[Annielot]

Hello anyone or everyone
Acquired a plot in May and am trying to do my best without any knowledge whatsoever about gardening never mind allotments!
I have lots of questions however first one is how do I weed in between the vegetables without digging them up and should I put the weeds I do dig up on the compost heap or not and if so do I have to separate the roots from the stems beforehand
Here's hoping!

[m1ckz]

small hoe or by hand

[allotmentann]

Hi Annie and welcome. I am pretty new too. My favourite weeding tool for tight spaces is my daisy grubber, you just have to take your time and be careful! Nasty perennial weeds need to be drowned, burned or left to die in a bag before being added to your compost heap. Annual weeds can go in as long as they have not gone to seed. I tend to chop everything I add to the compost as small as I possibly can anyway, this means that 1. I can get far more in the bin and 2. the greater surface area means it will compost more quickly.

[gazza975526570]

If you catch the weeds when small i just run a fork down the rows in the gaps between the lines of veg.

Depends on what weeds you have really - do you know what the main problems are?

If they are small they will just die out when their roots are pulled from the soil (particularly when dry as they cant re-root)

[fatcat1955]

To be on the safe side, do not compost perrenial weed root's or annual weed's that still have their seed heads attached.

[Yorkie]

Hi Annielot and welcome to the site 

Others have covered what you should and should not compost.

When weeding, it depends partly on how much space I've got between plants.  If there is room and it's a dry day, I use my hoe.  Otherwise I use a small hand fork to tease out the roots - this is far easier if the soil is moist as the plants come out easily.  If I've got quite a lot of bare ground, I use my regular fork to lever them out if they're big enough.

[Ian_A]

I would almost always favour weeding by hand when among vegetables. There is something very theraputic about it and intensely satisfyingand really there is something lovely about getting down and in among the veg.  Hoeing is fine but can be easy to nick the odd veg.

[utigers]

I'm new to this too, I find a draw hoe great for just whizzing along the surface of the soil and disturbing small weeds etc............

[Robert_S]

I would almost always favour weeding by hand when among vegetables. There is something very theraputic about it and intensely satisfyingand really there is something lovely about getting down and in among the veg.  Hoeing is fine but can be easy to nick the odd veg.

Agree 100%...with a bit of music on the portable MP3 player, it's not a bad job to have to do 

[Yorkie]

I'm new to this too, I find a draw hoe great for just whizzing along the surface of the soil and disturbing small weeds etc............

... and decapitating dwarf beans too 

[Elaine G]

Yorkie, have you been watching me?
Or are you a fellow assassin 

Elaine

[Yorkie]

We Hertfordshire women must stick together ... I'm a fellow assassin