How lazy should I be?

[pbjohnson]

OK.  I'm  a new allotment holder and have decided to take the hard route and not bother with a rotovator.  My previously wild patch is now a number of beds which are 3 metres by 1 metre that were dug over in November (I skimmed the top layer of grass off and disposed of it before turning it over).  The ground is packed full of roots and it took my Dad and I 6 hours to get just one bed to a fine tilth and pick out 3X60 litre bags of weed roots!  I reckon I can now only face doing one more bed properly (ie taking out all the roots etc) and am wondering which plants to treat to the properly worked beds and which to put in the other two lazy beds ... simply dug over but a good majority of the weed roots remaining.

I thought potatoes could tough it out against the roots (maybe make my job easier next year?) but what else?  

Great bb ... I'd never have got this far with out using it as a reference point .  Paul

[rdak]

erm, only thing that comes to mind is a green manure. can't think of any edibles better than potatoes at weed smothering.

[The gardener]

As you say Potatoes, you could try Brassicas.

You might not get a brilliant crop but at least the wide leaves of such things as Cabbage & Cauliflower will blot out the light getting to the weeds.

Alternatively; cover wih environmesh (or similar) and plant through this.

I did this last season on a batch of milk thistle that had developed and had reasonable success.

[pbjohnson]

I think I will plant through enviromesh ... my only concern there was that the weeds might rampantly grow under it and strangle the roots – or am I really showing my ignorance there.
I think brassicas and potatoes then for the lazy patch and treat my carrots, beans and peas to the bed I've root cleared.

[aquilegia]

The roots can't grow much without the food they get from sunlight. Eventually they will die from hunger, but it'll take several years.

Although I have found the bind weed can grow above ground quite a long way under the membrane to get to edges and therefore the light.

[Hugh_Jones]

As also will ground elder, mares tail, couch grass, and bracken (to name but a few).  Strictly they travel sub-surface level, but the effect is the same, and they will happily tunnel under a 6ft wide strip of concrete and come up around the edges.

[allotment_chick]

Hi Paul - enviromesh is the one that protects crops - I think what you might need is woven polyproylene weed supressing fabric - pricey at about £80 a roll, but from experience I can vouch for its efficacy - especially against bindweed and thistle, although couch gives it a run for its money as the sharp shoots can pierce through if the weave is a bit loose!

Otherwise Ceri can suggest some plastic sheet you can get from builders merchants that is quite tough - can't remember the name of now...

I also find the heavy duty boxes that computer equipment comes in are very useful at knocking the weeds back - they last a year or so usually.

By way of an experiment I'm going to grow watermelon this year to see if it can beat the weeds, too.  

AC x

[Ceri]

Its called visqueen and sells for about £30 for a really long roll.  I can't remember the proper dimensions but its about 2 mtrs wide and seems to unroll forever (its all folded up within the roll so is pretty portable) Go to a proper builder's merchants not a retail B & Q type where it will cost a fortune.  Visqueen is like damp proof membrane, very thick, very pliable and fairly heavy.

[pbjohnson]

thanks for all being so helpful.  Visqueen it is ... down with those weed roots!

[The gardener]

Sorry Paul, AC is right environmesh is protective sheeting.

I just wrote it down from memory, and obviously that has failed me

What I meant was porous horticultural sheeting, of which there are various types and quality, and with quality goes price.

If you go to http://www.kayshorticulture.com/ and look in catalogue 1 you will find mention there of what I mean.

I find this place to be among the cheapest 'mail order' companies for any type of gardening equipment, so hopefully you will find what you want there.

Best of luck, and my apologies again for misleading you.