[barley]

I wanted to turn an area of lawn in my garden over to a veg plot

to be honest there is no quick fix 

we covered it with a black plastic silo sheet and left it for 1 year - when we took the sheet off it everything green was dead and it was full of wire worms grubs and other pesky grubs

we are lucky to have chooks so they helped with pest control in one afternoon LOL

basically what I am trying to say is do it properly and it will save you time in the long run - good luck

[Tenhens]

Success will come from good preparation. The more that you put into it the more will be got out of it.     

[Baldy]

One thing I really like about gardening and this site in particular - ask a simple question get 20 simple answers... 

Ride of the Valkyries / Smell of Napalm in the Morning vs bit at a time

me - bit at a time...

Cheers,
 Balders

[andy dewar]

I agree with finley i took over a similar site last year and im now 3/4 through its hard work but worth it please please dont use rotovator as you will chop grass roots up and you will be dealing with them for years to come , portion it out and do one section at a time 

[Sparkyrog]

Rotovate then keep the hoe going ! that does kill it 

[al78]

I will echo others suggestions of using ground cover to suppress further weed/grass growth whilst you tackle it. If you don't want to spend loads on plastic weed suppressant I would recommend finding some local bike shops and asking if you can have their bike boxes (they throw loads out). One box when opened out will cover about 1 1/2 sq m so you can cover quite a large area with not that many boxes. Then start digging out the weeds, keeping the area you are not digging covered over until you are ready to tackle it. It might be easier to use a spade to chop the surface layer away from the soil, then go over it with a fork to remove the deeper roots. Aim to do a little at a time, as much as you feel like doing at any one time. When I cleared my plot I used to spend about a couple of hours at a time clearing the weeds and I managed to clear about 8 sq m in that time. After a few sessions it really adds up. Depending on what the soil is like once you have cleared a bit you might be able to sow something direct into it after adding a bit of fertilizer, which will start you off and give you a bit of enthusiasm.

Good luck.

[ThePragmatist]

I would cover it to stop the problem weeds getting worse as the weather warms up. If you want a section devoted to fruit bushes you could do that by clearing circles and planting in those. That might give you a nice big section done quite quickly. After that take a small piece and clear it. Then plant something there. Maintaining the parts you clear by regular hoeing will make your life easier in the long run.

[puravida]

Wow - thanks all! Really appreciate it!
A real spread of options there.

I'm not sure of the downsides of using a weedkiller? Does it stay around long? My two kids (4 and 6) will be helping with the growing once we are up and running.

Turf lifter sounds like a good option too.

[LilacSandy]

Just got my third plot as new granddaughter arrived and now I have another family to feed as well as my own.  Her mother will not give her anything that is not organic and I will not use weed killer on my ground as I do not see the point of growing my own if I do, but everyone has their own opinion about glyphosate.

I am covering 1/2 with cardboard, tarpaulin and anything that will suppress the weeds.  I am digging the other half and planting my potatoes as I go.  I am not taking out the turf (my plot looks the same as yours) I am just turning the soil over and chopping it up as I go.  The potato foliage will smother a lot of the re-growth and digging the potatoes up gives the soil another good dig.  I am lucky that I have the rest of my ground to grow other crops though.

When you have decided on your method you need to decide on what crops to grow and take into consideration which parts of the soil need the most preparation,   If you intend to grow carrots or parsnips then you need to dig that area well to give a good loose root run, but you can get away with minimum work for the cabbage family as they have quite shallow roots and like a firm ground.  If you have the space this year, start off as much as you can in pots to plant out later, it may be a bit more faff but at least you can have a good crop of broad, runner or dwarf beans.

[Casey76]

Be as organic as you want to be

Many people use gylphosate as a one off to clear the way then never use it again.  It is a non-persisting weedkiller, and will break down in water, which is why you can plant out 2 weeks after spraying.

In the past, I've done it both ways, spraying at first, and also digging everything up.  What you need to remember is that even if you kill everything with a weedkiller, the roots still stay in the ground, so you still have to dig them out.

I would check to see what types of grasses you have on your plot - "normal" grass is shallow rooted with fibrous roots.  Couch grass has very long wirey roots which look white (and a new plant will sprout from each little bit of root, so you have to be careful not to chop them up!).

Personally I would dig out the dandelions, making sure you get the whole root.  Check for other "malicious" or spreading weeds and hire a turf cutter.  The turves, stacked grass to grass in a quiet corner will give you lovely compost in a year or two.

[Yorkie]

Just to clarify Casey76's post, it is inert when it makes contact with the soil, so theoretically you can plant out the next day.  However, it's unlikely to kill the weeds for 2-3 weeks (as it goes down to the roots), so in practice it'll be a couple of weeks before it's worth digging up the weeds and then planting what you want.

[Azazello]

I think if you were to mark out the plot and divide it into say 6-8 areas you could aim to tackle one area per month.

Don't get hung up on getting it all under control this season. If you have a couple of beds going then you will feel happy with that and will encourage you to  do more next season.

One big challenge is what you will do with the weeds you've dug up so you might like to give that some thought - some you can dig in and rot down to compost, some you can't/shouldn't (like couch grass).

[Headgardener22]

To add to the confusion, ... If you're not overblessed with time, think about how much you will be able to handle through the year. There's no point in stripping the turf from the whole plot and digging it all over neatly only to leave most of it fallow because you don't have the time to care for the plants and seeds you have put in.

I don't know about others but I reckon I spend 7-10 hours a week at the allotment at the peak sowing, planting, weeding, picking and then extra time at home storing, drying, freezing. If you can't allocate enough time to manage the whole plot, its better to focus your efforts on part of it and then expand over the years.

[Nikkithefoot]

Looks just like my plot when I inherited it a few years back.

Like Yorkie has said I used a combination of judiciously applied glyphosate for the areas I wanted to work quickly, and covered the rest in heavy duty weed suppressing membrane. The rest was sheer hard work with a fork, making sure that all the roots were removed.

I grew a fair bit the first year, planting as I cleared, but it was very hard work.

Subsequent years have become easier but only if you spend time preparing now. Nothing happens quickly in allotmenteering, other than weeds growing 

[Headgardener22]

Talking merrily about glyphosphate anybody else seen this?

http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/programs/health-environment/pesticides/glyphosate-fact-sheet.shtml