[Green Goddess]

I have been advised to use glyphosate to get rid of weeds and would like to know the best place to buy this.  Also any recipes or tips for fertilizer, my plot is surrounded by nettles so was thinking about making a nettle concentrate, what do you think?  Any advice would be appreciated.

[peterjf]

you could try your allotment shack for glyphosate weed killer ,

1st job would be to cut everything down with a strimmer, and then use the weed killer , round up is very expensive from B&Q ,

there is some to had at local car boot sales , but not sure what you buying from the boot sales ,

[george007]

glyphosate?

thats oh so not green:) lol are you allowed to use it on an allotment.

i find that weeding them out by hand  and using a hoe works just fine
and is also a very green approach.

 i would get some blocking 14 comfrey cuttings  and use the leaves once it is in it's second year and established. for making liquid fertilizer.

good luck with it anyway
weeding is one of my favourite pastimes on the allotment

[SG6]

Wilkinsons sell their own line of glyphosphate, turns out cheaper per sq mtr of coverage. Not sure which bit of Herts you are in but Wilkinsons are in Hitchin and Letchworth if you are near.

If I recall the Hitchin allotment society also sold glyphosphate at a reduced price. A friends father was a member but this was some years ago. Not therefore sure of the situation at present.

For the garden weeds I find that 2 sprayings works best, basically get most the first time, then see what was missed or has managed to get through.

After that enjoy the digging

[Green Goddess]

Thanks everyone, don't think I have not been digging it has taken me over a year to get my plot in a condition to be able to plant anything, have weeded and will continue to weed regularly but I want to clear a patch that has stubborn roots that have had trees or so my neighbour tells me.  I think even the best have to have a little help sometimes unfortunately!! 

Where do I buy Comfrey?  my book tells me to use that also but I don't even know what it looks like!!

[george007]

this is a small caption from a page i was just reading.
and wether the product is called roundup or a product containing glyphosate

it's worth a read

the page is http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/showthread.php?t=44482

i think i will stick to digging and cultivating by hand
i'm more thorough anyway it costs nothing

[gregmcalister]

I had a struggle with my plot to begin with and no matter how much I dug and weeded the weeds kept coming. I ended up using a couple of applications of Roundup on the plot and letting weeds die back before raking all the dead stuff and digging the ground. I also invested in some black weedproof membrane from ebay and this has really made a difference. There are still areas that come alive with weeds but most is now under control and far better than the field of perennial weeds that I inherited. This is my third season and it gets easier to keep the weeds down with each year.

[gregmcalister]

ebay is probably the best place to order comfrey and once it's established you can lift and divide it and get as many plants as you want.

I collected a wheelbarrow full of nettles from around the site last year but I chopped them up and added it to my compost. I didn't try nettle tea although I made a similer one with comfrey which was absolutely disgusting! The plants didn't seem to mind.

[SG6]

200 ml is just over 1/3 pint.
If you are saying that drinking 1/3 pint of glyphosphate will kiil you then 2 points have to be stated:

Read the warning on the container.

It is suicide not accidental and so cannot be "blamed" on glyphosphate.

[gregmcalister]

Surely there must be easier ways to commit suicide than drinking weedkiller? Each to their own I suppose.

[Lady Lottie]

Hi    Be warned..........nettle tea for the plants absolutely STINKS - it is vile.  I found this out very recently after steeping some nettles for a week or two - had to tip it down the drain in the end as I couldn't bear it!  Even the neighbours next door were heard muttering "poooh.....something's a bit wify....." :blink:

I have also read that the benefit is short lived as the plants absorb it through their leaves mostly and it doesn't remain in the soil...so you have to keep re-applying it - same with comfrey - which will probably smell just as bad!

Good luck with the weeding anyway - me, I use a big fork and lots of black plastic so far!  But I must admit I am sick of seeing bindweed seedlings popping up....grrrr.....

Oh btw - other fertilizers to consider..chicken poo pellets, seaweed, horse poo ( so long as it is really old....look up "aminopyralids" with regard to the horse muck...its a long and involved story but worth knowing about).  My plot has been uncultivated for 10 years so I don't need to worry about feeding yet and also I have just found a contact willing to let me have mountains of ancient horse poo anyway!:D

[peapod]

Rather than cutting and pasting George (as we would rather it wasnt taken off another site) , could you just add the link
Thanks

[Aunt Sally]

I'd like to back up what peapod has said:

Please do not cut and paste from other sites

Members who continue to cut and past large chunks of text - in this case from very suspect and unsubstantiated sources are usually removed from our forums.

We will be removing such posts to bring topics into line with our site policies on plagerism.

[Trillium]

Each person must decide how far they wish to go in the organic or non-organic line. I consider myself mostly organic, but at times, I've had to use a bit of glyphosphate just to get ahead of some weeds that I just couldn't control otherwise. It gave me a headstart on some pernicious plants which I was eventually able to eliminate. Otherwise, I'm very cautious about what chemicals I'd use, if any. At times you simply must take the shortest road if that's what you need to do.

As for comfrey, here's a link to an excellent article on it by our John. Should give you all the info you need and it's possible there might be some BOCKING comfrey on the swap shop forum further down the list. Like the nettles, it can be extremely stinky, but also very valuable.

http://www.allotment-garden.org/vegetable/comfrey/comfrey.PDF