Cover vacant beds?

Hi,

One of my beds is now clear and weeded and I am not planning to plant in it now till April 'ish (Leeks), would it be a good idea to cover it over until I need it ?

....just trying to keep the weeds down

Thanks

TGB

I would say it depends on your soil.

Clay holds onto nutrients quite well and the frost would help break it up.

Sand will have nutrients leached out by winter rains so you may be better off covering it.

Anything in between make you're best guess.

I read an article the other day which was talking about 'salts' building up in the soil (more particularly in a greenhouse)due to the use of artificial fertilisers, these salts then cause an imbalance in the soil which prevents plants taking up water, the plants can therefore die from lack of water although the soil is damp. By exposing the soil to winter rain those salts are washed out of the soil. A good case for leaving uncoered if you use a lot of artificial fertilisers.

I've covered some of mine up. One large area with black sheet membrane which slugs don't like as it's rough, and I've never noticed a slug problem with it.  Three beds covered in a thick layer of muck.  You can only do as far as you have coverings for but the local electric shop usually has fresh cardboard available and I find that it keeps weeds down and will last a season before it disappears into the soil. 

....just trying to keep the weeds down

If late annual weeds appear with any luck the cold weather will kill them off. If periennial stuff appears well you can clear it out before the start of the growing season.

In other words, any weeds that you can get rid of now won't be a problem in the growing season.

And any that appear before you plant up in April or thereabouts can be taken out before you plant up and then have the bother of weeding in between crops.

I'm not one for putting off weeds till next growing season if I have the chance of dealing with them when it's not such a busy time of the year.