Any advice please?
At the weekend I finally reached the end of digging out couch grass, docks and bindweed from my half-allotment. I've decided to use the part where the soil is best (though not brilliant) for asparagus and strawberries, but, having raked over the soil today and seen how many little shoots of grass are already trying to spring up, am wondering how realistic it is to think I'll be ready to plant asparagus this spring, and if it is realistic, how best to prepare the soil.
My plan, after lots of reading and thinking, had been to sew some phacelia so I could let it cover the area and die down by late winter, ready for me to dig it in, with some manure, which by then would have had 6 months to mature, ready for me to plant some asparagus during early spring. (I've got these ideas from reading and talking to people; if anyone has a better idea, I'm very open to hearing it).
BUT, having seen all those little couch grass shoots, I wonder what my plan would do for them. Will improving the soil just mean the baby couch grass shoots will be encouraged to take a firm hold?
Would it be better just to put plastic or some other cover over the ground to try to kill off any couch shoots? And if so, how long would I need to leave it there?