[Lizum]

How weedy does your plot get before you get hassled by the local authority?

The weeds this year seem to be overwhelming me. I go away for two weeks and a spotless area is covered by 1ft growth of weeds when I get back! Problem is, I have to go away quite often, and whilst having the required area under cultivation, the weeds seem to be winning. I'm in severe danger of losing my plot as I can't keep it spotless like my retired neighbours! 

[sunshineband]

Keep at it!

When we took our plot over 16m ago, I only had to trun round twice to find weeds swamping everything and I could not grow much direct sow as they seedlings were invisible under the (faster growing weeds).

Now, after vigilance things are much improved.

I hand weed around seedlings when they are still small. and that gets rid of a large number of the competitors.

Others I pull out as I walka round the plot and add annuals to the trug I take with me and then into the compost bin with them.

Perennials I leave in heaps unitl they are dead, and then put them in the compost.

I don't hoe as much as some, but hand weed a lot.

You will win the batlles, but the war is never over 

[Stratts]

Can you get hold of some geotextile membrane to lay over the plot?

Builders merchants sell it and it cheaper than it used to be.   I'm lucky enough to get bits from work that are surplus and it's tidied my unused areas well.

[mumofstig]

Yes planting through membrane is an option

My routine starts at one end of the plot, by the time I get to the end, the weeds are back at the beginning  so I start there again 

As long as they can see that you are at least doing some, you shouldn't get hassled. It is impossible to keep a plot spotless if you work, but make sure you make a real effort when you are at home.
 

[flitwickone]

as all have said keep at it the weeds do grow fast
this year i crawled and i mean crawled up and down 21 X16 feet rows of spuds pulling marestail out by hand and i did it four times the neigbbours thought i was  :blink: but you and i will beat them one day  so chin up you will get there

[Stratts]

This is the stuff, lets the water through but keeps the weeds down

http://www.thegardensquad.com/products/?pid=698

This is my plot but I'm lucky coz the stuff at work is on wide rolls and is free!!

[Craig69]

Just keep at it as the above posts have said or get something to cover the ground.

I have a Mantis Tiller which I run over the plot ever couple of weeks. This I find keeps the weeds down or if I haven't much time I just quickly go over the ground with a hoe. All the weeds on the surface either die off or the birds eat them.

I am up there everyday though to let the chickens out so can see when it's getting too bad

[bigben]

The best advice I was given was to build weeding into every visit to the plot. I find If I make the first and last 5-10 min of every visit a weed then I stay on top of it. Naturally I tend to leave it until it bugging me. However by then it can become a problem.

Like others have suggested I do use weed fabric to help keep down the workload.

[Aidy]

I think we work on the seed rule, if the weeds are gaining control of a plot and they start to produce seed heads which will spread then a verbal warning is issued, if left then it goes to written, however they will allow a bed to be covered in say chick weed as we use it as a green manure, the problem we have is our plots are very sandy and if kept clear, with the winds we have it will strip the top section quickly so we use chick weed to protect the top layer, plus I have chooks and they love chick weed

[Yorkie]

On our site too it's the seeding weeds which cause most of a problem and will definitely trigger a letter. 

If you are regularly not managing to get down to the plot because of unavoidable other commitments, I agree that you should look at some membrane or other covering (you'll probably find that carpet is banned) to keep you ahead of the weeds.

[aelf]

our site must be much more relaxed than others - as far as I'm aware, no letter re weeds has ever been issued! The only rule that is enforced here is that at least 3/4 of the plot must be under cultivation.

I keep my weeds under control (well, try to) mostly with the hoe and during the summer months I go to the plot every morning on the way to work and devote 10-15 minutes to hoeing.

[JayG]

Agree about hoeing; my largest growing area is about 20' X 15' and I can hoe the lot in about 15 minutes without treading on any of it, bending or stretching.

I always have to do some hand-weeding of course, but if I let all the weeds get too established to hoe and I had to hand weed the whole bed I suspect it would take hours! 

[Charl89]

i have the same problem with weeds but dont have rules to keep it really tidy. so not a big probelm, but what i do is get the carpet underlay from our local dump for free and use that t cover my allotment or use old carpet.i refuse to pay for anything lol

[totalnovice]

My routine starts at one end of the plot, by the time I get to the end, the weeds are back at the beginning  so I start there again 

Ph how familliar that sounds! Just keep at it, you WILL see a difference soon.