Couch grass

[Mr Smith]

A section of my Allotment had the dreaded Couch grass, but I have now got it down to one section, the soil on the areas that is now cleared is very hard when it is dug over and tends to stay in big lumps that is if you don't break it up with the fork, the rest of my allotment is really good to work with, any suggestions on what to apply to the section of the allotment that was once a Couch grass area, :)

[Mr Smith]

[pumkinlover]

I find a green manure is good at breaking up the ground and giving a nice tilth. Something like field beans, or winter tares.

[Unwashed]

Dung.  It sounds like heavy clay - it's certainly the ground that's hardest to clear of couch - and the best thing for heavy clay in my opinion is dung (and maybe a bit of lime later).  I'm also a believer in digging, and I know it's not easy with heavy clay, but if you can incorporate dung it does lighten it up.  And stay off it when it's really wet because it just squeezes the air out of the soil.  I had a patch of heavy clay with couch and I never really got on top of it - it was so hard in the summer that I had to use a pick axe on it!  Pointless really, I should just have waited until the autumn rains.

[Aden Roller]

On my clay half-plot I added barrow loads of grass clippings (as I had rather a lot) and, gradually over the course of four years the soil is much more friable. So I would recommend compost.  ;)

I dumped huge quantities in when winter digging and then added a layer on top allowing the worms and the weather to work on it.

When I first got the plot, after digging it, I plonked in potatoes. They did well but it was hell trying to unearth them come harvest time. I was literally prising up and lifting blocks of clay off to get the the spuds.

Now the soil is pretty good and in another 20 years time I think I'll have a decent patch.

[Russell]

Couch grass on clay would describe quite a few allotments and back gardens including mine. Although it is quite common no one could call it popular.
I agree with the previous posts about dung and compost. Digging out the couch and improving the soil texture are processes that go on together and help one another.
In autumn from now onwards it is OK to dig the soil deeply with a spade and leave really big lumps on the surface for the winter rains and frost to weather down. This exposes the couch grass roots which kills it even in winter (just slower than in summer).
Come February fork the bed over, the soil texture will be much better, and a great deal of the couch grass will end up on the surface because the soil mostly drops through the fork tines and the couch grass mostly does not. Leave the couch grass out on the top for a week or two to die. If you are  lucky some will disappear presumably for bird nests. Then rake the remainder up and dispose of it.
You can now fork the bed over again etc. Repeat as many times as you like there will always be a bit of couch somethere that you miss.

[goodlife]

Good load of straw is brilliant for 'breaking' up clay..it provides good amount roughage withoug being too slow to break up...and as others have said, lime.
If I would tackle heavy ground..I would dig trenches, fill it with straw and back fill it with soil again..sprinkling of lime on surface and then I would let it 'rest' over winter. Early spring I would sow some green manure...once that has grown and dug in..you would find the soil soooo much friable..ready for almost any crop to follow... ;)

[Deb P]

I have found mushroom compost the best thing for helping to turn solid clay into something roots can actually penetrate, the small amont of lime in it really helps.

[pigeonseed]

When I first got the plot, after digging it, I plonked in potatoes. They did well but it was hell trying to unearth them come harvest time. I was literally prising up and lifting blocks of clay off to get the the spuds.

This is sooo familiar!!  ;D ;D

[Aden Roller]

When I first got the plot, after digging it, I plonked in potatoes. They did well but it was hell trying to unearth them come harvest time. I was literally prising up and lifting blocks of clay off to get the the spuds.

This is sooo familiar!!  ;D ;D

The good news is, after adding tons of compost, the problem is almost forgotten.  ;)

As for that couch grass.... keep at it. It takes some doing but it can be dug out if, everytime it sticks a blade up above ground you dig it out.  8)

[powerspade]

It take at least seven years to get rid of it and only one year to come back - in other words you have to keep on top of it. What ever you do "DONT " rotavate the soil you will only make things worse

[Aden Roller]

It take at least seven years to get rid of it and only one year to come back - in other words you have to keep on top of it. What ever you do "DONT " rotavate the soil you will only make things worse

How my Biblical plagues were there?

They might just as well all have been couch grass.  :(

[Robert_Brenchley]

Ten, but there wasn't a plague of grass. There are thorns and thistles after Adam and Eve get kicked out of Eden, but once again, no couch. Maybe God hadn't invented it at that stage.

[pigeonseed]

a plague of grass

:D To lots of animals that sounds like dinner!

I'm not sure about the seven years thing - but it definitely gets easier each year, after a season of weeding, it's just an occasional pest, though if you have grass paths it creeps in all the time!

But with seeds blowing in from neighbouring plots of course...  >:(

[Aden Roller]

Ten, but there wasn't a plague of grass. ....................Maybe God hadn't invented it at that stage.

Yep I think s/he had as all the creating was done long before Moses wandered into the story.

After all what did the locusts munch on once they'd finished devouring the Egyptian crops!
Shame their appetite dwindled before they'd cleared the couch grass completely.  ;D

[Amazingrotavator(Derby)]

Henry's Garden Hints & Tips 1. on Allotment vegetable growing. In Henry's section he says about getting rid of couch grass for good is to sow turnip seed. Couch grass will not compete with it and dies. I don't know how true it is but he says it works. Have a read.