[Rich]

Thank you all for the words of encouragement, i thought maybe i was judging the plot's appearance too harshly. I think documenting it's progress is a wonderful idea! i dont think i'd go as far as blogging about it (not yet anyroad) but i could at least keep you good folk updated and a picture paints a 1000 words so they say.

[digalotty]

  , we are very nosey and would love to read your progress

[mumofstig]

speak for yourself digalotty, I'm not nosey.............oh dear no
I'm interested  

[noshed]

Get digging man - you'll enjoy it!

[digalotty]

speak for yourself digalotty, I'm not nosey.............oh dear no
I'm interested  

very interested 

[Rich]

Went down to the plot today with the other half and did a few hours. 3 trips to the dump with all sorts of rubbish, rotten wood and broken glass and then a good tidy-up in the shed. Found out that one of the glass units was covering a small pond when i moved the glass and stepped into the nigh-on invisible weed covered water

Tomorrow; try and get the rest of the broken double glazed units into bins ready for the skip coming, fit some bolts on doors, whack some weeds, repair and ready a couple of the raised beds for garlic and onions. Also spotted some pallets beside a skip not far away so hoping to find out if i can nab them to make a fence or a new compost bin.

[Rich]

So i have ground elder, dandelions, couch and other weedy things to combat in the raised beds but covering most of the plot is grass



Couple of Q's. FOr the areas im not going to plant in until next year should i:

i) blitz it with weedkiller then cover with poly or does the weedkiller need to be washed away before i cover the area?
ii)Just cover it?
iii) Just use weedkiller?

For the grassy area, should i just dig up the grass and turn the 'turves' over to kill them off?

Any advice greatfully received.
Rich.

[Yorkie]

You may well be blessed with ground elder but the top piccie is a different weed - member of the buttercup family I think.

Re weedkiller, if you intend to be completely organic from day 1 then obviously it's a no-go.

Assuming you're happy to use it, and you intend to use a glyphosate based one, you might get away with using it at this time of the year but it works best when the plant is actively growing and thus can take the chemicals down to the roots. 

Apply it when the foliage is dry, and when it will remain dry for at least the next 6 hours, and when there's no chance of wind drifting the spray anywhere else.  Do not wash it off, and do not cover the plant for a couple of weeks, until the foliage starts turning yellow.

TBH, I would not rely on weedkiller at this time of year but would just try to dig out what I can over the next few months.  (I wouldn't leave starting clearance until the spring as time will in all likelihood overtake you.)  I would then use weedkiller on active new growth in the spring.  But others may well disagree.

You could cover weeds over the winter but I don't think they will be growing much; it will deprive them of light but won't kill them off, and will provide a haven for slugs.  However, do be aware in the spring that they will start to regrow as soon as your back is turned so do be prepared to cover that which you haven't dug out or weedkilled, or it will get away from you.

I would check whether the grass is indeed couch grass or ordinary grass.  The roots will be the giveaway - piano wire is bad, fibrous is good.  If good, you can lift the turves and stack them upside down in a pile in order to rot down and provide compost in a year or so's time.

[Rich]

Thanks for that Yorkie, i shall plough on and dig the living daylights out of all the plot over the next few days and have a chinscratch regarding weedkiller. The grass is mostly just grass with clumps of couch here and there and will make an appearance in my new compost bin when built.
Much obliged Yorkie.

[compostqueen]

that top pic is a creeping buttercup. All lotties have them and all manner of weeds that you have to keep on top of all the time. Not that I do 

I saw a bit of useful black sheet mulch there which is great for weed supression

You don't have to cultivate the whole plot at once if you don't want to. You can clear a bit at a time as it will still be there tomorrow 

[Rich]

Got that same creeping buttercup in the back garden border.

[Christine]

Don't put your creeping buttercup or your couch in the compost bin - the blighters just wait and grow again. Put them in a nice plastic bag and take them to the tip. 

[Rich]

Yeah got rid of them to the tip, should have dug the chickweed in though, found out too late. Would have taken some time to separate them from the dandelion etc though.

[Rich]

Since there's been a break in the weather ive got myself down to the lot over the last couple of weeks.

Heavy snow brought the polytunnel down and high winds tore it to shreds, wind also did for the dividing fence so ive got new posts and the postcrete ready for to fix it.
One of the 8 skips per year appeared on Saturday before 8:00 am and was full to the brim within half an hour. Thankfully id managed to carry all the glass in bins up to the skip site the previous night so it was just a matter of tipping them in otherwise i would have been stuck with the glass for another month or so.

Even though its still wet im digging some potato beds, the going is slow and heavy due to the wet and the couch grass im picking out. There's a little more that a spade's blade's depth of soil then i hit clay so im digging in plenty of compost. Should i also mix in some coarse grit to help with the clay? Earlies chitting on the windowsill, waiting on a load of manure, loads to do, cant wait to get on with it.

[Lulu]

Good Luck,  my scourge when I got my allotment was buried plastic bags with contents too yucky to describe.  We had a skip in the end to get rid of it all.  As for your weeds - I'm most upset you have have no mares tail - thats not fair

Enjoy yourself