[Casey76]

I've decided that the main issue with having chickens, is that they leave the ground too fertile!

My veg garden was abandoned left fallow last year, and grew a prize crop of 10ft tall thistles and 6ft tall nettles.

I'm now left with the aftermath, which is beds of low growing nettles and many, many stems to pull.  Fortunately as most of the area was never walked on (by humans!) after it was rotavated, in general things are coming up fairly easily.

I'm wondering if I should stick to container gardening this year, while trying to get on top of the nettles in the veg patch once and for all.

Does this sound like a plan?

1) hand pull/dig everything visible
2) rotavate
3) continue to hand pull/hoe/dig anything which comes up over the summer
4) ...

I'm not sure how else I can completely get rid of the nettles without just constantly pulling everything I can see.

I can either do that, or blast the entire area with glyphosate - though this still means hand digging before rotavating to get rid of the roots.

I hadn't any grand plans for growing this year, so I could manage pots of toms and courgettes on the terrace.

[m1ckz]

for me it would be roundup lol

[snowdrops]

You could strim the weeds  & cover with thick cardboard/paper/weed membrane. Then uncover an area at a time to work on. In truth you will never get rid of all the weeds. Take a look at the Back to Eden style of gardening,that might be an option for you. Either google it or do a forum search,Beeskissed on here practices it.

[Snoop]

Is there any reason why nettles shouldn't be hacked and rotavated in if they haven't set seed?

[BabbyAnn]

Is there any reason why nettles shouldn't be hacked and rotavated in if they haven't set seed?

according to the RHS, there are perennial (can also spread by root) and there are annual nettles (spread by seed), so depends on which you have

[surbie100]

Personally I'd stick clear of the herbicides till the 'is glyphosate a carcinogen' debate gets settled (French govt seem to be coming down on the yes-side). How about 1) initial hand weed over the area 2) lay thick card over the bed & cover with mulch (woodchip or other) to weigh it down/make it look tidy 3) plant through holes in the card?

The card won't last more than a year, but it will suppress weeds and you can pull up any weed that makes it through later.

[mumofstig]

If you Glyphosate and the tops die back, then unless the root is actually in the exact place you want to plant something, you can leave the roots where they are. Any that do regrow you can spot spray again.
They will rot away quite quickly.

I'd be inclined to cover what you don't want to use this year, under weed control fabric - otherwise you'll just grow another crop of weeds from seed already in the soil.

[Casey76]

Is there any reason why nettles shouldn't be hacked and rotavated in if they haven't set seed?

My nettles are tenacious little (nor not so little) blighters which spread by root.    Quite often I can trace many nettles back to one "mother root" then it is a case of following the root to see where it goes.

[Snoop]

That's bad luck, Casey76. Friends of mine have nettles and they just rotavate them in as if they were green manure, which is why I asked. We don't have nettles, but I know all about thistle jungles!

[AussieInFrance]

I stand on the side of those who propose you layer cardboard (overlap it well) and then lay down straw or any bulky mulch that you can lay your hands on. Make it at least 6" thick. I wouldn't be going anywhere near a rotovator as you will simply disturb all the fungal and bacterial networks that have already established. This networks act as a 'root extension' for plants seeking nourishment and are to be encouraged.

I agree with the notion of using the nettles are 'plant food' rather than treating them as weeds. As mentioned above you will never be weed free in a garden but they can be managed. This is best done by removing them when still small and before they need too much muscle to pull up.

Simply then a matter of planting into it by making 'holes' and topping up mulch every 6mths or so. Voila!

[Lardman]

Unless you're on heavy clay Im a big fan of just digging it over by hand. Everything else is expensive, takes too long or doesn't work full and you'll end up digging it anyway. 

[Nobbie]

I've got a similar situation on my allotment where I left some blighted potatoes in the gound last year. I'm going to leave it until April and spray with Glyphosate and then leave until end of May to spray anything that re grows. I can then rotavate and plant with squash in early June which should smother any remaining re growth.

[sunshineband]

Unless you're on heavy clay Im a big fan of just digging it over by hand. Everything else is expensive, takes too long or doesn't work full and you'll end up digging it anyway. 

I am in this camp too, although right now I am not sure I can get up off the sofa without a series of groans after four hours of digging today

Our new plot is solid with perennial nettles, thistles, couch grass and docks, as well as a range of annual weeds just for good measure. We have now managed to hack out two beds 5m by 1.5m, which took two of us around 9 hours altogether. But boy is it starting to look better!

Just a word about thistles though... if any bit of root is left in the ground, no matter how deep, it not only grows away again, but forks and makes two thistles ARGGHHH!!!!!!. This is when glyphosate might come into its own imho

[ptarmigan]

I'm on clay and use a mixture of

• digging, and putting everything in old compost bags to rot down if it is a big clod of earth
• covering with cardboard
• cardboard and then as much organic material as possible to smother the weeds and plant through, lasagna gardening

4 years I and soil has improved, weeds come out easily and it worked for me.  I don't like putting weed killer on areas where I'm going to plant stuff to eat. [/list]

[AussieInFrance]

Really, my enjoyment of gardening is not heightened by an aching back, so if there's and easier way I'm up for it every time!