Help!

[*Lavender*]

I need some help & advice please!

This will be our 3rd year on the plot (well, really only 2nd as we got it at the end of the year, plus half of it was only returned to us last year after the water board had been working on it).

Anyway, it's never really got off to a good start, and we are still overwhelmed by weeds. We've had weedkiller, tried digging out as much as we could and also burned them. Our plot had been unused for a number of years, and I realise it will take a lot of time and hard work to finally be "weed free", but last year we just couldn't keep up.

Last year it seemed to take ages before we could do any work, as it was very wet (raining nearly every day), and as the soil is heavy clay, we couldn't really do much until it dried out, and then the weeds took off before we could get our stuff in.

I'm looking for ideas of the best things to grow this year. I think I made a mistake last year with too many things, not enough time to get areas prepared and the seedlings in, and then they suffered from sitting around in pots & seed trays for too long. I don't have a greenhouse and find this hinders me as well. A lot of things I don't like to sow direct on the plot as the soil is cold & wet, then there's slugs etc and a lot gets eaten before it has a chance to establish. But then I'm left with loads of seed trays and no room to put them anywhere (we have a tiny garden!).

I think I'm going to give things like onions a miss, as last year they were swamped with weeds, so thinking things like loads of potatoes which will crowd out the weeds.

Any ideas of the best things to concentrate on this year before I give up?! I'm feeling just a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

Many thanks!

[Thelma Sanders]

Your plot will never be weed free, weeds are not something that you clear after a year or 2. You just have to keep weeding to stop them ever getting big, a hoe is the easiest way I find, you can clear a quite big area in a little while with one of those
You could fill it all with potatoes but the weed seed will still grow when the potatoes are lifted, that's just how thing are. You could cover some of your ground with cardboard or weed control fabric and plant though that, if you really can't keep up.

[rustylady]

I agree with Thelma - your plot will never be completely weed-free. Potato foliage will help shade some of them out a bit, but it's the cultivation of the soil involved in growing potatoes (e.g. earthing up) that really gets rid of the weeds. Courgettes and squash have big leaves too.

What type of weeds are we talking about?

[Nicos]

We grew strawberries through weed control membrane in a bed designated esp for strawberries.
Also we initially made raised beds- no boarding, just made paths 4 feet apart and chucked the soil to one side to create the 4 ft wide bed. They were about6" higher than the paths and so dried out and warmed up faster .Worth a try for the next couple of years at least!
Mulch with straw where you can to suppress the weeds!
I agree - onions are a pain to weed!

As RL asks- what sort of weeds?

[*Lavender*]

Thanks.

We have the usual buttercups, thistle, nettles, dock, chickweed I think, couch grass, some kind of spurge? but the worst is marestail (horse tail?). The ground is absolutely matted with networks of the rope-like straggly roots. Every time I dig I try and remove as much as I can, but deep down the ground is heavily compacted by these roots netting everything together. Not sure what the best way to deal with it is, other than chop it off every time a new bit surfaces, and try and dig out as much as I can when I can! I know we'll never be absolutely free of weeds, but I was finding last year that the weeds were so many and we couldn't keep up and they ended up swamping our plants!

I think this year I need to cut back on all the different types of things I want to grow, stop myself being overwhelmed with a whole load of things, and just try and spend as much time weeding things out before they grow too big!

I think it might also be easier to split the plot into "beds", either a proper made bed with sides, or just as Nicos did and just chuck the soil into an "area". Though I think dp just likes to plough the whole plot (even though I told him this would make the weed problem worse *rolls eyes*).

I'm wondering if I should invest in some weed suppressing membrane, or try and source huge sheets of cardboard, to help us out?

[Two_Sheds]

try and source huge sheets of cardboard...?

you definitely need to get a thick mulching material down on those areas you aren't working yet. Stop the light getting to the weeds and they will be significantly weakened. Then you can dig out the roots as you need to (when you need the area for planting).

It may take you several months to get there: but if you don't cover them, they'll only get stronger.

[Piggle]

my sympathies - I have horsetail by the mile and the only way to get it is just keep pulling it up. Whatever you do don't rotivate it ( my first mistake ) as it just divides and conquers!

This is my 4th proper year and I can still have days were it's all I harvest!

I have heard that nastusiums swamp it out but I can't say I have ever tried it myself. It does however make a very good decotion against fungal disaease - I plan to make some myself this year.

[Two_Sheds]

I have heard that nastusiums swamp it out

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...lem_51276.html

Anything that will shade it out will help to control it: but bits will still find cracks of light and spring up through them, so pull those up (fork the roots out)

nectar bar before & after | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[Kaiya]

I sympathise - I lost the fight to weeds last year, and I don't even have any proper nasties like horsetail (I have one patch of couch). As an emergency method we bought water 'permeable' weed suppressing membrane and covered 75% of the plot in the autumn. Now it's spring, and as I need space I uncover bits. Underneath it my clay-based soil is weed free (so far) fluffy, loads of huge worms in the top 6 inches of soil, it's not sodden (the 'permeable' membrane actually sheds water more than it lets it through) and a joy to work with. Apparently it's supposed to be a haven for pests but so far I've lifted 20-25 square metres of fabric and I've found two small stripey slugs and one caterpillar.

The 25% of the plot I didn't cover is hard packed (probably because I walked on it more) covered in new weeds and the soil is too damp to hoe (just end up squishing rather than cutting weeds) and when I dig I see very few worms.

The membrane is expensive, but it lasts for a long time and has uses in paths or elsewhere. Cardboard and mulch would be cheaper but I couldn't rustle up enough last autumn. Cutting the plastic and planting through it isn't ideal as it is the woven kind that gives you tape cassette ribbons if you start messing with it. Plus it's an emergency measure, not my ideal solution. My plan is to replace the plastic with biodegradable mulches as I go.

Re: onions and weeds - my onions got smothered by weeds last year (pot marigolds, groudsel, chickweed and borage are my weeds) and I still got a crop and some of them even overwintered accidentally. This year my over-wintered onions have been mulched by a half-hearted mulch of grass and oak leaves (all I had handy) - I need to top it up but so far, no weeds.

Re: beds - I have the 'chuck the soil in a heap' beds and I love them - I let the paths do what they want (mostly grass and chickweed) and concentrate on the beds. Groundsel is the only plant I have to attack on the paths as it's a speedy little self-sower.

Although membrane isn't everyone's cup of tea I was getting terribly despondent with a uncontrolled plot and it got me down at times; now I can't get enough of the plot and with planning I'll be able to switch over to a less artificial mulching method over time.

[di]

I've found that log/wood piles and cardboard have been my best way to smother weeds. Not sure whether it's the weight or the fact they let moisture in, or a combination of both. areas that I covered with either plastic or sheets of metal were rock hard when I lifted them just a few weeks ago.

I've not come across any but am keeping my eyes peeled for some old doors, unpainted, which I plan on laying on the few unworked areas I have left. Once they've done the job they can be used for compost heaps/fencing.

Onions are a total pain to weed, and I don't dare hoe them anymore as I've suffered too much fatality amongst them when I accidentally catch one. Going to try grass clippings this year.

As Rusty Lady says, squash are great for smothering weeds.

I can sympathise with you re weeds, my plot no.2 used to be worked by a rotovator happy chap....his way of 'tackling' weeds was to give up on the veggies he'd planted and rotovate the ground into a fine tilth and start again Three years on and I'm finally getting there as far as undoing his weed multiplying, it's taken lots of digging and pulling and smothering though and I know the battle's going to be an ongoing one, but it does get easier.

[taff]

get yourself down to the supermarket or large outlet or large electrical supplier, and take some cardboard away with you. Take lots, lots more than you think you need, then put it on the ground, water it, or weight it down with something if you think it's going to blow away.
Don't butt it up next to each bit, overlap it.
If you can get hold of something to mulch on top of it, spread it as deeply as you can, and plant through it for this year.
Have a look here
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ment_5573.html
for advanced mulching which will show you hopefully what you can have instead of sticky clayey wet soil

[Kaiya]

I can sympathise with you re weeds, my plot no.2 used to be worked by a rotovator happy chap....his way of 'tackling' weeds was to give up on the veggies he'd planted and rotovate the ground into a fine tilth and start again Three years on and I'm finally getting there as far as undoing his weed multiplying, it's taken lots of digging and pulling and smothering though and I know the battle's going to be an ongoing one, but it does get easier.

The chap who has the plot closest to our house does this - he blitzes it with weedkiller (killing the grass path and his neighbour's first row of spuds in the process), then rotovates. I'll be interested to see what he does this spring. Initially we wanted his plot (it looked neglected, if we put a gate in the garden fence we'd literally walk out onto it) but after seeing what he's done I think our further away little plot is better.