Personal Question covering clean soil--keeping out weeds

[Alpenrose]

Finally, after waiting 40 years the earth mover came in and graded down a dirt loading ramp the previous generation had carved out in the paddock. All I wanted was to have it leveled off and a tree trunk pulled, so I could put in my vegetable garden. What I got is a wonderful surprise -- the most beautiful soil anyone could ask for--glacial without rocks yea!!!
My question today is this: we are expecting snow to begin any day now and I will not have access to this space until next spring. Because there are no weeds and grade is so clean--how can i protect it during the winter? Should I cover it with straw? Do I need to invest in large tarps? What is the best way to stop the weeds from coming back before I can get my garden installed.
I will be putting in several Birdie's planters and laying down grass in between.

Second question? The Birdie's website is about three years old. No new information about colors and here in the US we can not get color charts! We do see occasional pictures from cell phones, but you cannot see the true colors this way. Also, we can only get three colors. Do you know if Birdies will be presenting more colors, or how to get a color chip? Here in the Rocky Mountain west most of us are using metal roofs. It would be good to able to compare the color of our roofs with the colors available from Birdie's.
Thank you so much for all you do. You have given my beloved (age 78) a new hope. This summer he put in his roses--a dream he always had, but never did anything about until he started watching your shows with me. He is now looking forward in a positive way!

Third item: we have grizzly bears in the area--say a little prayer for us!

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

That sounds glorious! Seeing as it's about to freeze you should be fairly okay regarding weeds, as they might struggle to grow also. Saying this, you could probably start up your gardens once the frost starts to slowly disappear, so it's ready for when the warmer days come. To protect the soil you could definitely mulch it. Where we live sugarcane is very accessible, but you might have something else for your area. If you cannot find anything you could always invest in weedmats or tarp, but mulch would be recommended as over time it will become part of the soil and it will also help keep moisture in and cool/heat out.

Wow, that's so odd! The US website will bug out for me and be so clumsy to use, both the AUS and NZ one work beautifly for me and show me the range of colours and everything. I'm not sure what is happening there. I guess, though clumsy, you could check out the colours on the NZ one so you know what they look like, before ordering them on the US one. This is assuming they have the same colour ranges though. And as the US one keeps bugging me out I cannot check for you sadly.

Roses? Beautiful. You are never too old to grow roses! And never too old to do something that makes you happy.
It honestly made me happy reading this. Please feel free to ask any questions the both of you have whatsoever. Even if I don't always have the knowledge myself, I do try to help find it online (or perhaps other, kind members of the forum).

Stay warm and stay safe!

 

[KathrynJN]

I saw a no-dig gardening video of setting up a garden before winter. The man layed down cardboard first, so to suppress the weeds, and then mulched it. Left it over winter for the weeds to die and the cardboard decompose before planting. I have been setting up my Birdie's beds recently by putting down newspapers first before the soil. So, personally, I would put down newspaper or cardboard first before the mulch.

 

[Mark]

Your new raised garden bed plan sounds exciting!

Yes, cardboard, any seedless mulching materials, tarps or whatever you have to suppress weeds and grasses will work.

Regarding the Birdies beds, you will have to direct your questions to Kevin at Epic Gardening here - he's a good guy and works closely with Birdies to import the beds into the USA. If you decide to buy some raised beds use SSME2020 for a 5% discount on checkout - I have an affiliate arrangement with Kevin and also Birdies here in Oz (SSMEbird for Aust/NZ) whereby I basically share my 10% commission.

Anyway, all the best with your raised beds!

 

[Alpenrose]

Your new raised garden bed plan sounds exciting!

Yes, cardboard, any seedless mulching materials, tarps or whatever you have to suppress weeds and grasses will work.

Regarding the Birdies beds, you will have to direct your questions to Kevin at Epic Gardening here - he's a good guy and works closely with Birdies to import the beds into the USA. If you decide to buy some raised beds use SSME2020 for a 5% discount on checkout - I have an affiliate arrangement with Kevin and also Birdies here in Oz (SSMEbird for Aust/NZ) whereby I basically share my 10% commission.

Anyway, all the best with your raised beds!

Thank you Mark. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but I was not aware you had responded. Will give Kevin a call next week. Here in the high/cold country we are starting to get squeezed financially. We have been so lucky to always have good gasoline prices, but now I think we are close to what Europe is paying. My DH and I have been to Australia about six times in the last 25 years. Love the place and we are hoping to get back again soon.
We are so sorry to be reading about the flooding and hope you are ok.
Best,