weed problems

[mpdjulie]

i have quite a large allotment (well i think it is) 30m x 10m.  half of it is covered with tarpaulin and carpet and is unusable at present.  the other half i have broad beans, pots, onions, lettuce, leeks, spinach, kale, cucumber, runner beans, parsnip, brussels and carrots all growing fairly successfully.  my only problems is that i can only get over there weekends at the mo and every weekend all i am doing is weeding very overgrown beds.  its really ticking me off.  any advice with how i can control the weeds growth.

[mpdjulie]

[PurpleHeather]

After you have weeded use what they call 'mulch' this can be lawn trimmings, straw or lots of other things.

Even strips of black plastic held down with stones would help if you are desperate.

It stops more weeds growing but lets the plants which are up, carry on growing.

[cornykev]

Hi Julie, when I first got my lottie I was forever on my hands and knees weeding, the older gentry used to come past with comments of you don't want to be doing that, then I discovered what this funny tool in the corner of the shed was, it was a hoe, and ever since weeding takes no time at all if you keeep on top of it, all I can think is that you are weeding by hand, it does creep up on you if its left for a week but I don't know your position but ten minutes a couple of times during the week would help while it doesn't get dark until 9.30 ish, good luck and don't let the buggers beat you.  ;D ;D ;D
                            HOE   HOE   HOE  IS   THE    WAY   TO   GO.

[Tee Gee]

all i am doing is weeding very overgrown beds.  its really ticking me off.  any advice with how i can control the weeds growth.

Ho! Ho! Ho!I have been doing this for nearly forty years and still don't have the answer,so if you find out let me know  ;D :-\

As has been said; its just a case of Hoe! Hoe! Hoe! :'(

[caroline7758]

Join the club, Julie!

[davyw1]

HOE HOE HOE on a hot breezy day,
HOE HOE HOE at first light
HA HA HA the weeds will be dead by night

[STEVEB]

davy do you work for hallmark by any chance?lol

[saddad]

Be philosophical... if it won't grow weeds it won't grow owt else...  :)

[antipodes]

but this is just it, there are plots where I am where there is not a single weed or blade of grass except the crops!!!! I don't get how it is possible!!! Admittedly they are old retired folks who spend HOURS down there every day. I am at a few hours on the weekend and a few half hours in the evenings...
yes I hoe but you still have to pick out between the crops!!!

[PurpleHeather]

You have got it right on there 'anti.'

To keep an allotment plot in pristine condition it takes hours of dedicated attention.

You just do not have time to hold down a job and keep that bit of land looking like a picture.

There is no alternative. Give up work and spend every waking moment at the task.

You can take time off around Christmas.

[Sinbad7]

LOL PH I like that :)

'anti' an allotment is meant to be for pleasure, you'll have to learn to get a bit laid back about the weeds and don't even try to compete with the weed free plots.  I always have thought allotments are an expression of yourself, that's why I have a bit of everything on my plots and some bits weed free some parts left to their own devices, that's the joy of having an allotment, it's just an extension of your personality ;D

So, you can ho ho ho or just chill:)

Sinbad

[antipodes]

ha ha you are all right of course, we'd be better off smoking some of the weeds than hoeing ha ha then they wouldn't worry us so much.  ;D ;D ;D
Not that I would wish to condone that sort of naughty behaviour  :P

I quite like my "wild sections" I suppose, I have a little herb bed that just now is overtaken with thyme, a rose bush, lemon verveine, a white chrysanthemum and four foot high lemon balm and seeding parsley, funny when you think that in winter it all disappears!. And my flower  bits are currently a mixture of a bushy rose, nasturtiums, zinneas, wild pansies, artichokes and some 6 foot high fennel (that is no joke!) as well as lots of grass and probably some bindweed too!. Oh well it all attracts beneficial insects...

But it is tempting to compare yourself to others and think oh I wish mine looked like that, even though you know full well that Granny is down there at 8.30 every morning and spends 4 hours a day on her knees with a pair of tweezers...
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[adeymoo]

when I got my lottie in January I proceeded to double dig and bury the turf grass down 2 spits deep and put the soil back. For the potato patch I forked it over then raked the debris to a corner for sieving - did this a couple of times. Feeling I should spend more time on the next 2 beds for peas / beans I again buried the turf  and sieved all the soil back - all 20 square metres. Considering the adjacent lottie's are 4 foot high with grasses and weeds I have virtually no weeds on my beds. I do have to admit that part of my nights (8-10.30pm after putting kids to bed) are spent battling grass / weeds crossing the border controls. Yes it is dark at 10-10.30 but you learn to know where the hosepipe is.

The irony of my lottie is  that one half is reasonably neat then you get 3 strips of weed suppressant doing its job then a 4 foot high jungle a the bottom.

People on the site have said what I was doing wouldn't work, I was crazy - well it did work, I am crazy, and I can spend more time planting and relaxing smoking a cigar.

The other solution is putting down sheeting for 1-2 years.

[Sinbad7]

See, the really ' anti' has stood up now admitting they like their wild bits ;D

I look at the perfect plots on my site and think ' don't they look great' I wish mine looked like that, then I realise such neat and tidy plots would drive me mad and I would have to mess it up somehow, just to be different:)

Sinbad

[Robert_Brenchley]

All the people who have immaculate plots on my site are retired, and almost live on the site. I don't worry, and neither do a lot of others. As far as I'm concerned, if I can get a couple more beds a year cleared of perennial weeds, and stop them coming back, that's what matters. Once the nasties are out, mulching and a bit of weeding (not often enough, but who cares) copes with the rest.

[organicandy]

Dont let the buggers grind you down(weeds that is) my allotment is in pristine condition, weeds dare not to grow there, but there again i spend hours down there keeping it ship shape, however some of the more scruffy gardens near me grow some fantastic crops without their owners not having to live on their plots so i wonder who is right and who is wrong just enjoy the garden and let the weeds come and go with a bit of hoeing