rotovate ?

[joolzabb]

i know the answer most of you will probably say but just thought id ask anyway.lol
i took my lottie on 2 months ago and so far have managed to turn the old greenhouse (after glass was pinched by fellow allotie) into a strawberry frame and they are in with mulch mats round. plant my autumn raspberry canes, old establisehd ones donated by freecycler. and dig a six by six patch for my 5 yr old daughter who ois drving me mad to plant somethng.
apart from the i dug a piece about six by twelve maybe.
in the last two months i have come down with sinisitis, walking pneumonia, throat infection, chest infection and now have the most stinking cold ever after spending a week nursing my hubby thru full blown flu complete with delirioum and talking feet dreams!! dont ask.

i have peas, broad beans plants ready to go into graound as have done then at home and my seed pots have chitted too.

do i bite the bullet and rotovate so i can get stuff in or not. my plot has been undug for only about six months previously to me having it as the old guy was unwell and there are only the usual weeds such as dandelions, chickweed, a few clumps of grass. if i get these out first could i tuirn the rest over without kicking up a whoiole heap of mess for myself.

joolz x

[SarzWix]

Joolz, if you're sure that there's no hideous nasties like bindweed, couch grass or horsetail (aka marestail), than I think it would be ok to rotavate it, especially if you are really struggling. Get the few weeds out that you mentioned first. If you're having beds, then mark them out first - no point in putting effort into the bits you'll be walking on!

Good luck hun., hope you're feeling better soon.

P.S. Whereabouts are you in the country?

[chuffa]

Hi Joolz, as you say you will probably get all the same answers about spreading weeds. Rotavating does save time and you could plant into this, try mulching with black polythene to surpress weeds when they grow. I have a guy on our lottie who rotavates every year, but i will say that he keeps his plot spotless of weeds so he dose not spread many. Before you do, look at the pro's and cons. Goodluck

[joolzabb]

hi sarzwix.
am in wolverhampton. at the moment sunny but windy!! hubby meeting me at lotie later to clear remaining debris left from former owner who was a horder or real rubbish (non-recyclable). so will reccy again when its totally clear.
joolz x

[ClayGarden]

Did you not see gardeners world this week, with the blokes allotment site?

[allotmentlady]

Dont rotovate until your sure you have gotten rid of all the weeds etc...........or go to the BBC and ask them to srot your allotment out at the expense of the taxpayer!lol.

[mclarenpitcrew]

I agree with Chuffa. Black plastic covering to stop the weeds growing Dead! I have done this on two areas of our plot.
One is where I havent finished digging, and the potatoes will go when I have.
The other is where the fruit bushes have gone in. I have just cut "x"s in the plastic and planted through it. I am sure eventually the plastic will give up, but not before the weeds I hope.

[zazen999]

Hi
I know alot are dead against rotavating but I love it. I don't mind the weed breaking up as once it is rotavated, and black plastic is down on areas that you aren't going to plant immediately; it is much easier to dig the weeds up as the soil is looser. A good rake gets rid of a fair few. A bit of perseverence over the summer will get rid of the majority; and the rest you will probably have forever anyway.

We are waiting for the council to rotavate, then it is down with the weed fabric for the paths [already bought and in the boot of my car], rake the spud bed manure and plant. rake the broccolli beds, cover with fabric and plant. Rake the root beds and plant the sets and sown the carrots and leeks. More fabric over the sweetcorn and bean beds and we'll plant in a month or so. Should be planted up in a long weekend if we are lucky.

Yes, I am an optimist!

[number 1 suspect]

Rotovate every time. Done properly its as zazen says, easy to get rid of all the nasties that do crop up as the soil is nice and loose.

To be honest Ive never had better results from all my crops than when I do this.

[Paulottie]

I was digging my first allotment by hand for more than five years and have always been a traditionalist. Last year I was offered a tiller for peanuts and loved it. But then that plot is perenial weed freeish. I achieved this partly by moving around £40 worth of Mypex: growing initially spuds but also cabbages,sweetcorn, butternut and others through it.

I have taken on a second lottie, thinly disguised as a field of couch and also with a windowless greenhouse!...(paid a fortune for half the glass before I was given a load by a neighbour!). Given all the soil was claggy and stuck to the roots I really couldn't manage to dig it over (also I too had Man flu..probably from spending days in the rain chiseling out putty/having young children bring back horrid germs from school.)

I have had to plough it twice (in the wet) and have now rotavated it with a proper rotavator..tiller wouldn't touch it. (Ok, I luckily had access to the equipment) In honesty, whilst I accept it chops it up and I wouldn't attempt to plant anything on it without Mypex. I will have spent another £70 on that.( i have sold the surpless off) and a fair amount on seedpotatoes... I won't regret a penny. (buy the proper stuff as it lasts. The only draw back is fraying that you need to take care of with a sowing machine or soldering iron.) I don't deny I will have to dig the roots out eventually but they will be considerably weakened and the ground dry -so I won't loose half the topsoil.

My advice; Its a very good method, so get some membrane and go for it. Save the carrots etc for a dusbin or the future. Backache is miserable and time short with kids! Make it easy on yourself.

[allotmentlady]

Love rotovating...............just do it lol.......

[rustic]

rotavate and dont worry about the weeds, let them grow but strim them off before they seed, they will then rot down, almost as good as growing green manure and easier than hoeing every five minutes.

[Lavenderblue]

we rotivated our nightmare plot a couple of months ago and its been a godsend. I honestly think we would have given up if we hadn't done it. We found a 100m roll of black plastic and are going to mulch the beds with it and plant through. I know its not the same as digging it yourself but if you want some produce from your plot this year, just do it.

If its anything like as weedy and nettly as our plot, rotivating won't make a jot of difference.

[Phill]

Hi
Hope my experiences are relevant to you... When I got my Plot late last year it was basically a field of weed. After establishing that it was mainly(and unfortunately) couch grass I was advised by everyone I asked (and plenty that i didn't) that the ONLY solution was to hand dig/fork the entire plot to remove it(I'm sure it gave them some perverse pleasure in telling me). I enlisted the help of my brother and we basically dug the plot piecemeal for pretty much the whole of the winter. Now I realise that this isn't possible for everyone and to be honest there's no way that we have got it all out, but it beats the other method of rotovation that would have just chopped up all the roots and made the problem 100 times worse. If of course your weed problem is mainly annual then rotovation is definately the prefered method.