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Hello
Looking for some advice please. Took on a new plot last year and covered it with carpet to suppress the couch grass and other perennial weeds. It had not been looked after by the previous tennant so knew I'd have to wait. Back in January took off the carpet and discovered another layer of carpet (overgrown by the weeds) underneath. So we dug it up roughly but noticed that not all the weeds had died - there was still alot of couch grass roots which with some milder weather are beginning to grow again.
Anyway I'll get to the point. Could I plant potatoes and cover them with black plastic to prevent the couch from re-growing? And would i make holes in the plastic and plant the potatoes through? (but will they need some manure?) or is it best to dig the trenches, add manure, backfill, cover with plastic and then when the growth starting pushing up the plastic cut holes for it?
Many thanks in advance
Looking for some advice please. Took on a new plot last year and covered it with carpet to suppress the couch grass and other perennial weeds. It had not been looked after by the previous tennant so knew I'd have to wait. Back in January took off the carpet and discovered another layer of carpet (overgrown by the weeds) underneath. So we dug it up roughly but noticed that not all the weeds had died - there was still alot of couch grass roots which with some milder weather are beginning to grow again.
Anyway I'll get to the point. Could I plant potatoes and cover them with black plastic to prevent the couch from re-growing? And would i make holes in the plastic and plant the potatoes through? (but will they need some manure?) or is it best to dig the trenches, add manure, backfill, cover with plastic and then when the growth starting pushing up the plastic cut holes for it?
Many thanks in advance
On the bright side, if you fork over the ground (rather than digging with a spade) it will come up relatively easily, like long strands of spaghetti! I would recommend getting as much of it out as you can before planting your potatoes because couch grass can actually try to grow through your tubers and damage them (especially if the summer is particularly dry). So I'd go for your second option, of digging out trenches and then covering with the plastic.
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