Weeds Weeds Weeds and more weeds

[leeshaun]

AAAAAArgghhhhhh they are driving me crazy.  What is the best way to deal with them

[leeshaun]

[Gadget]

I do sympathise with you, I do have my fair share of wanting to throw myself to the ground and start sobbing, but I there is a satisfaction on clearing an area and once it's done as long as you keep on top of it, it will not get as bad as it first was...besides it is much cheaper than going to the gym :)

[goodlife]

Weed out the perennial types..and annual types you can just reduce down by hoe or ripping what you can..as long as they don't over grow the veg they don't usually compete too much.
I weed more carefully between my onions and carrots..otherwise I let some weeds grow..
On unplanted  beds rather than weeding it is quicker to turn them upside down with spade..once roots are towards the sky..rest will die down and worms will turn the green bits into 'good stuff'.

[Digeroo]

I am finding the areas I mulched are producing fewer weeds.  I sowed carrots onto recycled compost and they certainly produce few weeds so it has been easier to keep them clear.   

But I missed afew fat hen and after the rain they have suddenly become enormous.

I try and pull 5 mins of weeds everytime I go to lottie but have had to increase that at the moment.

I don't have unplanted beds, they either have phacelia on them which seems to suppress weeks and is very easy to clear and fills compost bit or are covered with compost..  No bare soil no germination.

[lillian]

That reminds me I meant to watch BBC Four "Learn to love weeds". I'll have to watch it on iplayer. :D

[raisedbedted]

Think of weeds as next years compost and delight in every barrow load  :)

We had a weed appear in our block paving last year, 'looks interesting' I though and decided to leave it there.  Its now about nine feet high and is a beautiful yellow Verbascum.

[Digeroo]

It is this one The wonder of weeds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01224kv

[Digeroo]

It was very interesting. 

Perahaps I do not have weeds at all.

I have compost makers fat hens, milk thiste
Flowers for the bees, Dandelions, poppies
Colour Knapweed, campion, poppies again, pimpernel,
Nitrogen fixing - clover
Compost tea - nettles

This still leaves the rest of the nettles, bindweed and marestail and the dead nettles.  I haven't yet worked out a way of finding them beneficial.

[goodlife]

Well..I heard somebody using bindweed as string.. ::) ;D
Dead nettles are good nectar plants for bees too... assume you mean dead nettles as name..not as dead/wilted nettles.. ;D
All other sort of weeds will add into humus content if allowed to wilt/die before using them as mulch or turned over to die..beneficial then for all sort little things that live in soil.

[Digeroo]

I did mean dead nettles Lamium purpureum L and its friends  Not really nettles at all unrelated similar leaves but no sting hence the dead.  A real pain on my lottie, will grow from the smallest piece of root. They also apparently carry viruses which affect other plants.

I am sure they will add to the humus content but they will also go on a take over bid in record time.     Seeds can last 30 years.

[gp.girl]

I did mean dead nettles Lamium purpureum L and its friends  Not really nettles at all unrelated similar leaves but no sting hence the dead.  A real pain on my lottie, will grow from the smallest piece of root. They also apparently carry viruses which affect other plants.

I am sure they will add to the humus content but they will also go on a take over bid in record time.     Seeds can last 30 years.

I've got a lovely variagated and pink flowered one in the flower bed.....

Mulch heavily its amazing the difference 6 inches of straw (plus cardboard for the bad bits) makes! Even the bindweed, hogweed, couch grass, dock and feral autumn bliss infested area had barely any weeds after 2 weeks of rain and holiday.

[davyw1]

Look on the bright side under all them there weeds you have your very own allotment

[lincsyokel2]

I keep unused beds covered with black plastic. Even if three are weeds, trying to grow under there seriously weakens them. I roundup the paths carefully, and try and weed a bed every couple of days. I also leave all the pulled ones one the surface with all the soil shaken off to shrivel and die, as a warning tothe others.

Never mind, 77 degrees coming for sunday. Then it'll incinerate all the peppers and cucumbers in the greenhouse   :(

[cornykev]

Hoe, hoe and hoe.    ;)

[queenbee]

Your all very lucky that you have weeds you can pull up or hoe. My lotty is plagued by pearlwort, my carrots and onions look like they are growing in a lawn. I dare not hoe as each piece cut forms another clump in days. Hand weeding it is dreadful on the nails as you have to scrape it from the soil. Does anyone know what sort of soil this plant likes if so let me know and I will try to add some lime or something. To top it all today the birds have eaten all my blueberries.

[lincsyokel2]

Your all very lucky that you have weeds you can pull up or hoe. My lotty is plagued by pearlwort, my carrots and onions look like they are growing in a lawn. I dare not hoe as each piece cut forms another clump in days. Hand weeding it is dreadful on the nails as you have to scrape it from the soil.

you need a riddling machine. I built a 5mm riddle on wheels on a tracked frame, so you can load in three spadefulls and then rock it with no effort, you end up with  a pile of riddled soil and a barrow of crap. If you have nettles or couch that bad you need to riddle the top 9 inches of the entire area to get rid of all the roots fragments., but you need a machine to do it. Ill post a piccy tomorrow.

[antipodes]

Cover cover cover. Doesn't eliminate entirely but slows it all down. Between rows lay newspaper or thin cardboard and cover with straw. If possible, plant thru black plastic (like for tomatoes, courgettes peppers, squash). Spend just 10 mins every visit tidying up one area, hoe and weed. Doesn't have to be pristine and remember that bare soil erodes - try and keep teh actual soil as covered as possible and the problem diminishes greatly.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Keep working at it, and the weeds diminish year by year.

[grawrc]

Well I went to my plot today - first time since early May. Bad planning - holiday in France followed by 12 hour shifts at the exam board. Needless to say the weeds are almost as tall as the asparagus!! :o :o :o
I managed to clear a couple of beds tonight (16 more to go). The weeds are all coming out easily but the trick will be to get them before they flower and seed. I'm working again tomorrow and for the first 10 days of July so it will be a struggle.

My biggest problem is where to put them all since all my daleks are full already. I've decided to clear/ weed the site for my greenhouse and pile them all up there to rot down. They'll stop new weeds from growing and enrich the soil. Good and good. It just means the greenhouse won't go up till later in the year.

Meantime time for a wee dram methinks!  ;) Oh and I won't be working this time next year.

[Robert_Brenchley]

This is my problem; June is largely taken up with exam marking, and that's when the weeds grow fastest!