[theakston_uk]

My previous technique was to dig in a fork, then push down to lift the soil and then bend down and rifle through the soil and pick out the weeds. This involves a lot of back stretching.

My technique is to dig a square foot or two and then sit down in cross legs and pull the weeds/roots one by one. not back breaking at all.

I like this idea a lot 

Sounds like a great idea, the left side of my back is a tad sore and I think that's what I've ben doing wrong, digging and then leaning over to get the weeds out. Will give the sit down and weed a go and let you know how it goes

[sunshineband]

Just remember to wear waterproof pants 

[prakash_mib]

Wow. I have a weeding technique. Please let us call it prakash's way of weeding. who knows, it might be famous in future with the likes of muntys frame, richies paper pots (although I am not up there yet)

[sunshineband]

Who knows? 

[PennyS]

My previous technique was to dig in a fork, then push down to lift the soil and then bend down and rifle through the soil and pick out the weeds. This involves a lot of back stretching.

My technique is to dig a square foot or two and then sit down in cross legs and pull the weeds/roots one by one. not back breaking at all.

I do this - but I have an upturned crate which I sit on. It does save bending down so much, and I have a lot of couch grass to pick out   

[dd angus]

Chubby once you got rid of the perenial weeds (couch grass, bind weed, ground elder) an easy and pesticide free way is to hoe the plot with a push hoe. A couple of tips to make this succesful make sure the hoe is sharp (you can sharpen it with a wetstone or file) and hoe in dry weather. You effectively cut the plant from the roots this is very effective for most weeds exept bigger clumps of grass and those weeds (mentioned above) with extensive underground roots. If you are not planning on using the plot for a long time you can cover it with black plastic or other alternatives, I remember Bob Flowerdew using old carpets although this would make your patch look a bit like a rubbish dump.

The following link has sources for weed identifaction which might be useful
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicweeds/weed_information/weedtype.php?id=-6

[fletch]

Sitting down is a good idea, that's what I do, I fork an area over then sit on a bucket and pick away  .
Also, hoeing off in dry weather is a great idea, hoe one day, go back the next day (or in a couple of days) and just rake off the dead dry weeds. Easy. 

[harry]

My previous technique was to dig in a fork, then push down to lift the soil and then bend down and rifle through the soil and pick out the weeds. This involves a lot of back stretching.

My technique is to dig a square foot or two and then sit down in cross legs and pull the weeds/roots one by one. not back breaking at all.

If Iwas to sit crosslegged whilst weeding I would never be able to get up. For large weeds I use my fork and for small weeds I hoe them .

[Yorkie]

Please do not use carpet to cover your plot.  It leeches chemicals, rots down, is a nightmare to lift and then dispose of, and sometimes even forbidden on sites these days (it is on ours).

[corynsboy]

My advise to add to the pot would be (as above) break the plot up into manageable chunks but plant as you go.  This keeps you returning to the plot as you have to water the plants and indulge in a little light hoeing around your crops.  You also get to harvest some veg too. Eventually.

Don't make your life all dirt and weeds fella!

You still have time to bung in some main crop spuds.  Throw some radish seeds around, plant some herbs seeds like Thyme and parsley and Sage, they just get on with growing this time of year and bung in some beetroot.  Forget carrots this year, they will be a disaster.  There are not enough carrots for all the carrot fly in the UK at present and you just don't have time for that sort of mucking about this year.

As above cardboard weighed down with house bricks is your best friend.  Cover the stuff you can't dig now and you stop the problem getting any worse, and you stop sending weed seeds over your neighbours plots.

If you are really keen on this lark, and it is very addictive, you might want to invest a little time and cash on some raised beds.  This will prevent your back from giving out and it's far more civilised way of growing veg.

I was in this state in May 2008.  Check out the "how it all started" section on my blog.  Link is located in my signature. 

Best of luck.  Stick with it and dig and plant my friend, dig and plant.

 

[herbiegrowsbananas]

Hiya

We are beginners, so what we did may be totally wrong...

We have just taken on a second allotment. It was derelict, full of docs and other weeds.

What we did was spend a whole day digging up the docs, carefully, digging really deep and wide around the docs and making sure we have the whole doc. If it snapped, we dug further down until we removed the whole thing. There was over 300!

We then had it rotavated, and we then pulled up any grass and weeds, burnt the weeds and piled the grass for use later.

Then about a week later we had it rotavated again, did the same. The we had it ridged. Now I am removing weeds and grass one row at a time, prepping the row and then sowing / planting.

Blooomin' hard work, it's taken ages and some people up the plot have just ignored the grass and weeds on their ridges and sowed their seeds anyway... we may have totally wasted our time, only time will tell, but grass can so easily take over...

Herbie

[herbiegrowsbananas]

My previous technique was to dig in a fork, then push down to lift the soil and then bend down and rifle through the soil and pick out the weeds. This involves a lot of back stretching.

My technique is to dig a square foot or two and then sit down in cross legs and pull the weeds/roots one by one. not back breaking at all.

I do this - but I have an upturned crate which I sit on. It does save bending down so much, and I have a lot of couch grass to pick out   

Lol, I just plonk my butt down in the middle of the chaos and get to work, I kinda like it...! 

Herbie