I tarped a 50' x 200' foot area to pre-prep for this fall's planting. The silage tarps are heavy 7 mil (If i recall). They have been on since late March. The idea is to smother all growth without needing to till/buy a tractor. Then weed seeds will be forced to germinate and die (stale seedbed method). In a couple weeks, I will uncover and have a nice bare seeds bed to plant a buckwheat cover crop into. I will mow this down in about 45-60 days right as flowers are finishing/before seeds set. I will cover again to smother any stubble/weeds/mowed material to speed decomposition. I will uncover late June/early July and plant tillage radishes. The hope is that the long and massive tap roots will loosen the soil deeply so that I don't have to spray/till ahead of garlic planting. I will mow and cover the radishes in late September. Uncover at the end of October and see if I can direct plant. If not, I will do one pass with the BCS tiller and prep my beds.
The goal is to optimize soil health by not destroying the soil food web and structure by rototilling. It seems to have worked with the beds that were covered with plastic for 2 years, but this is only gonna be one season of covering.
I might need to do this 2 growing seasons ahead of fall planting for it to work with out tillage.
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