lime and mares tail

Seems logical, but horse manure is acid, so isn't this defeating the object of an experiment?

Personally, I don't manure my plot, I give it a good digging over starting now, going through to November as the plots are cleared when harvesting, then completely lime it all as my ground is fairly acid, and cover it with chicken pellets and bfb and let it all soak in through the winter months.

The thing with weeds though, is that they always come back.  They lay dormant, and whoosh, they're up and growing.

Also, if you do happen to get rid of your mares tail (which I doubt), what other weed will take over.  Its survival of the fittest in the garden jungle :blink:

Gareth J,
The secret of getting rid of marestail (horsetail) is to keep pulling it whenever it pops up another shoot.
As you will know well, that is a difficult process.
However, it will work given time.
I have eradicated it from a large area by constant removal and also with soil improvement, but the whole process has taken 5 years.
Be vigilant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and patient, and you may win the battle; given time. 

i think it is almost impossible to eradicate it completely but regular bursts of weeding does, in my experience, paid dividends and restricts its determination.

I simply "hoover" along the whole plot vigorously with a hoe every couple of weeks. Only takes about 30mins maximum to do this and then sometimes I do a bit of cleaning up of the weeds afterwards - other times I leave them on the top of the soil.

In the year or so I have had this current plot and have done this weeding process, the existence of marestail, bindweed and the like is MUCH lower than it was ie) much less of the stuff grows back.