Brilliant!!! :)
This season, inspired by your garden last year and my level of laziness when it comes to weeding, I stockpiled heavy cardboard and broken bags of chopped straw from work, put the cardboard down between the rows, then covered the rows and the open areas around the plants with the straw. It looks very pretty and finished and the only weeding I’ve had to do since was a little bit around each tomato or pepper or bean or squash plant.
By next spring, it will all be broken down and Husband can till it all in after he yells at me to, ‘get those #%^& tomato cages out of there, Woman!’ LOL!
It was easy to do and since I hand water and fertilize every few days (one or the other) and I like to CHAT with my plants at that time too, encouraging them and looking for any damage or pruning or harvesting that needs to be done, I just pull out a few weeds as I go! :)
I have one area at the north end of the garden that didn’t get planted with anything (about 5’ x 15’) so I covered that area up, too. Come August or so, I have plenty of room to again add peas, broccoil, chard, lettuces, etc. like we had in the spring; it should be weed free and very easy to dig.
Sounds like the cardboard and straw did the trick! Not having to spend countless hours weeding a garden makes it so much more enjoyable. So much better to spend the time chatting with your plants than working to keep them out of a jungle. I’m looking forward to hearing how easy it was to put your fall garden in the ground. :-)