Topic: Weeding

[reddyreddy]

Help! I have dug and hand weeded my new allotment three times per bed and thought I had pulled out every blasted weed and root, but, after not being down there for 10 days due to illness I visited yesterday to discover they were all green again with baby grass - is this usual?? Should I hoe it in or hand pick it out? Will this keep happening?  ??? Apologies for my ignorance!  ::)

[caroline7758]

Don't want to depress you, but if my plot is anything to go by, the answer is yes, it is normal, particularly if it's your first year! Some weeds, in particular couch, can grow from the tiniest bit of root. But it does get easier over the years ifyou keep on top of the weeding and cover patches that you are not using. Some of my allotment neighbours don't seem to have any weeds, but I don'tknow how they do it (chemicals, probably).

[thifasmom]

could also be grass seeds germinating with the warmer temperatures, i had this last year in some newly made beds from a previously grass spot, why not try covering the beds with cardboard or wetted newspaper ten or more pages thick to give you some breathing space. then come planting time you can simply plant through the mulch, which will cut down on your weeding this year and help reduce the need for watering as well. (the newspaper only needs wetting to help hold it down intially)

if you are worried about slugs setting up homes under the mulch, before planting i simply raise up the cardboard and remove any slugs i find which should buy my young plants sometime to grow big enough to shrug off attack by the time the next lot move in. i sometimes even sprinkle organic slug pellets under the mulch which the slugs go for and well die for their greediness ;).

just remember if you do mulch make sure you soil is wet or damp first as this will lock moisture in.

[Robert_Brenchley]

If it's a new allotment it was probably covered in grass and weeds before. So you'll have soil full of seeds bursting to grow, and possibly full of couch as well, depending on how thoroughly you dug it. Be patient! Weed, hoe, mulch, do whatever you need to. My own approach is to dump a thick mulch on top of it all. It does improve over a few years.

[reddyreddy]

Right, I have just been down to the allotment and my lovely neighbours told me it is couch grass, I had been sooo careful to pull out the roots, I thought... So, I plan to use glysophate on the beds unplanted and hand weed the ones i have already planted (one fruit bed and one onions and garlic). How long after application can I sow? I want to be as organic as possible, my neighbours said glysophate is ok for organic gardening, is this true? ???

[Robert_Brenchley]

It's considered less bad than other weedkillers. I've been reduced to using it myself because there's no other way I can deal with ground elder coming through 170-year-old hedges. But I hate having to do it.

There are other ways to deal with couch. You could cover beds, for instance, and plant anything srong-growing through holes in plastic. Potatoes, sweet corn or squashes would work well like that.

[Tee Gee]

is this usual?? ................ Will this keep happening?

Welcome to gardening!

If you find a cure let me know I have had the problem for thirty odd years.

But then again this might be what is known by some as;  'therapeutic gardening' ;)

[muddylou]

Help! I have dug and hand weeded my new allotment three times per bed and thought I had pulled out every blasted weed and root, but, after not being down there for 10 days due to illness I visited yesterday to discover they were all green again with baby grass - is this usual?? Should I hoe it in or hand pick it out? Will this keep happening?  ??? Apologies for my ignorance!  ::)

I know what you mean, this is my first year on a lottie, I planted garlic, shallots etc in one freshly dug bed.

It's quickly become overrun with little weeds, so much so that I could hardly find my newly sprouted onions amongst this carpet of green. I was going to let them get a bit bigger and easier to pull up but panicked and scraped them off with a hand fork today.

I go on holiday on the 1st May until the 25th so I dread to think what I'll return to. 

[Robert_Brenchley]

That's why I mulch everything!

[lewic]

A couple of years ago a friend loaned me a corner of her garden to plant organic veg in. I dug it over, pulled out visible weeds, and put seeds in the ground. Three weeks later popped round to check how it was going, and found a foot high carpet of weeds, and lots of happy slugs.

So.. probably this is usual until you get things under control. Only got my allotment last august and havent left it that long between weeding sessions, but I imagine it would be the same! Friends have invited me for a weeks camping in May, and at the back of my mind is what is going to happen to the plot while I'm away..

Sometimes think I'm turning into Arthur from Eastenders (showing my age here!)

[Borlotti]

Some plants seem to do OK and grow with weeds.  My peas last year did quite well growing amongst the marestail.  I waited until I had picked the peas and then dug the area over in one go.  Sometimes if you weed too much near new seedlings it disturbs their roots, or is that just my excuse for an untidy plot.  Anyhow what are weeds, are forget me nots, foxgloves etc. weeds and stinging nettles (which I think are good for bees or butterflies and soaking in water to make an evil smelling fertiliser). Where weeds grow plants grow, shows the soil is capable of supporting plant life, or am I talking rubbish. Must admit the couch grass is a pain to dig up and also blackberry shoots, that seem to come up everywhere but if cut down to ground level before they get a chance to grow, not too bad.  If you are allowed bonfires and have nothing planted move the bonfire around and that gets rid of a patch of weeds.

[reddyreddy]

Great idea re the bonfire, yes we are allowed them and have one ready to go I will move it!! :)

[lushy86]

I'm in a similar position having taken over an unworked plot completely covered in couch.  It is really hard work but I would urge you to dig it yourself if possible.  Make sure you don't cut the roots to much, dig deep and the whole thing will come up.  If you use the weedkiller - and i have in a couple of places where digging is not possible - the plot is surrounded by corrugated metal fence - be sparing, I am not using it on anywhere crops will be going in this year.  Wicks were doing half price landscaping fabric which you can use to cover any unused or freshly dug area, I will be planting through some of this.

It is tempting to find a short cut, I took lots of advice from the peeps on here before I decided on my approach and everyone does things differently.  It is slow going but I see it as an investment in the future and am looking forward to growing a much wider range of stuff next year.

I have also lost 6lbs over the last 2 weeks with all the exercise!  :)

Keep at it  ;D

Lushy x

[THE MASTER]

it does wot is says on the tin or rather box


that stuff isnt cheap at just under £12
it takes about two weeks to work and kill weeds but it can be dug in and does not harm soil

used whisley and in consentrations to the apropriate weed .
stingers = about half dose
choch= about 1/3
brables 3/4
marse tale get,s a full on 100% and then a second  a week later

dont get me wrong i would rather not use any weed killer but somtimes you just have to to get in control

[mick-64]

In my younger days we were in charge of a lovely roundbout , I worked with a old polish bloke ,every morning he made me pick him up 15 minutes early on route to work , we came to the roundabout and he used to weed it whilst I sat in the car nursing the last nights hangover... ::)

After a year the weeds stopped coming and I could stay in bed 15 minutes more.. ;D

Persistance and like tee gee mentioned [therapeutic] ,it`s like going fishing but without the fish... ;)