Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Annad83 on May 20, 2014, 17:31
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We are renovating a house and I thought we'd be in by now so have planted up my veg garden and had someone come to do a garden tidy up.... Best laid plans etc mean we 're not in the house and the weeds are going mad. I can only get there once a week and my other half is way too busy doing the house! So what would you all recommend putting down in the veg garden around the plants and in my normal garden!
Thanks
Anna
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You can get weed suppressant fabric - go for the widest you can find which will fit your space, to avoid having to weight down too many edges.
Or cardboard is often recommended.
Avoid carpet.
Useful article here on clearing the plot:
http://www.allotment-garden.org/allotment/clearing-new-allotment-plot.php
Personally, I'd consider using a glyphosate based weedkiller to get me on top of things.
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weed killer would be the quickest option but personally I don't want that stuff anywhere near where i grow veg, even if they say it breaks down into the soil.
Whatever you do I would get the area weed free (well as much as you can!) and cover with cardboard or newspaper (several sheets thick if you go for newspaper) and then cover the newspaper/cardboard with some type of mulch like wood chips, straw, leaves, seaweed etc Make sure the mulch is a few inches thick and it will make weeding much easier. I managed to get a large amount of straw on freecycle and my allotment gets periodic deliveries of wood chips so that's what I use.
I went the cardboard/newspaper route because it's free and breaks down adding to the soil.
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I'd use glyphosate as well, as it really is a necessity the first time, for your peace of mind, above anything else.
Once you've got going easily, then you'll have time to do what you want, but we were in your situation once, so know how frustrating it all is!
Good luck!