[sawnee]

Forgot to say, a good place for blue plastic barrels (AKA allotment waterbuts) is your local bus depot. They have bus wash delivered in them,and if you ask nicely will normally part with a couple

[shaun]

Being the ever anarchist and rebel I will ever so slighlty disagree with the rotovator remark, this is a great system and will clear the plot, but and there is a big but, you need to do it over time and regular so in other words you need to either have or be able to have access to one. The idea is as soon the plant/weed start to grow you knock them back, yes you will chop the roots to small pieces but that means they have less stored energy so they will exhaust. It does work and I know Shaun will back me up on this, I used this method for the first time this year and have made major inroads into the problem weeds, I must say that I also fork through every so often to get to the deeper roots.

just this once I will back you up mate but i'm not making a habbit of it  
most gardening books say dont use a rotavator has it will spread the weeds from A to B ,doing it once then that is correct but over a season with regular rotavating the weeds will vanish,once you have gone full depth in the spring,then all you need to do is scratch the surface every couple of weeks,werks for me no roundup here
all done with a rotavator and a rake

[sawnee]

Looking reeeaaaaaaaaaalllllly good Shaun  

[shaun]

it dont look like that now sawnee it looks very bare now

[Bigbadfrankie]

I have to agree with Aidy and Shaun. Only complete novices spread weeds with rotavators. Mainly because they only use the once a year.
All to often on this site I read posts from sadists that like using a shovel condemning the use of machinery. Only to repeat, "Shaun" use the machine regularly all year shallow, this is proven to kill even the most resilient weed. And your ground is prepared in double quick time. After all if machines are so bad why do you think farmers use them ? so they can grow more weeds :shock:

[muntjac]

why do you think farmers use them ? so they can grow more weeds :shock:

 depends on what kind of weed  we grew medicinal maryannie a few years back ..we had " rabbits " eating it from the roadsides ,they took whole carrier bags lolo

[andyk]

i have got to back up the use of the rotovator when i got my plot this year it was six foot high in weeds once strimed it was turned over with the rotovator, at the end of each strip i had to stop and clear the tines of weed root i must add it was used at a slow speed so pulled the weed root more then chopping it, after the first time each week i walked the plot and pulled what was showing then put the rotovator over again  now it is as clesn as any plot on the site, ask Aidy
befor

after

not the lastest shot of the plot as it looks a lot better than this just to give you an idea

[shaun]

you guys have great soil up there in lancs  

[andyk]

it looks fine have yet to see what it grow like as it is my fist year on the site so fingers crossed for next year

[shaun]

i'm sure it will be better than our cold wet clay  

[andyk]

just dont know what it will be like in a hot summer i think it will need a lot of water

[shaun]

well andy you cant have it both ways theres no pleasing some people   it is very sandy up your way

[blackhobbescat]

Hi LMS.  This time of year is great to get the plot cleared, as there is not much else you can do.  

Having said that I'm looking forward to getting to the end of mine (could be a few months away yet.)  I've got plum trees popping up everywhere, amongst the brambles, nettles, dock etc!  I have had my plot for about 6 weeks now, and it's a very steep learning curve, but looking forward to the spring!

[andyk]

six weeks whats holding you up. well i did get mine in the summer so light nights but its good to look at when its done and you td get that good fealing inside and move the belt in a hole or two

[blackhobbescat]

Three young children, tummy bugs, weather, other commitments.......

I'll get there! Eventually!!