Topic: Weed suppression - black plastic?

[gray1720]

How fit are you? I got a plot a few weeks after the brambles had been burnt off it (they collect a lot of trash underneath, and burn green anyway, so if burning is an option go for it!), and cleared the roots myself. Established brambles tend to form a shallow stub root which is easier than you think to get out with a pick or mattock, just keep working the tool underneath and lever up from different points around the edge. It's very, very satisfying grubbing the ********* out! You'll also break the soil up a lot in the process so it's easy to dig afterwards (well, mine was). They make a cracking bonfire too!

I had no problem with couch under black plastic, except at the edges where it could creep in from the paths, but it won't kill bindweed very fast - you tend to find huge piles of ice-white bindweed stems when you pull the stuff back. I bet they slurp Roundup up when they are like that, if you feel inclined to use it.

Adrian

[antipodes]

Bramble I think is just something that you have to pull out over and over till it stops growing back.
To clear a really weedy area, or with a lot of grass, I don't bother with a spade or fork, but I get out the pickaxe!   Sounds torturous but actually it's excellent for really hacking into the soil and it breaks it up into clods that are then much easier to manage. You don't have to do huge swathes, swinging the pickaxe over your head, I just swing it from about waist to ground height and that it quite sufficient.