[gaztop]

Hi all,
I have been given my new allotment by the council. After reading as much as I could on the forum and in books I have glysophated the plot which was overrun with grass and weeds. That was about two weeks ago. I have just visited my plot and all the weeds and grass have gone yellow and appear to be dying. How do you know when the glysophate has finished working? What do I do next? I have a mate who has a rotovator I can borrow, or do I dig it all by hand, or strim the dead stuff off first?

Thanks for any advice

[Aunt Sally]

If you don't have any perennial weeds like Mare's tail, Couch grass, Dock, Buttercup, Dandy lion etc. left the rotavator is a good idea.

Personally though I would rake off the dead plants and hand dig it removing any roots you find as you go.

[gaztop]

Excellent thank you, I think I had nearly all those!!! 

[fatcat1955]

You are a bit late for most crop's this year but dig what you can and get planting. The rest of the plot is best rough dug before winter and left to the element's to break down.

[gaztop]

Great, thanks for the help. The big dig starts Monday  :blink:

[Nobbie]

Why not strim off the dead stuff and leave anything that's survived the first application to regrow for a month or two and then apply again. You could then rotavate knowing that most if not all the weeds are dead. That's what I'm doing, as I want a few goes at the Horse tail to weaken it before trying to grow crops next year.

[mumofstig]

It might be a bit late to sow some crops but the Garden Centres and online seed companies are selling packs of winter greens for planting in July and August.

The site's sowing and harvest chart shows what can still be sown
http://www.allotment-garden.org/vegetable/general/sowing-harvest-vegetable-chart.php

[Mand312]

I'm in a similar boat (but I refused to use weedkiller, so I strimmed it and begining the process of digging it out). Talk to people on the plot. So far I've been given spare Sweetcorn, Courgette, Beans and offered some brassica's from 2 other people. People tend to grow more than they need so see what you can find, make some friends!

[Lincolnshire Floyd]

Hi all,
I have been given my new allotment by the council. After reading as much as I could on the forum and in books I have glysophated the plot which was overrun with grass and weeds. That was about two weeks ago. I have just visited my plot and all the weeds and grass have gone yellow and appear to be dying. How do you know when the glysophate has finished working? What do I do next? I have a mate who has a rotovator I can borrow, or do I dig it all by hand, or strim the dead stuff off first?

Thanks for any advice

The glyphosate has done its job by the sound of it. It works very quickly and most things are dying within a couple of hours. It takes longer for them to wilt and go yellow.What you do next depends on how much time you've got. If you want to get planting straight away then turn all the dead growth in and get cracking with planting any freebees you can scrounge. Digging it over carefully may be ideal but I doubt it will make much difference to just turning it all in, i.e. burying it. You can then weed anything that comes up by hand and if you've been diligent in your initial spraying any weeds should be new ones and not old ones that have survived the glyphosate.
You are too late for potatoes even if you can scrounge some leftover seed but you could always buy some seed potatoes specially supplied by Thompson and Morgan for sowing in August for a crop of new potatoes for Christmas.

[willp]

If you are not planting any areas up with freebies or bought plants, I `d rotovate or turn it in, leave it a month and re do it - you`ll clear any remaining weeds as well as a chunk of the "seed bank" - these are seeds waiting in the soil for a bit of light and air before leaping into life.

Then get a good thick green manure on any spare bits - mustard or grazing rye would be  good choices as they will stand over the winter.

I`m not a fan of digging all the bits out - there is a huge amount of organic matter locked up in the weed roots and stems that you`ll only end up trying to replace and in my experience, apart from the od bramble it will not regrow.

Will

[gaztop]

Thanks for the advice all, this really is a friendly, useful forum!!

[jezza]

hi if you dont want to dig try an environmently friendly way fence the site then put on a couple of pigs theyll eat all the roots to a good depth and turn the soil whilst doing so  jezza

[mumofstig]

hi if you dont want to dig try an environmently friendly way fence the site then put on a couple of pigs theyll eat all the roots to a good depth and turn the soil whilst doing so  jezza

Somehow, I don't think the Council would appreciate pigs on one of their allotments