Allotment on the way

[gecko]

Decided to get a lottie when we moved house in March. Have spent the last 3 months chasing the local council to get themselves organised. They rotovated the plot (and a bunch of others) back in early May and it looked great, quite nice soil, no obvious problems.

Now we have finally got into the last stages of getting hold of it, just waiting for them to "find something to set it out with"  ::)

Went to have a look yesterday and it (and it's neighbours) appear to be the worlds largest Dock farm. The entire plot is covered in baby docks. To say I was a little miffed is an understatement >:( Am now planning to invest in 250m2 of black plastic and work gradually along my carefully planned set of beds getting each one ready in turn, and hoping that the plastic will make it easier.

If the council had been quicker I had planned to plant green manure on the whole plot in order to keep the weeds under control until I was ready - but the best laid plans...

Will get some photos before I start on it - I've never seen anything like it :'(

[gecko]

[Svea]

good luck!

[Merry Tiller]

Docks sometimes indicate that the soil is poorly drained, I had a wonderful crop last year at one end of my plot, such a shame you can't eat them, if only Spinach would grow like weeds ::)

[westsussexlottie]

probably the rotavator created the dock farm from a few plants.
Better to find out now than when all the crops are just through....

Use black plastic.
If you cut the first 4 inches of dock root the plant will die.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I think my plot must have been producing crops of docks for many years, as I get a mass coming up every year. Apparently the seeds can be viable after 100 years. They flourish anywhere there's horse poo, and since the site has been going since 1840 it's a safe bet there was a tradition of using horse manure. There must have been thousands of the beasts around.

[moonbells]

probably the rotavator created the dock farm from a few plants.
Better to find out now than when all the crops are just through....

Use black plastic.
If you cut the first 4 inches of dock root the plant will die.

Funny, I just quoted an article on docks on another thread!
Here is is again:
http://www.hdra.org.uk/organicweeds/downloads/abbey12may04.pdf

If you can get baby (seedling) docks up within 40 days they won't be big enough to regenerate.  And as WSL says, chopping out the first 4 inches of root should do it.

moonbells