Using potatoes with a grass mulch – this is the first year I’ve done this. I started on the last section of my allotment to be dug over. I got some top soil to help me – it was being thrown out of a garden so I asked if I could have it. This top soil was put on top of the bed I’d dug over. There’s a lot of couch grass on my plot so I know this is a problem that I will have to work on. Hopefully having potatoes on and earthing them up and mulching will really help though.
This section has grass mulch on. I’ve got another section with straw mulch, muck and a layer of hops. It’s not a very scientific test – and they’ve been applied at different times – and only some parts of the bed had extra top soil. The areas with the extra top soil are doing best though!

The grass mulch is being nibbled away by worms and breaking down which means it should be enriching the soil as well as helping to stop weeds. You can keep topping up the mulch with a thin layer of grass clippings each time you mow your lawn.