Clearing beds

It is always a big job to clear out the weeds in the garden beds in New Zealand after being away for so long. On the empty vege beds I used to plant green manures. The problem with that is we started coming back so late in the spring that the green manure had gone to seed already, and the weeds had thickened up in between. It was such a big job to clear out the beds before I could start planting, that I got a bit disheartened.
The last few years I have hit on a way to over winter the beds that seems much easier to deal with in the spring.
Last autumn I put down a layer of green stuff-usually grass clippings, then covered the whole bed(and pathways) with weed mat, that I weigh down with rocks or stapled to the wood raised beds.
Below might look as if it didn't make much difference, but in fact it took just a few minutes to roll back the weed mat, and uproot the weeds that had grown through it all.

 

Here is the bed minutes later, in fine shape and ready to plant. Now only 13 more to do!

 

The weed mat gets folded up, and put away for next time.

I have a few seedlings I started a few weeks ago that are already ready for transplanting.

I leave in a few weeks for Thailand, so I need to time the maturity of the vegetables I am planting now, so they are ready to harvest when I return in December.

Thankfully I have kept good notes on my plantings and harvest dates, so I have a good idea of when to start the veges.

Some will be planted a little early for the season, like tomatoes and squash, but others like lettuce and peas will survive quite well. If spring isn't too cold, and the slugs not too hungry, alot of what I plant will survive, and if my timing is right, be ready to harvest when I return.