I did the covering with visqueen thingy - not the soaker hoses though, or the turning over of the whole plot. When I first got my plot I hoed all the horrible mares tail, couch, thistles etc. to the ground, covered over and left over winter. Come spring, I uncovered the ground bed by bed to work and plant. It certainly did not get rid of the weeds, as the minute you take off the plastic up some of them grow, but did give me time to manage the plot bit by bit with the wilderness encroaching. I know some people have problems with slugs under the plastic. This wasn't a problem for me, perhaps because I took it up to dig and sow? It's not very pretty either!
