Allotment Stuff > The Basics
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.
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