manure covering

[panayiotis]

hello fellow growers ! I am starting my first garden (veg and fruits) hopefully I wont have to use any chemicals and stay organic. and I wanted to know .. I am going to take off weeds and mix MANURE (witch is full of seeds) in the soil and leave it there until the season starts. is it ok if I cover the hole thing with plastic or carton boxes to prevent any weeds from growing or is it going to interrupt the manure process ?

p.s also any other general suggestions or tips/pointers for my garden are very welcome !

[tomc]

Planting through a watered cardboard light block with leaf or grass clipping mulch works fine. It may even help with die-back of weed rhizomes.

Worms will thank you for the nice manured dark work area.

[panayiotis]

I'm not sure that I quite understand you my friend. I am not going to plant yet.. I just want to cover up the whole area in order to prevent unwanted weeds from growing until the season starts. I'm just wondering if it will affect the process that the manure has to go through

[tomc]

Dark & moist is a good setting for your micro-herd to break down manure.

And you can plant through it later.

[panayiotis]

will I have to water it every now and then ?
oh I am also putting some ashes on top( if that matters)

[tomc]

will I have to water it every now and then ?
oh I am also putting some ashes on top( if that matters)

I might check (by touch) weekly, and water if dry.

I'd add ashes first. In order (bottom of list is bottom)

water as needed

leaf mulch or straw
cardboard
manure
ashes
dirt

[panayiotis]

thank you very much for your help! I will do as u said and hopefully my very first veg/fruit garden will be a success