[jsgreen89]

I took over my small half (maybe quarter plot) around May. In the first month or so I managed to dig out 4 useable patches, in which I've grown onions, leeks, runner beans and pumpkins.

However over summer the remaining 60-70% of the plot went nuts with weeds. And twice I tried to pull most of them out, only for them to return with gusto. I'm interested in doing 2 things over winter, the first being improving the fencing, the second being sorting out the weeds. The attached photo shows the current state of the bad end of the plot. My part of the plot runs up to where that bit of string goes across the plot. Normally I would proceed by systematically digging out patch by patch, removing all the weed roots. However I stupidly injured my back during the initial digging, and as a result I'm refraining from any heavy activity for the next few months.

My rough plan instead was going to be as follows:

1) Glyphosphate the bad half (i've already started this).
2) Cover most of the bad half with heavy fabric while it rots down fully
3) Uncover and rotivate
4) Recover for most of winter
5) Rotivate again in the spring

Does this sound like a reasonable plan?
I really wish I hadn't injured my back!  

[Yorkie]

Sorry to hear about the back; bad timing.

Glyphosate needs the plant to be growing in order to work, so don't cover it up immediately after spraying.  Leave it 2-3 weeks.

Avoid carpet to cover it up, better to use cardboard or weed suppressing fabric.

Apart from that, it does seem like a decent plan.

Good luck.

[Stevens706]

The only thing I would add to Yorkie's advice is after you have weed killed the weeds then cover, all you are doing is preventing further weeds sprouting, however when you remove the covering next spring and rotivate you will find the weed seeds will then germinate.

What you could do is weed kill, leave and wait for the next crop of weed to germinate then weed kill again. Just an idea.

[Babstreefern]

Basically, at the end of the day, you don't get rid of weeds!  All you do is suppress them by "weeding".  I would give a fortune for anyone to invent something that gets rid of weeds - basically, if weeds don't grow at all in your plot, then you will not grow anything - that's nature for you

[upert]

planting through weed-suppressing fabric last year meant i barely weeded those beds - except for the little hole where the vegetable was planted. i weeded my 'unprotected' beds at least 8 times in one growing season. i didn't use this weed fabric method this year; lord alone knows why not.

one drawback with the fabric was that slugs lurked underneath, though i occasionally threw some pellets under there and that kept them in check.

[fatcat1955]

If you don,t kill all the weeds and then rotovate you will chop all the roots up. Each piece has the ability to grow into a new plant. I would weedkiller it now then grow some green manure on it, which will suppress any new weed growth and improve the soil which makes it easier to dig in the spring. Before digging in the spring spread some growmore to feed any remaining weeds and when they show themselves hit them with the weedkiller.

[bigben]

I am with the weed fabric person - I ran out of time this year and was unable to dig the bed I wanted to plant squash in. I hacked the weeds down to the ground, covered with weed fabric and planted thru holes. They have grown a treat and I did no digging. For other crops though you will need to do what you suggested and glyphosphate first, wait until it had done its stuff then use weed fabric for things like onions, squash, sweetcorn, garlic etc. It is a pain cutting the holes to plant thru, but once done it really  reduces the amount of weeding needed and really helps you concentrate on keeping down the weeds elsewhere.

[potatogrower]

best thing to do is dig them all out, its a yearly process. i had weeds when i first started planting and they were a nightmare. some have 2 foot long roots and when you heard that dreaded break noise you know it will come back up. got newer weeds this year so cleared half of my plot and other half maybe later this month.

its part of nature i guess, as weeds are not too fussy over soil conditions. i guess the more sandy the soil the easier it would be to pull some weeds out by hand, the bigger ones need a big fork.

[bigben]

best thing to do is dig them all out,

Your right pg - the best thing is to dig out all the weeds - but the person who posted is proposing glyphosphating and covering because he is unable to dig due to a bad back. Before I posted my last reply I had written two paragraphs about how he should be digging out all the roots etc then I realised I had missed his point.

[noshed]

My plot is weed city at the moment but up until I went on holiday I was keeping the weeds down with hoeing, which does work and very cheap and satisfying. Just keep the hoe sharp with a file.

[JayG]

Absolutely!

One of the older gardening writers (can't remember which!) said that "hoeing is the single most important gardening cultural activity."

A good dutch hoe kept sharp, as Noshed says, is easy on the back as it basically rests on the ground and only has to be gently pushed to and fro, and you can cover a surprisingly large area of ground in no time at all. Even persistent perennial weeds will eventually give up, although it would be a long job getting rid of the worst of them.

Digging them all out is the most thorough way, but if that's not possible I would go for glyphosate, wait, hoe (cover if you like but you don't get much weed growth in winter.) 

[potatogrower]

but the person who posted is proposing glyphosphating

glyphosphating can be expensive and if the root does not die then it will come back. i use it for horsetail weed, blooming thing is spreading.

sounds like hoe is the best way, nice long handle, sharp and just a little nudge in the hope that eventually the root will give up and rot away.

What i also do is any bit of soil that is trapped within the tangled roots i dispose of rather than rattle the hell out of it only to find strands of roots fall back into the soil and may grow back. i would take it easy and not clear the lot in one day, just a small section at a time. if the sun was out it would dry out the exposed roots and thankfully they shouldn't grow back. i wouldn't cut down the weeds either, having them long allows you to keep a handle on them to pull them out easier.

[nipper31]

I attribute the mass of mare's tail on my plot to mis-management by the previous tenant. They rotovated it and chopped it all into little bits which each grew another weed

Now I am over-run with the stuff and today received the dreaded letter from the site secretary  looks like I'll be hiring a strimmer over the weekend...

[potatogrower]

I attribute the mass of mare's tail on my plot to mis-management by the previous tenant.

what i do with horsetail is carefully dig around it break the top of keeping bit of the green and just make a foamy pond of the weedkiller and it dies away. its coming from the allotements behind my garden, they don't manage it either. heard best way is to do it just before winter so when they take their juices down they take the weedkiller with it and kill off the root structure underneath. well lets hope that is the case