[MyAchingBack]

Sideshoot, what have you got in the blue containers? Also, is it best to use Roundup now or wait until March/April next year?

[BabbyAnn]

what have you got in the blue containers? Also, is it best to use Roundup now or wait until March/April next year?

Blue containers seem to be typical allotment water butts - don't ask me where you get them from as the 3 that I got were given to me by a friend.  Our mains water is turned off over winter but sometimes only reconnected in May.  However, over the past few years we've had very dry spring weather which can be very problematic and stressful when sowing seeds direct so quite handy to have your own water stock ready.

Re: Roundup (or any glyphosate based weedkiller) is best used when plants are actively growing as the mechanism affects the enzymes needed for photosynthesis.  At this time of year, a lot of plants will start to go dormant or be naturally dying back so the impact will be poor.  If the weather had been mild I would have said a treatment on a plot in the south now was possible but the weather is getting cooler and wet (best to dose when it is dry)  You could try a test patch and leave the rest of the plot until spring.  I know grass generally grows all year round albeit slowly in winter - I once found some dregs in the bottom of an old spray bottle during a clean out of the shed, so I just tossed it on to a patch of couch grass in the middle of January during a cold frosty snap and I was amazed to find a few weeks later that it had actually killed the grass off quite nicely.