Allotment Digging

[MarkHackwell]

I am currently digging over the Allotment plot but it is increasingly wet so I am unable to get a lot of weeds out (Couch Grass etc.). What would others do? Break it up while going along and taking the weeds out (Seems to be taking a lot of soil out of the ground) or roughly dig it turning the weeds and let the frost break up the soil and then remove the weeds?

[greenishfing]

Personally, unless it is imperative that you do it now I would wait for the ground to dry out a bit. Otherwise you are really doing the job twice.

[Aberdeenplotter]

dig it over, leave it rough as you like, frost will break it down and should be easy to fork over and remove the weeds when the ground dries out in the springtime

[Snoop Puss]

I'm not digging, but I am weeding (grass is out of control). The ground is wet and, as you're finding, a lot of soil is coming out with the roots. I've decided to leave the weeds on the surface as a mulch and hope the rain washes the soil back down through the weeds to the soil surface. I'm not sure I'd do that with couch grass though. I'd probably try to remove that, otherwise, as greenfishing says, you'll be doing the job again later on.

[Thelma Sanders]

Personally, unless it is imperative that you do it now I would wait for the ground to dry out a bit. Otherwise you are really doing the job twice.

I'd leave it as well, standing on it while it is so wet won't do it any good

[Chestnut]

I am definitely a fair weather gardener! We are on clay soil, so standing on it when it’s wet does tend to compact it quite badly, and makes digging all the harder next time.
That said, I have spent a few hours today trowel weeding bits of beds I can reach from the paths - that way there’ll be less to do when it dries out!

[roitelet]

If the soil sticks to your boots the ground is too wet to work!

[SarrissUK]

I'd use the no dig method of laying down thick cardboard, then top it off with plenty of horse muck No need to dig out the weeds.

[ameno]

If the soil sticks to your boots the ground is too wet to work!

In that case, my soil is too wet to dig at all times except when it's dust-dry.
My soil will always still to your boots in thick layers, even when only slightly damp.

[chillithyme]

I had (and still have some) couch grass. When I first took on my allotment it was very wet. I removed the couch grass with soil intact, it was hard to remove the soil as I am on clay, and it was very wet and compacted. I ended up removing the couch grass with attached soil and made a pile of it. The grass was facing downwards, and the roots upwards. In the spring when the pile dried out, it was easier to separate the couch grass from the soil.
NOTE: this was hard, but it meant that as I did a bit at a time over the autumn and winter I was ready in spring to get growing.

[veggiechicken]

I use a fork to loosen around couch grass and pull it up. Very satisfying when you unravel a long length! With a spade you chop the roots and it grows back again.
I wouldn't do it with wet soil though - too sticky.

[greenishfing]

In that case, my soil is too wet to dig at all times except when it's dust-dry.
My soil will always still to your boots in thick layers, even when only slightly damp.

Once upon a time, in the dim and distant past I had a large plot of land in Spain. There were literally four days a year when I could get the ancient rotavater through it ( I inherited the rotovater along with the land). It used to drag me around the plot. You just have to be ready when your soil lets you take advantage of it. The rest of the year it was concrete or bog.

[ameno]

Once upon a time, in the dim and distant past I had a large plot of land in Spain. There were literally four days a year when I could get the ancient rotavater through it ( I inherited the rotovater along with the land). It used to drag me around the plot. You just have to be ready when your soil lets you take advantage of it. The rest of the year it was concrete or bog.

My soil isn't really poorly drained. It just gets very sticky. Even when it's sticky, I can still dig it. It's just removing weeds with fibrous roots (like grasses) without taking a big clod of soil with it is difficult.
And with the amount of digging I have ahead of me, I don't really have time to wait until spring.

[Mark_Riga]

what I tend to do is think where I'm going to plant potatoes, courgette pumpkins squash, things with big leaves or plenty of foliage and not bother too much with the weeds in those area. Generally just digging over before planting out so the crop gets a good head start on the weeds. then dig out the perennial weeds when you have finished harvesting, or in the case of potatoes when harvesting. Mind you I've been doing this for 30+ years and still have some very weedy areas.

[Penellype]

Cover as much of the plot as you can with weed matting or coloured/black plastic sheet (old compost bags will do) and deal with the rest first. When you come to dig where the cover is the annual weeds will have died and the soil will have dried out a bit so you can remove the perennials more easily.