Topic: Weeds

[Pesky Wabbit]

Wilkinsons is one of the best places for tools. I would recommend a stainless steel fork and a good hoe.

Also it'll soon be school holidays, which means all the supermarkets and the like of Wilkinsons discount all the gardening stuff to clear it out ready for the "back to school" stuff. Keep your eyes pealed.

I use a petrol lawn mower over the areas I struggle to manage, at least it stops the weeds getting to high and seeding.

For weighing things down, fill up distbin bags with your weeds and use that, or even just a pile of soil. Large water/ milk  bottles, the 4 litre kind, full of water will also weigh things down.

For plastic sheeting - ask around the lottie, they'll know the best/cheapest places - theres nothing like local knowledge for plant/weed id, shopping advise and also what grows best in your soil.

[detailista]

I've found lots of black plastic sheeting in skips - I suspect it's pond liner/underfelting or whatever but it does the job. I tend to pick up half bricks too for holding down the sheeting or for raising pots up.

 Asda has a few bargains sometimes too for basic tools and I highly recommend Wilkos.  Good luck with your clearing. 

Before you spend a fortune on seeds have a look here - I wish someone had told me about this place before I spent a fortune elsewhere hence why I mention it to you now....

www.realseeds.co.uk

goodluck :)

[goodlife]

ohh...garden centres almost double their prices ...try diy places..they tends to be much cheaper..or even supermarkets..our local asda has all basic tools and cheap too...I have bought mine from Wilko and they have lasted for me several years now...and I use mine for work too... ;) You can get perfectly good spade/fork around £10..it will get you started..and then later on get something what you might fancy better..but as you are only starting, there is so many other things you will need money too..

[goodlife]

 ;D ;D...have we got echo going on here..?..asda..wilko... ;D ;D

[Pesky Wabbit]

Not an echo, but it clearly shows we all know the best places to shop. ;)

[Baccy Man]

I find car boot sales/markets are a much better source for tools there are regularly secondhand high quality Bulldog/Spear & Jackson/Wolf gardening tools offered for under a fiver more often than not they are closer to £1 each. The tools offered may not be made of nice shiny stainless steel & they may be at least 30-40 years old but they will do a much better job & will outlast most of the new ones available.

[Seabea]

Thank you everyone for your helpful replies.  I will now concentrate on putting them into action.  I'm bound to have lots of other questions, but when I do I'll start another thread.  Thank you all again.

[redcoat]

  Cardboard works OK but finding enough stones to weigh it down and prevent it blowing all other the site is difficult.  Will be easier when I get bigger sheets of plastic. 

Would milk bottles full of water be heavy enough to hold down the cardboard?

[GrannieAnnie]

The advice given about doing "simple" is so true.

Other stuff I've learned that works for me:

O    a narrow medium heavy miner's hammer for splitting small rocks or a thin claw hammer can do much to loosen big weeds. Let it dig into the dirt with its own weight and pull the weed out with the other hand. Goes fast

O   sitting on something low to weed is easier on the back and knees. I sawed off legs from an old chair our neighbor had binned which was pretty comfy. Then a son gave me a toolbox on wheels which is very handy and I can sort of roll along the row.  Take a regular chair just to sit and enjoy what you've done. It is too easy to stay in work-mode. Drink lots of fluids and spare your back. One back strain can set your whole garden awry.

O  when weeds have taken over around plants you're trying to grow it helps to begin weeding around the specific plant you want to save and then outward from there. I've pulled up many a precious plant by accident weeding from a distance toward it. Wandering mind I guess.

O  but once you know what you're saving then instead of pulling out a weed here and there, go in one direction because each weed pulled out loosens the dirt a bit around it making it easier to pull the next one so it pays to be organized about it.

[lottie lou]

Don't buy your tools from a garden centre - try Wilcos if you have one or Lidls or Aldis.

[queenbee]

Could I have the last word on tools, an old gentleman at our allotment told me he had his spade for over 50 years,
He said that it had a few new handles and spade bit, but it was as good as new. It took me ages to click.

 

[1066]

 ;D Queenbee

Seabea - try ESK or Poundland for cheap black weed suppressant - they also do tools but don't know the quality. Years ago I bought a spade and fork from Argos, brilliant quality and still use them in the garden  :)