green mulch

The soil surface will be damper, as the weeds will prevent evaporation from the surface, but they are also grabbing all the nutrients close by them denying them to your veg.

Dead mulches do the first without doing the second.

That's good news and as a lazy gardener I do that a lot as it is!

I see with certain plants, root competition is a problem (I'm thinking of carrots and the like)...but we really have such a lot of much added every year (we have 2 cows). Do you think the weeds really take very much out? By the way - I'm growing for feeding rather than for having lovely looking plants/beds. When weeds get too tall I lop at them a bit, but generally leave smaller ones - especially the spreader types.

Dry mulch is the proper solution I see. Was just wondering about my weeds that's all - people do talk about green mulch, so I was a bit interested in how that might work. Thanks a lot!