg that tastes better after a frost

[Ymir]

Depends on where you are in the country. lol If I list all of them some, won't thrive because they can suit warm, cool, cold conditions. Easy to recommend on a case by case basis and I am too lazy to sort by environmental conditions.