Am I digging and weeding correctly?

[Cosmo and Dibs]

Yesterday, I dig over half a bed and got out as many weed roots as I could. I couldn't get out every tiny weed leaf- will these just rot down as long as there are no roots attached?

Also, there are a few small pebbles scattered in the bed. Is this a problem?

Here is the end result:


How does it look?

Once I've done the other half, what else do I need to do to get it ready for planting my spuds? ie- what should I mix in?

[geoff]

It's just about impossible to remove all the weeds in one go, it will take a few years to get anywhere near it. But you seem to have done a pretty good job; keep it that way by frequent hoeing

Don't worry about a few pebbles You could take them out now and again as you have the time and patience

[matthew2riches]

Looking good. Do that to all your beds and you'll be well on your way to your own veg!

[DavidM31]

Its looking good, I would get some spuds in there now,before anymore weeds germinate.

[Two_Sheds]

Looking nice and tidy.

Remember though, that nature abhors a vacuum. There are millions of invisible seeds in that soil, and now that the light is hitting it, they will germinate. Also, seeds will fly in on the wind.

Get your soil covered asap.

I don't weed a patch until I need to plant it up, although my mother likes to have bare soil

[Elliesmummy]

I don't weed a patch until I need to plant it up,

thanks for the tip, i'll keep that in mind

[di]

Bit of advice I was given the other day was to try & break down as many clumps of soil as possible,to expose more weed seeds.Therefore,hopefully getting them out of the way before you're ready to start sowing stuff.
His reasoning was that if you wait to rake until just before you sow,then all the thousands of seeds that have been protected in the little clods,will be given the opportunity to start germinating at the same time as your seeds,whereas,rake now & hopefully they'll start to grow now & you can hoe them away before planting seeds.

[Lazgaot]

I read somewhere about a stale seed bed. I.e you make your raised beds and leave them bare for a week or more. During this week - 10 days, the weeds come through and you simply hoe them out. Then you sow your seeds in clearly defined rows without disturbing too much soil. Any rogue weeds are hoed off as usual but they should be very much reduced by this point.

I've tried this and it seems to work. I've got 5 stale seedbeds on the go and they are lovely and clean!

[Snadger]

A tip for getting a nice level seedbed is to rake the soil various ways gradually altering the angle of the rake until the handle is almost vertical and the 'blade' is horizontal. This should give you a seed bed to die for!

[Creemteez]

Yesterday, I dig over half a bed and got out as many weed roots as I could. I couldn't get out every tiny weed leaf- will these just rot down as long as there are no roots attached?

Also, there are a few small pebbles scattered in the bed. Is this a problem?

Here is the end result:


How does it look?

Once I've done the other half, what else do I need to do to get it ready for planting my spuds? ie- what should I mix in?

Dig yourself trench 4-6 inches deep, line it with a good layer of WRM, push your seed spuds gently into it (eyes up) and refill trench with COMPOST. When the spud leaves are showing well, draw up the SOIL to almost cover them. It's adding all this stuff and moving the soil about that make potatoes good for breaking up new ground. I always smile when I read that. It's not the potatoes that do it - It's YOU!

[Norburger]

I find using a good stout rake and use the back to batter the soil into fine crumb and maybe add some compost to it if you gonna sow small seed. gives u a nice fine tilth.

Take a look at my recent bed prep.... that said I think I should have battered it a little more, doesnt look to different to yours

seed+bed1.jpg (image)

[Becca]

Creemteez - I might be being a bit dumb, but what is WRM??

[di]

Creemteez - I might be being a bit dumb, but what is WRM??

My guess is Well Rotted Manure!...took me a while to work out also!

[Becca]

ahh, yes, that makes sense.. useless at acronyms.. :P

[Matt.]

Looks a lot better than my soil! Don't bother to remove the small weeds they will easily succumb to hoeing later or just rot down. Just get out the big weed roots especially the stuff like bindweed, couch and marestail - whichever is your nemesis!