Topic: Am I going overboard?

[shadowdragon]

Had  my plot a few weeks, it has been rotavated in previous years, and neglected for about six months, so full of weeds. anyway, I have started digging over by hand, and its taking an age to dig out all the weed roots (i think there maretail roots, not 100%, but there long whiteish roots). I am picking as much as possible out by hand.

Should I be doing this or just turning the soil and pulling out what comes up and ignoring what gets left buried under the soil?  ???

I am getting funny looks from the old boys on the site that im being "too Scientific" and "going to extreams"  :-[

Any opinons/advice greatfully received  :D

[Columbus]

Hi Shadowdragon  :)

You are doing the right thing, well done for being so thorough.

All the work you are doing now will save you work later on. Every piece of root you leave in will make more work later. You might try sieving the soil to get the roots out. As you just dump a mix of soil and roots in the sieve you aren`t working with each individual weed which is quicker. Unless your soil is wet or heavy in which case sieving doesn`t work.

It can take a long time but its worthwhile effort, don`t let anyone put you off doing things your own way. Once a yard strip is clear you can plant a couple of rows of whatever you like to eat so you will get a crop this season.

Best of luck, Col

[Tee Gee]

I am getting funny looks from the old boys on the site that im being "too Scientific" and "going to extreams"

Forget about them! they probably did the same things many years ago!

In my opinion the more you get out now the better it will be in the long term.

Don't worry too much if you don't get it all out look to the long term.

During the season you can keep on top of what does up up with the hoe.

It can take a year or two to get it all out!

[RobinOfTheHood]

White roots sounds more like couch grass to me, blooming awful stuff.......worth getting it all out.

[1066]

I am getting funny looks from the old boys on the site that im being "too Scientific" and "going to extreams"  :-[

Hi and congrats on the new plot.
I'm not sure what you mean by too scientific? It sounds like your doing really well so far, the more weeds you can pull out now the better and easier it will be later on in the season and next year.
As to the old boys, don't worry about them, they could well be thinking why bother we use chemicals  :o.
If you don't get round to digging as thoroughly as you want you can always get some weed suppressant and plant through it, that way you will start to kill off the weeds and get a crop this year
1066

[Buster54]

If you don't remove all the roots depending what plant they are from they will most certainly sprout and your back to square one again,take your time digging it over,like Columbus said don`t let anyone put you off doing things your own way it will benefit you in the long run not them  ;D

[shadowdragon]

Thanks for the replies  ;D

Glad im doing it right, luckly on one half of the plot it has been already divided into what I call "Bays" with concrete slabs, they are approx 16ftx8ft, so i have divided each bay into three triangles with paths between them with kick boards (just to be different  :P ). I have already done two bays (this has taken nearly two weeks) and planted out in one bay already.

When the old boy says "Too Scientific" I mean he thinks dividing the area up so i dont tread on it and making it easier to dig over and reach ect, and companion planting (Onions and carrots together), crop rotation, mounding up potatoes ect.

He says  "it will rather grow or it wont". He has a rotavotor, and has  offered to lend me it, but im convinced thats why theres so many weeds and weed roots now, as it was rotavated last season!!

[1066]

Aaahhhh now I understand - in other words not doing it his way!!!!

[shadowdragon]

Aaahhhh now I understand - in other words not doing it his way!!!!

Yeah, but he is a nice chap, and his advice on chicken keeping is vauable and been a great help, especially for sourcing chicken feed, ect. So hes not so much of a pain as I may give the impression. Just want to check that I am not doing all this digging and sitting in the dirt picking weed roots for nothing hehe. Another good thing about getting all the weeds out like i am is that I have lovley tilled soil  ;D

[nilly71]

I spent ages clearing two beds of all the weeds at the end of last year. I have just planted some potatoes, carrots and onions and only found about 6 weeds growing. So it is well worth the effort.

As i was clearing the weeds i also dug in horse manure and mushroom compost, it has paid off as the ground was lovely to dig this time.

If you have triangle beds remember it will be a bit more difficult to net & rotavate than rectangular beds.

Neil

[Unwashed]

I'd dig it over and leave every bit of weed in and that way I'd get the whole thing turned over as quickly as possible and let the elements at it.  Then when the soil wasn't hanging on so tightly to the roots I'd pull them out as I planted stuff like potatoes.  I tried your approach when I first got a plot and I found that there weren't enough hours in the day to get on top of the weeds.

[Busy Bee]

I'm doing it your way. Grtting everything i can out is taking ages but i think it's worth it. The couch grass is annoying as everytime you hit it you have lots of little bits to get out. I've never known a weed so good at hiding in about 2 seconds. The good thing i that whilst i'm clearing the weeds each bit is getting dug over at least 3 times so the soil is breaking up nicely. I've been at it since end of Feb. and i've got 4 large beds done and only have 3 small ones left.
I've planted 3 beds as i've finished and the fourth one i've got half planted as i worl on the other half. The ground was too hard and dry to dig by the weekend so i'm glad it's rained all day.

Just keep on going your own way. Use some of the advise given if thats what you want to do and say thank you and discard what you dont. Well done on what you've done so far  :)

[shadowdragon]

Thanks, luckly im free until the end of september when uni starts, so the allotment is my only real focus at the moment.

I am saying thanks and using only what i feel i want to use, and trying some other stuff.

For example one of the bed is trianglar, i have planted onions round the outside, then on the inside of these i got carrot seeds, mixed them with compost and scattered this over the bed and raked it in, so that I dont have to thin them out. It was suggested that I sow in rows only.

Because this is my first season of allotmenteering, im experimenting and seeing what happens. And adjust my planting etc based on the results (too scientific  :o )

[Lottie103]

We're doing it your way too. Even taking all the roots out as we dig, we still get a fair bit of bindweed & other stuff popping up so I'm very glad we didn't rotavate them into tiny pieces before we started. Each to their own tho.

There's much  ::) on our site about new fangled `university / trendy types' who want to do things their own way.  To be fair tho, a lot of those people have been around for years have almost certainly seen many eager beavers come & go.
Have fun ;D

[ceres]

My plot had been derelict for several years so had brambles, nettles, couch grass etc.  I dug it out by hand and they haven't come back.  It's worth the effort.  Good luck!

[shadowdragon]

We're doing it your way too. Even taking all the roots out as we dig, we still get a fair bit of bindweed & other stuff popping up so I'm very glad we didn't rotavate them into tiny pieces before we started. Each to their own tho.

There's much  ::) on our site about new fangled `university / trendy types' who want to do things their own way.  To be fair tho, a lot of those people have been around for years have almost certainly seen many eager beavers come & go.
Have fun ;D

hehe, im 37 LOL, going to be a mature student. One chap on the site, said theres a lot with good intentions take on plots then come the first rain/cold spell you never see them anymore, and I can really understand some peoples standoffishness (is that a word!!!), but ive thought long and hard about an allotment before even applying even then I have waited 9 months for one! The triangle beds are there because they are functional and also different, they add something different to the plot, and looks quite funky.  When i get to the other side of the plot im planning on Octaganal beds!!! Will be a talking point if nothing else LOL.

[saddad]

"Live like you wanna live"  :)

[muddylou]

I took over a plot, lots of Bindweed and other things that I don't recognise.
I've dug out the weeds in the same way your describing, breaking up the lumps with the fork and pulling out every little root, rock, nail and piece of glass I've seen.
I feel like I've been doing this for years (probably since February) and now have 3/4 of the plot dug and planted.
I do find shoots coming up, so I delicately dig out/pull up the offender to find it's a shoot from a fragment of root I've missed. So at least if it's kept on top of, the weeds make themselves obvious. So I believe we have gone the right way about it.
 
 

[saddad]

Well done you, lets hope you can be as harsh with the "annual" weeds like poppies... i had fields of them in years two and three...  :-[

[mike77]

Sounds like you are going the right way about it to me and even if you aren't i've always been of the opinion that you won't learn without making mistakes and believe i have made plenty of them ;)