Topic: What exactly does "weeding" mean?

[grawrc]

I must confess that weeding is my next most favourite thing after hoeing which is often weeding anyway. I went to my allotments yesterday for the first time in over a month and was pleasantly surprised to see that the weeds were not as awful as I had anticipated. Thanks to Charlie and Ian who haveclearly been busy in my absence.

I could just about make out the rows of beetroot, fennel and lettuce I sowed in the middle of April. I think there will need to be a fair amount of hand weeding before the emerge in all their beauty from the surrounding thistles etc.

[Curryandchips]

Weeding is a pleasant task when the sun is beating down, I can kneel and take my time ... I see it as a method of harvesting mulch and benefitting crops with space at the same time ...

Derek :)

[antipodes]

I admit that I don't really know what Robert is getting at with a no-dig method?? i was told that I had to turn all the soil over to more than a spade's depth and painstakingly dig out all the weeds and roots  :-[  How can you plant without digging up an area?
I didn't think you could mulch everywhere?? So far I have put straw mulch around the spuds, the tomatoes and the squash/melons. I couldn't really mulch the root veg, they are too small yet. Can you mulch beans and peas?
I must admit that a thick layer of straw is much more aesthetically pleasing than bare ground and surely it must stop some of the smaller weed seedlings? I can see some bindweed coming through it in places though, but I just pull out what I can see in that case.

[Spanner]

Hi antipodes,

When I started my lottie last year it was a complete mess and my beds were indistinguishable from the paths most of the time. This year I've used lawn edging plastic to form edges for beds and have stuffed straw down for paths. Its been a real improvement so far and is a relatively cheap and easy to move way to mark the beds until I can decide on the final pattern.

[Robert_Brenchley]

There are ways of killing weeds off organically without digging at all, but I admit I dug for a while - and still do in some areas - until the perennial weeds are well under control and can be got out individually with the fork. Then I gleefully give up digging that area and mulch instead, giving me extra time and energy for the next bit. Some parts of the allotment haven't been dug for three or four years, and remain free of nasties.

[grawrc]

Yes I have done lots of digging initially to break up soil that hadn't been dug in a long long time and to get rid of nasty weeds. But like the late great Supersprout I use weedsuppressant for paths and mulch like mad. Why dig when the worms can do it for you? My only problem is getting enough mulch material.

[Wasp_Box]

Hi Robert,

Thanks for the reply. May I ask:

1. What you use as a mulch?

2. When do you mulch or do you plant into/through it?

3. Do you ever dig/rotavate or just keep adding to the mulch layer and let it get taken in?

Peter

[grawrc]

1. I use grass, straw, paper, compost and anything else that Ican. Sometimes hoed weeds.
2. I plant first, then mulch.
3. I never rotovate. I use the bed system so I never walk where i plant. The mulch, manure etc gets pulled into the soil by the worms. If I am changing layout or adding a new bed I dig first.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I use vast amounts of grass cuttings, or dead leaves in winter; we get both delivered to the site, but not many plants can cope with stodgy masses of half-rotted grass so I tend to use it when it's fresh. I plant through it whenever I can, but obviously I can't do that when planting direct. Once a patch reaches the point where there are no perennial weeds, the only time I dig it is when I have roots to lift.

[miniroots]

Hello Antipodes,

I'm guessing that the no dig method is most effective after you've conquered the persitant perennial weeds - things like bindweed will find a way through almost any depth of mulch!  So maybe next season... or the one after.

I saw the pictures of your plot the other day - and it looks great!  What a shame that your site give you all that pressure to cultivate it all straight away - when you should be congratulating yourself having done as much as you have.  They say that it takes 7 - 10 years to get a plot to maximum productivity, so it's not fair to heap expectation on new plot holders.

I'm in season three on my plot now, and it doesn't looks a tidy as yours!

Good luck and don't let the bastard trenching get you down!

[antipodes]

heavens, that was an encouraging reply! But there are a lot of weedy bits that I still have to deal with. And I must admit that the weather is absolutely rotten so everything is so slow, I am having quite a bit of trouble getting things to grow well. I think that over the winter I will need to feed the soil a bit. One of my neighbours gave me some broccoli plants yesterday, he had a thick bed of them that he is transplanting. I had sown some seed but the ones that have come up are only about an inch high  :(   He seems to have done a few seed beds like that, leeks for example, I want to do one but maybe this w'end, the weather has stopped me from gardening the last couple of attempts.
For now the only mulch material I have found is straw. But it is quite pretty when laid. I will have a go at hoeing again this weeknd, at least the alliums and the beans, using all the good advice given here! and will now be on the lookout for a Dutch hoe...