couch grass: diligence or acceptance?

[realramona]

Hello
Long preamble, sorry, if you want to skip it then my question is, am I an idiot to pile couch on couch, or since I'm covering it all anyway, doeso it not matter?

Longer:

My new allotment is made up of sunken beds & 3 big mounds of earth (about 2 square metres wide by 1 m high each), which I assume is where the previous tenant piled the earth up from the beds they dug out.
The sunken beds, the paths, the mounds & the rest of the plot is covered in couch grass.

I'm ok with that - I don't expect to get rid of it but I hope to dominate it enough to grow anyway by using mulches & regular hoeing. I have lots of weed fabric & cardboard & plan to cover the majority of the plot this year to weaken the couch, growing through it with big leafy crops like squashes. The soil's excellent underneath the couch & there's lots of worms & insect life so I want to dig it as little as possible.

Before I cover it though I want to level the plot so I'm not covering holes or mounds.

My original idea was to scalp the lumps of their top layer of couch, hopefully find lovely soil underneath, & use that lovely soil to fill the sunken beds back up. It's dawned on me me now though that there's probably couch throughout it all by this point, and my lovely weed free soil is entirely fantasy.

I could diligently sift through the mounds & remove all the couch before back filling the beds,
OR, since I'm going to cover everything anyway, I had the idea of shoveling everything from the mounds, couch & all, into the recesses, accepting that I'm piling couch on couch, & then cover it.

This way I still have loads of couch, but I've covered it all a lot faster (these days are getting longer & lighter even as I type...) and I suppose I get to keep some nutrients from the green couch as that breaks down, too. Next year I'll either remove the weakened couch roots, or have sourced enough compost to start no-dig beds over the top

Long preamble, sorry: my question is, am I an idiot to pile couch on couch, or since I'm covering it all anyway, doeso it not matter?

Thanks for reading!

[Snoop Puss]

I'll be waiting to hear what others say with baited breath...

[Greenleaves]

from experience covering couch grass will have little effect. it is relatively shallow rooted so quite easy to dig up.

I would spend a little time removing as much as possible

[jackarmy]

Yep, agree with GL. Its a bit of a job but its a lot easier to get rid of than marestail, i have both.
So id go with dilligence and a bit of time

[realramona]

Thank you guys - you're right, it's shallow-rootedness will make it a bit less of a job. Much appreciated, cheers!

[Chestnut]

I also go with digging/pulling out as much as possible. In my experience, any bits which then regrew were small enough to dig out easily with a trowel if I did a ‘couch grass patrol’ every week or two...

[Baldy]

You willprobablynever getridofit (sorry space bar is playing up)
But as said its not so bad if you keep on attacking it... for the most part on my plot after a tricky couple of years it is now more compliant with my insistence that it allows me to pull it up and burn (its a weed that I don't compost and attempts to drown it have failed too,so it getsincinerated)

[Bluenowhere]

Also having the battle with the couch but after a year of covering, mulching and digging here is my two penny worth.

Cover with fresh manure then weed matting to block out light and letting it rot down (think it burns the grass which is exactly why you don’t normally use it unrotted - but a great tip by fellow allotmenteer as long as you aren’t wanting to grow anything there in year one) then the roots rot to a great extent which makes it much easier to dig out the remaining mostly dead/highly weakened roots and get good soil for following year. Worth it if you have areas that you really can’t or don’t have time to properly deal with - bonus no annual weeds spreading seeds over everyone.

General mulching pointless as the couch grass grows through.

Covering with thick weed matting - helps but only if you leave for almost a year and still roots to dig out but does kill the mat of grass which really helps if you can’t get a fork into it - yes part of my plot was that bad!

Digging out meticulously - the only way to deal with it. Won’t get rid of all of it but when get re-sprouting can dig up with hand fork etc as inevitably from bits that broke off or you missed. Also encroachment from paths.

In my experience the initial hours spent getting rid of as much as possible is well spent (we started Feb last year) as then in growing season you aren’t in so much of a battle with it swamping every seedling and small plant.

Our opposite allotment neighbour took on a similar state plot and thought a no dig mulch approach was the way to go - guess what plot is back where it started, they are pretty demoralised and most of their crops didn’t grow as they were outcompeted by the couch. So really glad I spent many tens of hours digging!

[Bluenowhere]

As Balder said whatever you do don’t compost the roots you dig up they are very much alive even if they appear otherwise!

[Snoop Puss]

Well, that's me told too. Thanks, guys, from me as well.

[nickdub]

Generally agree with what has already been written. AA few points which may help others if not sdirectly relevant to your weed peoblem. :-

1) its generally best when forking out weeds like couch to concentrate on doing a small area properly , so pick a place to start and fork it over as thoroughly as you can - don't worry about the rest until you have that one sorted.
2) some crops like potatoes can cope with a few weeds and also involve quite bait of digging, so its possible to grow a crop like them inn weedy ground - obviously the worse thing to do is to plant more permanent things like soft fruit in weedy ground.
3) if you have a large flat area and can afford a half year to get it sorted, it may be worth getting a rotavator and just keep going over it especially in dry weather.
4) weed control fabric may help with some weeds but others like say bindweed really need other methods.
5) don't forget to deal with any paths on your plot - weeds will re-invade from these unless they are sorted out as well.

BTW weed roots are usually a good sources of nutrients, drying them out in wire baskets for several months or rotting them down in water tubs allows that nutrient source to be returned to the soil.

[Aberdeenplotter]

My tuppence worth Wait until the couch is growing vigorously and then give it a one off belt of glyphosate. I'm aware there is controversy about this herbicide but it does sort weeds like couch and ground elder.

[1Bee]

Couch is an old friend.

I would vote for pull out as much as you can. It's one of the easiest pernicious weeds to pull out as the roots don't tend to snap, and they pull through loose-ish soil beautifully. I have found that if you go over a patch pretty thoroughly, then wait till what you've missed sprouts, and pull that out too, then it's dead easy. On the plus side, I think soil with a good crop of couch is a) pretty fertile and b) nice and aerated. Worms seem to love it.

I did a no-dig bed last year on new ground which was covered with couch. Piled on thick cardboard, then a deep layer of fresh manure, then black polythene and cut through all of that to plant pumpkins which did really well. I've uncovered it now, and the soil is lovely - but I will still have to dig it as I know once it's exposed to light again the couch will go for it once more... Two years covered might have done it, but I don't want to wait that long.

I three pronged cultivator type tool is FANTASTIC at working over dug soil as it catches the roots and either pulls them out completely or brings an end to the surface so you can grab it.

My couch goes in the dustbin, I'm afraid.

Good luck!

[realramona]

Thanks everyone

Thanks everyone, much appreciated. I'll go the diligent route.
I so wish my predecessors on the plot hadn't dug, or had at least covered, the sunken beds, as now I have couch at two layers of the plot!
At least the roots are satisfying to pull, as you say, and hopefully the mounds will be relatively loose soil. I agree, my experience from a previous plot with fresh green couch was that the soil beneath was pretty good. Once I reached it...
Lots of good advice & experience from you all, just what I expected after months as a lurking reader

[bikermike]

good luck!
Just one thing - if you do rot the weeds down in water, it stinks! (says the man with a bucketful in his garden that he needs to work out how to get out (needs to go through the house) without making everywhere smell).