terrible potato emergency - please advise

[campanula]

ahem, we are a tad confused aren't we? I believe I have been dazzled by  novelty methods and am now inclined to take the path of least resistance (as usual). Been greatly cheered by the optimists (they could be in denial, though) out there who see no problem in a spot of frost. However, I am also a cheapskate tightwad and am desperate to use this  stuff since I ordered acres of it and now have a socking great roll in my shed, redundant. When you get down to the practicalities of holding all this mulching material in place, the theories start to sound a bit rocky - it's not like I haven't been caught out before with 'hot tips'. I can see the many, many sheets of newspaper blowing around the site even now, some years later, after another misguided potato mulching exercise. So, might just bung some fleece over everything which will also hide incipient problems from view (ignorance is bliss) giving me a break from fear and  loathing - until the next problem hoves into view.

[campanula]