I do like having flowers at my allotment, but my borage and marigolds self-seeded like mad last year. I have been pulling some of them up today and was wondering if there is anything I can do to get rid of the seeds in the soil. other than looking out for the seedlings next spring, before they take over my plot!
There is no way possible to separate the seed from soil..but as they are annuals..you can always turn the soil over rather than weed them out..once the foliage is under soil it will die..just like green manure ;) No need to waist good stuff..worms will make meal out of the growth. ;D
Yes, I intended to do that with the borage this year as I know it makes good green manure, but it outran me! ;D
You could spend an absolute fortune and buy a soil sterilizer as you shovel the soil in one end the gas burners cremate the seeds and there you are, but much easier with a hoe.
Are they the English marigolds? And what type of soil are they growing in? The reason I ask Caroline 7758 is I've been trying to grow them for years and they don't seem to like the heavy clay.( lost count of the loads of horse manure that's gone on the ground) But like you the borage goes mad. Can't make out why one does so well yet the other no go. ??? ::)
\we've grown masses of marigolds on our clay soil this year- and they're still going!
They are pot marigolds (Calendula?). I never have much luck with the French ones, the slugs usually get them before they flower. If you want some seed I can send you some!! ;D
Guess what I was pulling out today... ;D
Compost manufacturers resort to heating the compost with giant infrared heaters or in microwave tunnels to kill most of the seeds. If you know of an easier way to do it, then speak up, you're sitting on a goldmine.
Borage is a brilliant bee plant, and also shallow rooted, so I think I'd thin it out and let the rest do their thing, really handy around bean plants to attract the bees for pollination.
QuoteIf you know of an easier way to do it, then speak up
I don't know if it's "easier", but my grandfather had a long low frame-like structure with a corrugated iron top. The soil to be "treated" was shovelled on the top and covered with sacks and then a low fire was lit underneath. I don't remember too much of the detail, I was only about four or so when he sold the farm, but I can still remember the smell of slowly "cooking" soil. I suspect the sacks were kept damp and the heat from the fire was probably ducted from one end to the other. Proabably not viable to clear a whole plot like this, but to keep weeds out of the seed-bed it might be useful.
Flame gun? ???
I just compost a lot, move a few to where I do want them to grow, and put up with the inevitable 'rogues' that pop up in my strawberry bed, or between sweetcorn...some look so lush this time of year I've just left them! Plus, as said before, they make great compost.... ;D ;D
I have recently discovered the "stale seedbed". Dig and rake, wait for unwanted seeds, hoe them off a few times and hope for the best.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stale_seed_bed