[Sadgit]

Right I am after some advice about my weed ridden plot. The last 2 years I have used a rotavator to dig my soil and the last 2 years my plot has been a sea of weeds, next door digs by hand and has next to no weeds.

Is this where the dig deep several times and then wait a month and do a very light top of the soil rotavting comes in? i.e. when I use a draw hoe to make a channel to sow some seen that channel become a weed haven. i.e. my leeks, peas, etc were/are covered in weeds but the area when I plant my squash isn't as bad, since I dig just 1 hole for each plant.

understand my rambling? As I am getting a tad disgruntled with the amount of weeds I get and my neighbour is at his plot less than me and no weeds...

Cheers
Mark

[Tattyanne456]

Ummm I'm no expert but ,and sorry if you already know this, I thought rotavating was a brilliant way to chop up the roots of those persistant weeds so increasing them and making them even harder to get rid of. You dont actually say what weeds they are?  I get lots of weeds, but I usually go at least twice a week and either hoe or hand pull weeds. It could be that the guy on the plot next to you uses weedkiller? Hand digging is a good way to get rid of weeds, just keep a large bucket next to you as you dig and chuck the weeds in as you go. You could try hand digging one smallish patch, and using it to compare results? Tatty

[allstars_princess]

I took on my plot last year and split it into 2 parts.  My husband wanted to rotovate one side as he was keen to use the machine!  I dug by hand and just put my weeds into a bucket and then on the compost heap.  Neither of us used any weedkiller as I am trying to be organic.  At the beginning of this season the side dug by hand had considerably less weeds than the side turned over by the machine. 

I had the normal sort of horrible weeds including; bindweed, nettles, couch grass and then the more regular like poppies, dandelions etc

The only benefit of the rotovator was the comfrey bed that was turned over went mental after its roots were chopped up!  At least I have something nice to show for the extra work this caused me. 

[Sadgit]

oh this are just the usual standard weeds, i.e not talking about couch grass or anything.. I'm not very clued up on the names of weeds..

[tode]

Sounds like you have the same problem we had: after a few years of more-or-less neglect, you've got a stock of weed seeds in the ground  
We found that the best solution was rotovator, repeated at 3-4 week intervals. Every time the weeds come up, turn them back in, and bring fresh ones to the surface. After 4 or 5 times the weeds should calm down  
On the other hand if youve got bindweed or the dreaded groundelder, then its a hands-and-knees job ...  

Looking at it logically, there can only be a finite number of weed seeds in your patch....
Good luck with the patch!

[allstars_princess]

Just keep telling yourself of all the nutrients you are feeding your compost bin everytime you pull out another one!   

[Tattyanne456]

The rotavator (sp) sounds great, but if your gonna do that every 4 weeks or so you cant grow anything else. Spose you have to weigh everything up

[Salmo]

Many common weeds need light before they germinate. Every time you cultivate the soil weed seeds are exposed and start to grow. If left undisturbed some of these can remain dormant in tne soil for generations. The prime example must be the poppies that appear whenever soil is exposed by roadworks.

Assuming that any perrenial weeds have been removed, the only reason to cultivate deeply is to break up compacted layers or to incorporate organic matter, and the latter is doubtful.

If your soil has lots of weed seeds then continually disturbing it, perhaps by hoeing, will make weeds germinate. Do this enough and the weeds will get less. Let them seed and you will make things worse. Remembers the saying "One years seeding, seven years weeding"

[tode]

After the 2nd "rotovation" we put in fast-growing things like salad etc (that grow before the weeds can set seeds, and in fact the watering helps the weed-seeds to germinate !
The idea being, to get as many of the weeds up and growing, so they can be cut down after crop.
I put down a 2 inch layer of grass cuttings before rotovating, and now the beans and sweetcorn are doing really well.
Ive never liked the idea of hiding weeds under a carpet. Just the thought of all the nasties waiting in damp earth sends a shiver down my back (..music from Psycho..), I  prefer to fight 'em face to face.
It all depends, of course, on what sort of weeds you have