How to weed...?

[Cosmo and Dibs]

I've weeded a laege bed at my allotment, but the first part that I did has some little weeds regrowing.

The soil has millions of tiny little white stringy things in it (roots?), and iot would be impossible to remove every one.

When you weed do you need to get all the leaves out, too? Or can you just dig them in?

[di]

Roots & shoots(& little white stringy things)~you need to get out as much as you can.
Foliage & annual weeds(so long as there's no seeds)~you can dig in.
Don't get bogged down by trying to get rid of every root in the first attempt...clear it best you can with the time you have(probably no way on earth you'll get it totally clean in the first year anyway!)& then either hoe or pull up weeds as they show.(or at least before they start to smother your crops!)
We're now working on clearing a new plot...although I'm attempting to get out the majority of big roots I just don't have the time to worry about the thinner new seedlings...unfortunately I dug in lots of little tiny bindweed seedlings today,but I know chances are if I fork it through in a few weeks time,before sowing anything,those little tiny seedlings will hopefully be a bit bigger & easier to get out.

[Two_Sheds]

You could waste all your time removing every weed ... and still more will come up.

- Remove flowering weeds first (so they don't spread more seed around)
- Remove large weeds (it's worth letting them get big, because then they shade out other weeds: less work overall)

[Sue]

Hi
However zealous you are about getting rid of your weeds there are more to blow in from other people's plots and the seeds seem to stay in the ground for ever.
Every dock on the plot got dug out 2 years ago but I still get dock seedlings and ditto teasels everywhere. I go mad getting rid of willow herb which seems to have distributed 9 billion seeds around my plot, on and on I go getting rid of it but hey it's still popping up ALL OVER THE PLACE (sorry for shouting) and as for the bindweed - will I ever see the last of it. and I think I know the answer to that one.
And this year I'm going to try that tip with hairspraying dandelion seed heads on the paths and other people's plots - when no-one is looking.
One keeps on weeding, the wind keeps on blowing....
best wishes
Sue