losing the plot!

[tlck9]

HI all,

I've had my allotment for 12 months now, I dug beds and removed turf/weeds that had been there for 100's of years untouched....although grazed at some times.

my problem is trying to keep the weeds down, and grass low. We live in an area of high rain fall. So they keep coming.

As I work full time sometimes 6 days a week, I need to find a way of controlling weeds around plants for the coming year.

Even daily weeding isnt keeping the weeds down, i'm losing the will to live

If I spent more time there then I suspect I could make it better as some fo the others are retired and they have spick and span plots

Any ideas would be appreciated

[zazen999]

Cardboard. Plant through it. Weigh it down with clods of soil from the beds. Free from supermarkets.

[tlck9]

I hadnt thought of that. Sound a good idea....

Any ideas on how to get rid of the weeds before next year.....I have strawberries absolutely covered in weeds that appeared while I was away for a week and they dwarf the plants....obviously weed killer will kill the plants,

assuming some hard work is needed....

[zazen999]

Pull them out and fit cardboard in round them [or dig them all out, separate the weed from strawbs, cover with cardboard and replant through holes in the card.

You'll never have no weeds, but you need to think strategically about blocking their light so that they don't grow.

I personally don't use weedkiller - I regularly get in there and pull out weeds after a good rain session, and hoe when they are little. The first year is always the worst - so cover what you aren't using and plant through it if you can once you are ready to plant up.

[Jeanied]

She's right you know. As soon as you steal a march on them and knock them back for a while, then it all gets so much easier. I don't have to weed about half my plot now, due to mulching before the weeds started to germinate.

[Pies]

What we did with our strawbery plants was to lift all the plants then lay a weed supresing membrane then plant the strawberry plants back this will keep the weeds down and keep strawberries of the ground

for other plants as has been said use cardboard

[binley100]

Some of the oldies on our site don't seem to worry too much about the weeds and they still get loads of produce. I think they leave them to camouflage stuff from the wabbits and pigeons. .

[Snadger]

Some of the oldies on our site don't seem to worry too much about the weeds and they still get loads of produce. I think they leave them to camouflage stuff from the wabbits and pigeons. .

I must be an 'oldie' then as I don't seem to get so uptight about weeds these days!
I pull up weeds as I harvest or plant and leave them on the paths to dry out. It helps to mulch the paths and keep the weeds down on these!
Just as a tidy desk is a sign of someone with not enough work to do (my ex gaffer) so a tidy plot is a sign of someone needing a bigger allotment!

[Two_Sheds]

I've also had a huge rash of weeds with the constant rain we've had since August. I don't have the time or the will to be up there 7 hours a day like my (retired) neighbour.

Instead I am pulling out the flowering ones, so they don't set seed.

I'm leaving them until they are big before I pull, because then they shade out smaller weeds.

If you try and have bare soil, you'll always be pulling weeds. As soon as you get some bare soil, fill it with something: crops, green manure or a mulch

On the very worst patches I am mulching with cardboard and wet newspapers, held down with weeds, rocks or binliners full of autumn leaves

[jackyspratty]

I followed the cardboard tip, it works, it works, do it now!!!

Realy cut the work load down and actually made my plot look pretty spick and span! It was great. Covered it with organic mulch, compost, coffee grounds etc can highly reccomend it.

[snakeshack]

i've used a deep straw mulch on 4 beds this year and this reduced the weed load considerably,I plan to dig it in as a soil improver this autumn and re-mulch in the spring

[denise]

I followed the cardboard route when I first got my old allotment, and was amazed how well it worked, keep it down for the winter, right up to getting ready to plant and the soil will be mainly clear with just a few stubborn, but now weaker weeds. Even worked on couch grass!!

[Two_Sheds]

I followed the cardboard tip... Covered it with organic mulch, compost, coffee grounds etc

I put a raised bed down at school yesterday, and rather than get the kids to dig up the weeds (with plastic trowels ) we started a "lasagne bed": layers of brown alternated with layers of green.

I got bags of coffee grounds from Starbucks, scavenged lots of cardboard boxes (photocopy paper) from school, collected staff room teabags, fruit peel etc, got the caretaker to save the swept leaves for us, we mowed our lawn ...then layered it all in the raised bed, which is now half full already (saving us £100 which the topsoil would've cost)

The children are going to collect more leaves & stuff over the weekend (if they remember)

[Liza]

Just a quick tip, get all the staples, labels and tape off before you put it down.

[Glutton4...]

I put a raised bed down at school yesterday, and rather than get the kids to dig up the weeds (with plastic trowels ) we started a "lasagne bed": layers of brown alternated with layers of green.

I got bags of coffee grounds from Starbucks, scavenged lots of cardboard boxes (photocopy paper) from school, collected staff room teabags, fruit peel etc, got the caretaker to save the swept leaves for us, we mowed our lawn ...then layered it all in the raised bed, which is now half full already (saving us £100 which the topsoil would've cost)

The children are going to collect more leaves & stuff over the weekend (if they remember)

I made four raised beds last year, and filled them using a similar method. I layered Chicken coop muckings, grass clippings, fallen leaves, Horse manure and old Compost. I over-wintered Onions and garlic last winter, and they did quite well, considering I left them to it! The level has dropped by about half now, so I've added more layers this year.

I have used my Horse and Chicken feed sacks (two layers of stiff paper) as a mulch, and only had to weed round the edges where the wind has lifted small areas. I have also used these feed sacks to cover the weeded beds in my Dad's garden, as he loses interest easily, so the beds that don't get used are still virtually weed free, saving us time in the future.