Rotivator - yay or nay

[eieio]

My plot needs some serious help. Last year was my first year and I am a total novice I dug out areas and planted - got some good results, but other areas went a little wild as I could dig fast enough. Was thinking of hiring a rotivator this year, cover it over and then take off the covering as I plant etc so I don't get over run with weeds and jungle like stuff when not planted in.

I am thinking as well as putting in paths as there is non at the moment, and am thinking this might be better than raised beds??

[jacob marley]

If you rotavate and then cover that should not be a problem and when you plant leave plenty of room every 2or 3 rows tread down the [paths and at the end of the season the roatavator will chew them up again thats is what i do and it seems to work ok good luck....jacob

[Hans Mum]

i do as jacob suggests but i got hold of some s/h scaffoldings planks so use these as paths then lift them to rotavate the whole area & lay them down again, means i can alter my bed layout if i want to

[ladylottie]

i do as jacob suggests but i got hold of some s/h scaffoldings planks so use these as paths then lift them to rotavate the whole area & lay them down again, means i can alter my bed layout if i want to

Yes, I do the above as well. I'm not really keen on raised beds (wastes space and more places for slugs to lurk as far as I'm concerned) and the scaffolding boards mean I can change my mind about the size of the beds same as HansMum.

[Alison]

Before you rotivate have a look at what types of weeds you have. I have tonnes of bind weed, mare's tail and couch grass, if I rotivated each bit of root would regenerate as a separate plant. I therefore don't rotivate.

My approach was to cut back to ground level and cover and then dig and plant as I uncovered. It worked well and I managed half the plot that way. The other half will be done this year.

[Lazgaot]

Exactly what Alison said, you've got to know what weeds you have first. I've almost (fingers crossed) got rid of all the bind weed, couch grass, dock and dandelion on my plot but it meant spending at least 6-7 hrs on each bed, 1.2 x 8m, and I've got 10 beds!

My neighbouring alotmenteer went through her plot with a rotovator and it looked great for a week,then everything came back and she had to do it all by hand and its still not finished 100%.

[PAULW]

So lets get this right you spent all Sept, Oct, Nov rough digging your plot and removing all the noxious weeds and now it has become overgrown after all that work you put in.