mowing or rotavating?advice please

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boosmummy

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mowing or rotavating?advice please
« on: September 25, 2011, 21:16 »
I was chatting to my dad today and we were discussing my plot which currently looks like this:




and my dad said rather than mowing it, why dont i just rotavate it - and to be honest i dont know the answer.  Id like raised beds eventually but i was under the impression if i rotavate ill just be turning over weeds that will grow back, where as mowing and then sectioning off each bed might be best.

Whats your advice? Rotavate and leave over winter or mow and go from there xx

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Trillium

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Re: mowing or rotavating?advice please
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2011, 01:17 »
For one thing, you'll never get a rotovator to chop through grass like that. You'd first need to strip off the grass, then rotovate the bare soil.

Second, you're right about rotovating roots of perennial weeds. They'll only divide and reappear in greater number, so they'd need to be dug out as well and it's easier once the grass is off.

Your own plan is a much better one of stripping off grass one area at a time and creating your raised beds. That way you'll create useful growing areas sooner and it won't be such an overwhelming job. Good advice is to do a little bit often rather than a lot at once. Good luck  8)

PS All your grass cuttings will be good for compost. 

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Salmo

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Re: mowing or rotavating?advice please
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2011, 01:33 »
With all that lovely green leaf kill the grass and weeds with glyphosate first.

When the leaves and roots are dead you can either dig it with a spade and turn all the grass neatly into the bottom of the trench or rotovate.

Rotovating is quicker but bits of turf will always be on the surface and hinder seed sowing.

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Spana

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Re: mowing or rotavating?advice please
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2011, 12:35 »
Hire a turf cutter for the day, they do a good job, but i would mow it first.  Then stack all the turfs upside down in a pile, they will rot down and make lovely loam.

If you get a good depth with the turf cutter you can then use the rotavator.

Thats how i did it  any way, and it worked a treat.  Mine veg garden was just pasture land before.

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Ricey

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Re: mowing or rotavating?advice please
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2011, 15:21 »
If you have couch grass there, don't rotivate. A 1 inch piece of the root left behind will just grow again. I wouldnt worry too much about most other weeds as they are gonna come back no matter what you do, a good weeding schedule is all you need for that.
I'd be careful about using any weed killer or chemical of any type. Some do
a great job but many alloment people will pull you up for their use..... Check with your comittee first.
Turf cutting for loam is a good idea (Without the couch problem) and I agree that little by little is the way to go if your not planning on planting your raised beds right away.

I dug over my whole plot by hand and pulled all the couch (Plus various other items) but I prepared and planted 5 raised beds on one half immediately after. The other half was sown with green manure.
Im not a fan of leaving bare beds over winter as it seems a bit wasteful.
It was very hard work but rewarding in the end and I spose it all depends on how much time you have spare and how much hard work you can do or are prepared to do...... Rotivating would certainly be easier.
The question is, why are you digging over the plot anyway? It doesn't look weedy. Maybe just get rid of the turf bit by bit as you prepare each raised bed.
If you aint got couch grass, your'e laffing -)

The plot looks great, good luck

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Yorkie

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Re: mowing or rotavating?advice please
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2011, 16:55 »
I've never heard of anyone being pulled up for using weedkiller on an allotment site, so long as it is applied in accordance with instructions and without spray drift onto neighbours' plots.  The only weedkiller now available is glyphosate, which is inert on contact with the soil.
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days all attack me at once...

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mumofstig

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Re: mowing or rotavating?advice please
« Reply #6 on: September 26, 2011, 16:56 »
Mow all the grass, and then decide where you want your beds, mark them out with pegs and string.

Then either lift off the turf from each bed area (or spray with glyphosate) and then dig/rotovate once all the weed/grass is dead.

Using weedkiller just to clear the plot is no big deal, and a lot of us do it ;)

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boosmummy

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Re: mowing or rotavating?advice please
« Reply #7 on: September 26, 2011, 18:11 »
Mow all the grass, and then decide where you want your beds, mark them out with pegs and string.

Then either lift off the turf from each bed area (or spray with glyphosate) and then dig/rotovate once all the weed/grass is dead.

Using weedkiller just to clear the plot is no big deal, and a lot of us do it ;)

this was my original plan, thanks for all your advice everyone xx



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