Poll: GYO wants to know how you do it!

[Emma Ward]

The weather is warming up, and this can only mean one thing - the weeds are coming! Keeping your plot free of these annoying invaders can be a long and tiring task; not to mention a real test of your patience. This month we want to know how you do it!

Tick which option best describes your system - and don't forget to post and tell us why you use this particular method. Any other tips you have will be greatly appreciated, the more creative the better!

Your answers may be edited and published in the upcoming issue of Grow Your Own!

[Hans Mum]

i do a mixture of hoeing & pulling and smothering & mulching so i voted other, i quite enjoy and hours weeding & it always looks better for it, but if ive got a patch I want to clear I would cover it with a thick layer of dampened cardboard or newspaper & black fabric & leave it, I would plant something such as potatoes or squashs through just by cutting holes so at least the area is being used.

[Flummery]

I'm a hoeer and puller - that looks very rum when I write it! When the are mechanically removed they don't come back, especially if you do it before they seed!

[zazen999]

Hoeing and weeding; mulching and smothering - but can't vote for 2.

[nerobot]

I quite enjoy hoeing and pulling out the weeds. I find it quite relaxing (but then I don't have a very big plot).

[HeyWayne]

In previous years I've resorted to using Glyphosate toward the beginning of the growing season to give me a head start, or when things have become overgrown after a few weeks neglect. Bindweed and Couch Grass being particularly troublesome.

Hoeing and pulling are only really effective if done regularly - especially when the season really gets going. I haven't always been able to get to the plot on regular intervals, so glyphosate for me has given me the extra hand when time and extra hands have been scarce.

It's worth carrying an extra watering can filled with just clean water when using glyphosate. Use the clean water to rinse off any 'overspill' onto cultivated plants.

I think the best way to describe my method would be to consider it 'eclectic'. I use as many methods as I can.

[binley100]

Hoeing and pulling and smothering and mulching, but couldn't tick them all.

[pdblake]

I went for other, but it's more of a combination of all. I weed and pull, but also let the chooks have a good scratch about too. I also smother and mulch by putting cardboard down and topping with compost.

On our concrete and crazy paving paths I use scalding hot water, especially water that's just been used for hardboiling eggs.

[Glutton4...]

Hoeing and pulling and smothering and mulching, but couldn't tick them all.

Same as binley, but I voted for the latter as that is this year's plan! I spend most of my work days weeding for other people, so I certainly don't want to start again when I get home!

[janeyo]

I usually hand weed, it's so satisfying when you look down at a finised bit and it's all weed free. Little and often is definitely the key, keeping on top of it. Don't leave it for a few weeks or it's such a daunting tast. And cover up the bits not being used so they don't get weedy too. If you don't have time to pull them up then just pull the heads off to buy you a bit of time before they set seed.

[Madasafish]

Although I hand weed our garden, the border on two sides - approx 150 metres in length - is controlled by cast iron fences leading to fields . In the summer the fields are filled with cows.

As you may imagine, annual weed invasions of buttercup, dandelions . couch grass etc are to be expected so I put Pathclear along the edge of the fence to the width of 0.5 metres. One application a year keeps (some) weeds at bay.

I buy in bulk at the end of the summer when Patchclear is being sold off cheaply...

[Pumpkin Becki]

I find hand weeding quite theraputic. Having raised beds, the weeds are usually quite small and easy to pull free from the uncompacted soil surface, and by keeping the beds narrow (90cm wide) I don't have to stoop or stretch to reach them.

[jackie j]

Hoeing and pulling as well as mulching. I also cover with cardboard after I have dug over a large patch, I am going to cover the strawberry bed with weed control fabric and planting the strawberries through it.

[Two_Sheds]

I've just been up the plot for an hour, weeding. In the autumn I'd laid down some wet newspapers (weighed down with soil) on the worst weeds.
Today I lifted the newspaper, and the soil underneath was lovely: black, moist & crumbly ... and almost weed-free. The few that persisted (couch/dandelion etc) were easily pulled out.
I then immediately planted the clean soil (with nemophila) to prevent weeds coming back (bare soil doesn't stay that way for long).
It involved almost no effort, and the newspaper is torn up and added to the compost bin.

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I also sowed phacelia in any gaps I had. Some of it died in the hard winter we just had, but one particular patch is doing well. There are only a few weeds amongst it, whereas the bare patches I left have been colonised by speedwell, chickweed, groundsel etc

[Alison]

I voted hoeing and pulling weeds by hand but I also do a bit of smothering or mulching / covering with card etc. I find that if you do a little bit often then it's not too bad at all.