[Lardman]

I'll be weeding till the cows come home and some.

Yep - but thats the nature of things. I use a border fork, stick it in the middle lift a clump and sort of twizzle the fork to get most of the soil off. Its light sand here, and bone dry so its very easy to do at the moment, whats left I chuck on the fire.

[Kristen]

What weedkiller did you use?  If it was Glyphosate base (e..g Roundup) there is a fair chance that they are dead, isn't there?

If you have time to dig it through carefully that's definitely the best plan ... but the planting season is upon us ...

[theakston_uk]

What weedkiller did you use?  If it was Glyphosate base (e..g Roundup) there is a fair chance that they are dead, isn't there?

If you have time to dig it through carefully that's definitely the best plan ... but the planting season is upon us ...

I used Roundup on it which I thought would kill any weeds that were growing, but looking at the length of the roots of the couch grass it would take ages to kill it all off. I've decided after reading what people have said about couch grass that the best thing to do is to dig over by hand instead of rotivating. I know it will take ages but I'll dig a bit and plant a bit, I think I just got too excited and wanted everything done at once.

[Kristen]

All power to your elbow then

I'm sure you know all this, but in case not: one option is to make planting holes, enriched with manure or similar, marked with a stick (so you can find them later ) and then cover the lot with plastic (weed suppressing membrane or similar) and plant through that in the first year.  Particularly for Pumpkins, Squash etc. which have large planting distances.

Whilst not a perfect weed-killing solution, shutting out the light for a year will reduce most weeds' strength significantly.

[PennyS]

I got my plot last year and it was all grass (lots of couch grass) as it had been grazing land. 
I covered what I could, and dug the rest gradually.

I'm now getting to the last bits.  Digging the bits that have been covered is laborious but it's do-able.  The roots are quite weak and it all comes out reasonably easily.

Yesterday I was digging one of the bits that was left uncovered, and it was a real PITA.  The roots are really strong and far different from the covered ones.

I wasn't sure how much benefit all this covering would give, now I know it was worth it!

A plot down from me was rotavated and hasn't been worked since and you should see it - it's a mass of weeds. 

I think your hand digging approach is definitely the way to go.  If you cover what you're not digging you'll also make the job much easier.

 

[theakston_uk]

What about if I rotivated the whole plot and then started digging the roots out and the part where I wasn't digging I could cover with weed membrane or cardboard. Just thinking it would be easier digging (which I don't mind) soil that has been turned over and chewed up by rotivating

[PennyS]

What about if I rotivated the whole plot and then started digging the roots out and the part where I wasn't digging I could cover with weed membrane or cardboard. Just thinking it would be easier digging (which I don't mind) soil that has been turned over and chewed up by rotivating

I think the problem is that if you rotavate with all those roots in there, you're chopping them up and making more work for yourself in the long run and it'll be far harder to get lots of little bits of root out. 
Others will have more experience of this than me. I'm new to all this but I know one thing, I am really really glad I did not rotavate and have done it by hand. Long slog but worth it.

[HugglescoteGrower]

I've posted how I delat with my plot last year elsewhere - search my posts and you'll find it. So just the abridged version here.

My plot had been ploughed, I wouldn't reccomend that as it simply breaks up the weed root and turns large sods of top growth back in, making working the plot very difficult.

I would mark out the beds and strip the top growth, either with a turf cutter or by hand depending on how energetic you feel. Stack the "turfs" upside down and forget about them for 18 months, cover them with black plastic if you can. If you plan to rotovate in future dont make the beds too small.

Start with one bed at a time, cover the rest. Dig it over and remove as much of the root as possible. Most of the grass root will have come off with the turf, so you'll be left with the couch and bindweed (if you have it) root.

Don't expect to use it all straight away, just leave any unused beds covered and this will knock the weeds back given time.

[corynsboy]

Ooh! Tough break.  That looked so good from your original photo. 

Dig a little plant a little.

Best of luck.

[theakston_uk]

I went down today and started digging, the soil is heavy and quite sticky so it's hard work. The couch grass only appears to be in part of the plot the rest apart from dandelions and a few nettles is grass. Might go and dig up the dandelion roots (as previously suggested), the nettles and the rest of the couch grass and see where I'm at. I know I won't be able to get it all ready this year but once I've got rid of the baddies I might rotivate it all and cover where I'm not digging. With the soil being so heavy it might make the digging a bit easier once rotivated. I know most people are saying don't rotivate but if I do it when there is only grass left, which is dead. I should be OK shouldn't I?

[Kristen]

I think there is a balance.

If you rotavate and cover you should be no worse of with weed regrowth, but the soil will be loosened up and easy to work int he Autumn, and if you can either rotavate in, or spread on top, some rotted manure before you cover the worms etc can work on that.

If your sprayed the Grass with Glyphosate / Roundup (rather than just a contact-dehydrating type weedkiller) then it should be dead. So just rotavate.

Teh balance, for me, would be getting enough planted so that at the end of the season you get a sense of achievement (and have had some more tasty veg than what you woudd have had to buy in the supermarkets!)

I agree that rotavting "live" weed roots will give you more weeds ... but at the other extreme covering the plot for a year is not very exciting.

If you can cover the Couch grass area, and start planting in the area that seems to be cleanest, that seems like a good approach to me.  Or, in the first year, cover and plant-through? - so that weeds that come back have less chance?

[theakston_uk]

Thanks Kirsten. I can get hold of some manure that is 3 months old, will that be OK to rotivate/dig into the area that I'm going to cover and leave until the Autum? I know it's not well rotted, but obviously I won't be using that bit of the plot for a good while. Another question about manure if you can help. People say not to use manure on areas that will have root veg planted in it. Does that mean not to use manure in those areas at all or does it mean don't dig in maure and plant straight away. What I'm trying to get at is if I put manure down and cover it with membrane and leave the worms to deal with it will that land be OK to plant root veg in next year?

[Kristen]

I think it would be OK to put "fresh-ish" manure on the area you won't use for 6 months or so.

Manure tends to make root vegetable "fork". So the basic idea is not to put manure on that season.

In a four year rotation you could put muck on for Onions, Beans, Brassicas and then not for Roots. So 1/4 of your plot would have no manure. But putting it down now will be fine for the root you grow next year - just don't put any more down (for the Roots area) in the Autumn.

I've read of people who put down manure every year and don't have a problem with forked roots - the usual thing of ask 4 gardeners and get 5 opinions! - so it may not even be important at all, but FWIW I don't put manure down where I grow Root crops.

Probably far more likely for Root crops to fork when their tap root encounters a stone