[erainn]

Forgive an extremely fundamental question from a novice, however I would like advice from those who have needed to clear grass from allotment plots. Having just acquired one there are some areas, of fairly short grass, that need clearing. In terms of most effectiveness what's the 'weapon' of choice to do the best job?

[bigben]

You can cut strips and dig under the roots of turf then stack it grass to grass, cover in black plastic and it rots down to give useful loam. However if you have couch grass then you will need to fork out the roots. It tends to keep appearing.

[Kleftiwallah]

Rent a couple of goats     I agree with bigben.  Grass to grass and soil to soil.  If you have no couch, in a few years it will be excelent loam.    Cheers,   Tony.

[erainn]

That is very helpful thank you. Is it easy to distinguish couch grass from other forms?

[DD.]

You'll soon tell by the roots. Couch grass has very long roots with nodules on it.

If you can be sure it's annual grass, (short fibrous roots), why mess about taking the top off. I just turn the soil over well and dig it in. Do NOT do this with couch grass!

[Kleftiwallah]

Couch grass, sometimes called twitch grass is the bain of all allotment growers.  Luckily the roots are easily recognised.  Whereas normal grass has roots in a small clump below the leaves, couch has long white runners with side shoots .  

These criss cross under the ground and send up leaves every so often.  To remove them follow the runner roots trying not to break it and tease it out of the ground and then burn them.  Don't even think of putting them near a compost heap.  

All that has been said about twitch also applies to bindweed.  The only difference is where twitch has grass shaped leaves, bindweed has leaf shaped leaves.    Cheers,   Tony.

[Kristen]

You could spray with Roundup / a Glyphosate based weedkiller - however the grass / weeds need to be growing strongly, so its too early in the season to do that yet.

Opinions vary on using weedkiller, of course.  I'm not adverse to using insecticide on my vegetables if I really had to, but I haven't done in 5 years, but I personally wouldn't think twice about using a one-time application of Roundup / Glyphosate if I had to start again on a new plot.

[Bluedave]

I cleared mine juat as bigben advised.

[Stevens706]

I'm with Kristen, I used Glyphosate to tame my plot when I first got it, now I can keep on top of the weeds without sprays