Ok, garden been neglected for past 5 years due to kids refusing to spend more than 10 mins in garden without some parental attention! Going to have much more time from now on to tackle it all properly.
Weeds are kind of everywhere but I have a plan to first totally clear one particular border completely which had old conifers there previously and not much underneath except some vinca major/minor, ivy and monbretia. Weeds, ivy, brambles and grass are intermingled with everything. If I want to clear the bed completely to totally re-plant it from fresh, what is the best way to go about it? Am I right in thinking it's a good time of year to clear it as yes, there will be some perennial weeds but the annual weeds (if that's what they're called - the ones that seed, I mean) haven't really got a grip at the moment in this cold weather?
I am quite liking the idea of putting membrane down for a number of weeks. But I'm just not sure how much I need to do first. Do I need to get as much grass and weeds up from the soil as possible first and THEN put the membrane down? Or is it enough to just smother EVERYTHING in membrane and that will kill everything off? Would weedkiller help first, underneath the membrane?
Sorry, I kind of have a bit of an idea what I need to do, but not really enough detail about how exactly to go about it.
Also, if you put chipped bark down later on around new plants, is it easy enough to remove it to add further plants at a later date? Is it just a matter of digging some of it away?
Thanks!