What do I do with this stuff?

[buzzingtalk]

Hey all...just wondering if you all had any ideas as to what to do with this lovely pile of stuff? I have clay soil on my allotment and this is all the top level of soil that i've been digging...Most of it clumps of weed. I can't shake the soil off to kill them in the usual way (a hearty bonfire) so I was trying to figure out what to do with it? There's some couch grass in there as well as other perennial weeds.

Thanks all

[Aberdeenplotter]

If there is couch in it, leave it in a heap and shake it about from time to time. Little and often

[buzzingtalk]

It's really heavy clay so the soil isn't going anywhere have already had some of it piled up for a few months and its still the same. Would it help to bag it up so it dried out?

[buzzingtalk]

I have a sort of store cupboard on the side of my shed, that is very dark. I could bag this stuff up and leave it in there for however long...but surely the clay will just go hard and be hard to shake off? There's 4 big mounds of this stuff now and its damn heavy and getting in the way of my digging/manuring so need it out of the way soon...

[Aberdeenplotter]

if it's out in the frost, the clods should break down. ALternatively, spread it out, wait for the perennial weeds to start into growth in the spring and then belt it with round up. Drastic but effective

[Bigmallly]

Put a flame gun to it.

[Glutton4...]

If you really don't want it, take it to the tip.

If you bag it, it will sweat - there will be some moisture in it, however dry it looks.

If you have time, dry it out, bit by bit, and pull out the couch grass. The frost will break it down beautifully, but you'll always have the couch grass to deal with.

I wouldn't have dug it out. I'd have left it in situ, covered it with sheets of cardboard, and manures over the top...

[alldigging]

Cover and leave for as long as possible.

You could if you have tons of enthusiasm re-pile it in a year with layers of muck, grass cuttings etc. And then leave it for another year.

[4390evans]

We had loads last year off skimming the lawn, we mostly used it to build up raised beds put a cover over it then decent soil on the top and use it for veg etc.

We tried to burn ours to but it didnt do much

[buzzingtalk]

I usually burn weeds but this has way too much clay to ignite, even with accelerant help haha.

I'm trying to dig my plot over before it gets too cold to be digging clay - so need it gone or at least taking up a very, very small surface area of my plot, so spreading it thinly to dry it out isn't an option as there's just too much of it. I hate wasting things though, and can't imagine the pain my back will endure carrying this all to my van/to the dump, so I'm going to try and find somewhere to dump it out of the way for now. There's a raised bed I'm going to build at the back of the plot (about 7mx1.5m) for my soft fruit - it's going to be covered with plants growing through holes cut into weed membrane from my old plot. So I might bag it all up for now and stash it away, and use it as the first layer once my bed is built. After all it won't matter what is under the membrane as it will be covered by membrane and a thick mulch

[buzzingtalk]

Thanks all for your suggestions!

@Aberdeen plotter - I don't use chemicals, particularly roundup, although I've had to use it at work and it certainly does the trick! I just like to do things the organic (or long winded, depending on who's talking!) way

[Bigmallly]

Just an afterthought, when you come to moving it, would it pay to put some of the weeds into a dustbin of water & make some tea for next year.