[mumofstig]

Now that I can believe   

[Sideshoot]

I had a similar experience getting peed off with the allotment, i received letters from the comittee telling me my plot was sub standard and that i wasnt growing enough veg.
Being new i didnt realise that the site 'rules' said you have to have 50 - 60% of the plot producing veg.
Up to then i had just been keeping my inherited vines pruned and keeping the weeds down using a strimmer.
To cut a long story short i received two letters and an eviction notice which i successfuly appealed against.
How i turned my plot around was i firstly weedkilled the whole area i wanted to culitvate in, i waited a couple of weeks untill everything was totally dead and dried brown etc.
Then i strimmed as low as i could and finally rotovated the whole lot.
The difference was amazing and the incentive to do alot more increased with how it looked.
Ive got my onion sets in garlic, and broad beans too.
I found a novel way ot seperating the beds by using my lawn roller to flatten paths between them, looks really neat and organised now.
In the end the comittee were right and i did have to spend more time up there, but it pays off. Ive got photos of the before and after if your interested but dont give up, just plan your route of attack, using the rotovator took hours and hours off the workload.

[Growster...]

I had a similar experience getting peed off with the allotment, i received letters from the comittee telling me my plot was sub standard and that i wasnt growing enough veg.
Being new i didnt realise that the site 'rules' said you have to have 50 - 60% of the plot producing veg.
Up to then i had just been keeping my inherited vines pruned and keeping the weeds down using a strimmer.
To cut a long story short i received two letters and an eviction notice which i successfuly appealed against.
How i turned my plot around was i firstly weedkilled the whole area i wanted to culitvate in, i waited a couple of weeks untill everything was totally dead and dried brown etc.
Then i strimmed as low as i could and finally rotovated the whole lot.
The difference was amazing and the incentive to do alot more increased with how it looked.
Ive got my onion sets in garlic, and broad beans too.
I found a novel way ot seperating the beds by using my lawn roller to flatten paths between them, looks really neat and organised now.
In the end the comittee were right and i did have to spend more time up there, but it pays off. Ive got photos of the before and after if your interested but dont give up, just plan your route of attack, using the rotovator took hours and hours off the workload.

You'd better keep going now Sides, as you're clearly one of us!

Excellent yarn this! Well done!

;0)

[pol and mick]

How would you deal with marestail then, dugless? 

Hoeing is the only way to keep it under control, as far as I'm aware   cos eventually hoeing weakens it and you get much less regrowth. 

The only method I have found to work in ridding Mares tail is not to hoe it, but use 2 small pieces of wood and a bottle of Roundup stump & root killer. Gently place the top of the mares tail between the two pieces of wood, gently squeeze the pieces of wood together as to squash the mares tail taking care not to break the root. Mares tail has a waxy coating so this action of squeezing the wood causes a slight abrasion to the weed. Gently apply the Roundup using a spray bottle to the a brazed area. The Mares tail will absorb the roundup and take it down into the root, thus killing it. Repeat after 2 days. This is safer and friendly than generally spraying a wide area where other plants may be affected. Yes, I know it may be a little time consuming in treating each Mares tail plant individually, but I find it more affective in the long run.

[GYO Girl]

To keep weeds down you really do need to get down there and do some weeding most weeks, even if it's only for a little while. Going less often means that the weeds take hold again, as you've found out 
A quick go round with the hoe, which really doesn't take long, keeps every thing under control before they have a chance to get big.
Failing that have you thought of growing through black plastic - a few plots on our site are like that where people have to work.

You have to consider whether you can keep the weeds under control, or if you'd rather do something else with the little spare time you have. Only you know how much it means to you, and whether it's worth the effort. It's meant to be a pleasure not a penance

I don't mean to sound harsh, and there's no sin in giving up if it doesn't suit you at a busy time in your life -you can always come back to it later when you have more time. good luck with the decision

As a full-time working mum of two, I am just coming to the end of my first (dismal) growing season.  I have made many mistakes this year and learnt from them, but one of the biggest lessons I have learnt is that my weekends are far too short, and far too precious, to be spending all day Saturday and Sunday weeding, which I have done every weekend for most of this year.  All year my husband has been telling me to get some weed membrane or plastic down, and I have stubbornly refused, as for some reason I have thought of it as "cheating", but now it has finally dawned on me that he was right all along, and my plot is for enjoyment and shouldn't be that much of a chore. 

I will be keeping Been & Queued busy in weed membrane next year, and I'm sure I will enjoy my plot much more as a result.

[allotmentann]

It is really important to enjoy it. If it makes you miserable you will never keep going. But the first year is also the hardest. Once you have cleared thoroughly all the perennial weeds from the whole plot and laid it all out, maintenance is much easier. The only nasty weeds I get come from neighbouring plots (largely neglected) and the odd tiny piece of root I missed (easily uprooted).
 You do not need to work a plot every day, but you do need to be consistent and go regularly. I can't be there every day, but I do spend at least one day a week and work very, very hard when I am there - but I like working hard! Life can be made easier by making sure that paths are easy to maintain (who wants to spend their precious time weeding paths? If you can be there everyday, fine, but if not time is better spent on the beds) and that beds are smaller so that you can work on them when the weather is not good. As GYO girl suggests,make good use of weed membrane.
 The other thing is to go when you have time whatever the weather. I will do things when it is pouring down or freezing. If you do all those jobs like sorting the compost heaps, tidying, removing rubbish, sorting the green house, building frames, repairing fences etc when the weather is bad you can spend all your time when the weather is okay working the beds.
It  is surprising how quickly you forget the rotten weather once you get working, or how often you think it is far too cold to go to the plot and then end up having to strip down to your vest as you get so warm digging!
Hope you get your joy in working your plot back

[snowdrops]

 

I will be keeping Been & Queued busy in weed membrane next year, and I'm sure I will enjoy my plot much more as a result.
[/quote]

There are cheaper places to get weed membrane & there have been a few threads recently on it. I would suggest you save up & buy as much as you can at one time to get it at it's cheapest.

[pol and mick]

How would you deal with marestail then, dugless? 

Hoeing is the only way to keep it under control, as far as I'm aware  cos eventually hoeing weakens it and you get much less regrowth. 

The only method I have found to work in ridding Mares tail is not to hoe it, but use 2 small pieces of wood and a bottle of Roundup stump & root killer. Gently place the top of the mares tail between the two pieces of wood, gently squeeze the pieces of wood together as to squash the mares tail taking care not to break the root. Mares tail has a waxy coating so this action of squeezing the wood causes a slight abrasion to the weed. Gently apply the Roundup using a spray bottle to the a brazed area. The Mares tail will absorb the roundup and take it down into the root, thus killing it. Repeat after 2 days. This is safer and friendly than generally spraying a wide area where other plants may be affected. Yes, I know it may be a little time consuming in treating each Mares tail plant individually, but I find it more affective in the long run.

[mumofstig]

did you really need to tell us again, just in case we'd missed it the first time