To rotavate or not?

[devon-surfer]

Thanks for all your comments, I did have couch grass and a few docks, the docks I have dug up and removed by hand :-) bloody long roots. The rest I did use some gras killer, did'nt want to but I really want to get things in asap. The grass has all died, and turning over the earth is so much easier as the roots just crumble where as before the roots were all matted together and holding strong.

I will try and do by hand, at least enough to get my second earlies and some leeks in.

WHO NEEDS GYM MEMBERSHIP?

[matthew2riches]

in then end with my new plot i sprayed it all with roundup, rotovated it and then just lightly went over it with a fork to get out any weeds left. I now need to get a big petrol powered sieve (like a cement mixer with holes in) to get rid of the stones! But that can wait until next year.....

[Kristen]

I reckon if you have time, and are fit enough, and know how to do it, digging is good.

If not then rotavate.

If you are not bothered by chemicals (or prepared to do a one-time-only initial kill) then use Roundup first. Personally I would wait the 3 or 4 weeks Roundup takes for the plants to show they are dead! and then re-spray the bits I missed, then wait another 2 weeks before disturbing the soil. You want the things dead before you start chopping up the roots into lots of bits that have the potential to all grow back.

If you have a large patch then hire a self-driven Rotavator - the sort where the engine drives the wheels for forward motion and the cultivators are behind. This has much better control over the depth it will dig too, and is more likely to dig-in on hard ground. We had our veg patch ploughed by the local farmer (it is heavy clay and had been just rough grass for decades), and then hired a mini-tracor with a PTO driven rotavotor to break up the soil. It did a fantastic job.

The ones that just drive the cultivator tines are hard to get to "dig in" and likely to skip across the surface. They do OK where the soil is already loose.

[tootles]

I lurve my rotavator!!
My plot hadn't been cultivated for 30 years and a lot of the ground was VERY compacted clay. I went over the ground at least 5 times over a few weeks and then covered the lot with manure. I left it for as long as I could (2 weeks in places, 8 in others) and then rotavated that in too. I intend to go over the whole veg patch in the same way again in the autumn before sowing a green manure, and then over the potato patch in the spring after the brassicas are finished.
I do have weeds, but I can keep on top of them and they are much easier to pull now that the ground is more workable.
I guess it is all down to personal choice - we all think that our way is the right way!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mikon_warrior]

has anyone used a mantis tiller? i have heard good and bad points on these.... my allotment is also getting covered in weeds as im out of action for a few weeks (hernia op) and wondered if it was worth investing....

[Anarcho]

What sort of weeds do you have? Sometimes rotavating can make things harder in the long run, because things like bindweed and couch grass just get chopped up into many more new plants

I tok over a very overgrown plot and am fairly petite, so found digging over with a spade was taking a LONG time. However, I bought a right angled fork and it's 100% easier! I can work much faster and with much less back breaking effort. Maybe worth a try?

Use Round-up or equivalent non-persistent herbicide, I am sorry to say; then rotovate, when the weeds die down. Wait three wekks, and use the round-up again. (There are cheaper versions in the farmers' Co-op).

This removes couch grass, bindweed, pretty well the lot.
In serious cases stronger clearance might be needed but then you have to wait six months (massive blackberries etc.) for the herbicide to clear(!), or else use a brush-cutter first.
That's the best I can suggest from experience.

[jnkimjones]

I used a hoe...well its an old hoe that small ponies pulled along (don't ask how I came to have it!!!) Its small enough for me to handle, but cuts through the ground like butter. All I do then is go around and see if any of those weeds are on the surface.

[Mikey]

I have been digging my plot by hand to remove the worst of the weeds, I've done about 50% so far, and it is back breaking stuff. The weeds do come back but they are a lot easier to manage with my hoe, a couple fo times a week.

However, I have read recently that by using a rotovator on the ground in spring, you reduce the number of slugs on the plot by as much as 75% (something digging with a spade cannot do). So whereas I will not be clearing the site with a rotovator, I do consider it a string to the armoury for future years, as our mild winters do not appear to be reducing the slugs numbers.

[Kristen]

"using a rotovator on the ground in spring, you reduce the number of slugs on the plot by as much as 75%"

Not heard that one before.

I've always been of the opinion that dug ground is broken down beautifully by the frost (if we get any of course!!) and I would be reluctant to disturb such soil, other than to just gently cultivate it (hoe / rake / 5-tined cultivator, etc) to make a seed bed.

Having said that, I have raised beds, so don't do any digging / rotovating any more, but I still take advantage of the "tilth" that the frost helps create

[Jon B]

When I did same I borrowed a fork made essentially entirely from metal and went over half the plot in the autumn/winter, pushing fork in and leaning right back until soil loosened up (a wooden handled fork would have snapped sooner or later). Then rotavated. Otherwise rotavator would have just bounced off compacted soil. Downside is bindweed has spread. Will be easier to dig over this autumn and remove weeds. For other half didn't rotavate and I have noticed it is harder to work over this year; on the plus side less spread of weeds. Overall glad rotavated.

[Jimmy]

You may have seen from other posts that I am a fan of raised beds. I discovered them a bit late at 50. I have had allotments and back garden plots over the years and always treated them a flat plots. Raised beds made thing much easier.
So I would suggest trying a few on your plot. Perhaps a layer of weed suppressor and then a couple of foot of soil.