Tooled up..

Ok, so Ive established there is no substitute for hard work when it comes to weeds..

But what about the right tools for the job, if you have weeds with quite large roots is a hoe the right tools for the job or is there something which can quicken the process that isnt a garden fork??

Cheers

I tried using a friends mattock, and it seemed to chop through the roots nice and easily, but the bottoms bits of the deep roots still regrew.

So for me it's still a fork for the initial removal of any deep-rooting ones.

Once you've got all the deep rooted/established weeds out, then with the hoe it is so easy to stop them getting big enough to need the fork again.

If you have a dodgy back, I'd advise carful use of glyphosate for anything that the hoe won't remove

I bought a cheap copy of a chillington hoe from silverline - less than a tenner on amazon. I found it to be brilliant at popping out brambles and breaking up hard ground. I still needed to then use a fork to ensure I had got most of the weeds out but it did make things faster. I can now dig over a bed very quickly with it now the worst is done. It feels a bit strange to be digging over ground then walking forward over it but it really does speed things up.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-GT52-Digging-Hoe/dp/B000LFXV2I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315921513&sr=8-1

Have a look at the vid Shokkyy
2pYNsX2mMd4feature=related

you can also use it a bit more carefully and try to roll off longer sections of turf for stacking so that it rots down.

It depends what your top layer is - normal turf could be either glyphosphated and then just dug in when it dies or -dug over, raked off, then use the hoe again to break up the next layer down.

If your plot is full of nasty stuff like couch grass or docs, then break up the tough ground with the hoe and use a fork to get out the roots. (glyphosphating first would also be a belt and braces approach if your happy using it).

If you just dug it like he does in the vid then some of the grass will grow back unless it is raked off or buried deeply enough.