[wellingtons]

... which wasn't a jungle, I did the whole lot by hand ... well on my hands and knees really.  It took several weeks, but I really didn't want to use any chemicals.

So ... I would spend a weekend, weeding a patch in the morning, planting it up in the afternoon, weeding the next patch ... and so on.

It was blooming hard work, but it's interesting because my plot is now one of the most weed free in my row, and all I do now is hoe in the growing seasion.  

I do get the odd tuft of grass coming through, but I pull these up again by hand in early spring.

[muntjac]

you love getting on ya knees dont ya missy lol

[Eristic]

so why we not secretly spraying France

A very good question!  :twisted:

[yummy]

Thanks for all the suggestions. (quite a few different opinions)

I thought we would be doing little bits at a time but then it was the plot holders on our site that said to blast it all in one go with the round up and then get the digger man in.  I'm tempted to dig myself - it is a big space though.... will stick a photo in here later.

[milkman]

Sorry but I'm struggling to understand the logic of poisoning your entire site with weedkiller that you're then planning to grow healthy tasty veg in -even less effort would be to just carry on buying chemically treated veg at a super market?

Mind you when I took my plots on I was given the very same 'nuke it it'll sort it' advice by several 'old boy' plot holders which I'm glad i ignored.

[yummy]

Sorry but I'm struggling to understand the logic of poisoning your entire site with weedkiller that you're then planning to grow healthy tasty veg in -even less effort would be to just carry on buying chemically treated veg at a super market?

Mind you when I took my plots on I was given the very same 'nuke it it'll sort it' advice by several 'old boy' plot holders which I'm glad i ignored.

Well that is what I thought too but the commitee keep telling me it is systemic and won't affect the ground. All I can do is ask around for advice cos I am new to this.

It is 27 metres by 14 metres and looks like this...



What would you do with it Milkman?

[GafferGamgee]

'Phone the CIA and tell them Osama bin Laden is hiding in the shed
When they have finished with it...assuming they hit the right spot....it will be a lovely, fine (if slightly glowing), tilth!!

[yummy]

'Phone the CIA and tell them Osama bin Laden is hiding in the shed
When they have finished with it...assuming they hit the right spot....it will be a lovely, fine (if slightly glowing), tilth!!

Wish you'd told me that earlier today then I wouldn't have wasted 3 hrs demolishing the shed  :roll:  

[ziggywigs]

Looks like my garden after the builders had moved out and it had been left for a while...we had couch grass, huge dockens at least 4ft high with lovely seeds heads, two types of clover pink and white, thistles (eeek) and all other sorts of perennials and annuals.  Thankfully no knotweed or bindweed.

The way i tackled it was to scythe it down as it was over 4ft high......then let it spring up again.  Dig out the dockens by the roots.  Then when it started to grow again and after wrestling with my conscience i zapped with Glyphosphate and left until everything had gone brown.  My conscience was salved somewhat after watching Alan Titchmarsh who was tackling a wild area with brambles and said sometimes you just have to get ahead.

We then dug and rotovated  (at least OH used rotovator - i can't as i find it aggravates and old back injury) and left to green up again and zapped again.  Then started cultivating.

You will still get weed seeds but at least it gives you a head start and your in control.  Since four years ago i haven't used weedkiller at all and try to stay as organic as possible.

This is just the fruit and veg area - now under control whey hey.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4456/3468/1600/P2270023.0.jpg
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4456/3468/1600/P2270025.0.jpg
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4456/3468/1600/P2270022.0.jpg

[Clodagh & Dick]

We had to clear 800 square metres of one and a half metre high weeds.
Took two of us 3 days with mattocks, then a bonfire and rotovating. Areas we did not want to use immediately were covered with old carpets....we were lucky someone asked us to remove top quality axminster from a completely carpeted villa ..new owners preferred tghe tiles underneath - We lay down a thick layer of manure under some carpets as the start of no dig beds.
We accept some annual weeds as a crop for the compost heaps but not the perrenials which are dug out and piled up to rot or burned depending on the time of year...we are only allowed to burn in the winter with a licence. Only weed killer we use if a necessity is 3 to 5 % vinegar.

[shaun]

there more than one way to skin a rabbit
i would go for the chop/strim it down and cultivate method,its hard work though

[yummy]

This is just the fruit and veg area - now under control whey hey.

Looks great now Ziggy!

I don't have bindweed. I'm not sure what knotweed looks like though (off to search for a photo)

[yummy]

No I don't think I have knotweed  

Having done some reading I'm not into that roundup. We will dig a patch today and see how we get on.

[jane1264]

We've got bind weed on a patch of our garden - not allotment though!  It's an absolute night mare.  I have had to dig the whole flower bed, remove what few flowers I found in there - a not very healthy rose, some even less healthy bulbs and that was about it!  house had been empty for  3 years when we moved in and though the landlord got someone to cut down the garden that was all it was!  underneath the top level of soil the ground was absolutely riddled with the white roots of the bind weed - pulled as many out as we could, and under advice binned them not composted them, and every time I see anything daring to poke it's little head up again I pull it out.  I'm told this will eventually kill it off - but no idea how long it will take!

Would I have done the same on the allotment which is a much bigger area - probably because it's got to be dug anyway but i really don't know - i still have nightmares about the b****y stuff!

Jane

[muntjac]

let it come up n spot nuke it with roundup