Inheriting an 'empty' veg patch at this time of year

[Wiggy29]

By empty, I mean covered in weeds (though no rubble/ stones etc). I'm very much a gardening novice, so I thought the best approach may be to simply cover it with thick fabric over the winter to kill the weeds? Do I cover it in mulch or anything? Or will they just grow again as soon as I remove it in spring (and so should I try to pull out all of weeds). Or............... am I taking the wrong approach, should I be pulling out the weeds and planting something?

Finally, any good websites for a gardening/ veg growing novice like myself?

if you google you will find lots of info online - starting an allotment, or vegetable plot.

as I understand it - and I too am a novice - you cover it in black plastic - needs to be failry thick or it rips. then you start digging, turning the soil and getting the weeds out. grass type weeds go on a compost heap, perenials such as dandelion soak in water for a couple of months and then add to heap so they don't come back next year. once you have dug then put black plastic back on till you need the soil in spring, so weeds don't regrow.

don't use carpet as chemicals go into your soil.

currently you can plant garlic or fruit canes/bushes that are in pots - B&Q have some half price. But you need to remove all the weeds first.

Don't rotivate as that just chops all roots up and makes lots more plants for future

Thank you for the advice, lots of helpful tips. Can I just double check something? Do you mean you cover with plastic, then remove&weed, then cover in plastic again until warmer weather? If so, how long should I cover it for in the first instance to kill weeds? Thanks again for advice.

well i don't have weeds, so I'm covering to stop them growing. If you have them already i'm not sure how long it takes to kill them - maybe 6-12 months i think - but could be wrong. suggest you dig as much as you can and leave rest covered whilst you do it. thats what they seem to say online.

Think about what u want there and maybe do a combo of covering and pulling out.

With perennial weeds u need to get their tough roots out completely otherwise they just keep coming back

Planting out now - bare root fruit e.g. currants, berries, rhubarb, veges - asparagus, broad beans.
I would dig out weeds and get these planted, then cover over the rest and dig in sections next year.

www.rhs.org.uk is great for advice