sticky soil and weeds

[coffee time]

the weathr round here has been rain,rain and rain so i,m just turning the weeded turfs over and burying the weeds until the ground dries out and i can get weeding will this be acceptable as the soil is just sooo sticky

[mandyballantyne]

Hi Coffee Time,

If you cover the ground with cardboard, black plastic etc anything that cuts out the light this will help kill off the weeds. No light no growth.

When you do start to weed just uncover the part you are going to work on bit at a time.

Mandy

[SueA]

Hi Coffee time, as Mandy says you'll need to cover the ground up where you've turned the weeds over & buried them otherwise the perennial ones will just turn round & force their way back up again!

[Two_Sheds]

I dig in my (annual) weeds - call them a green manure

[coffee time]

the bit's i'm not going to get to for a while, would i be alright putting some weedkiller on them before i cover them or would that be a waste of time?

[rustylady]

If you're going to cover them you don't need to use weedkiller. The covers stop the weeds growing by depriving then of light and water. By the way, you should never try to work really wet soil - several reasons, it makes it really hard work, it compacts the soil and spoils the structure and if left like this plant roots will find it really hard to establish. Do you garden on clay soil?

[coffee time]

no soil seems quite normal

[Peter]

Apart from the sorts that poison the ground and allow no growth of any plant, e.g. Sodium Chlorate, weedkillers need the plant to continue trying to grow in order to kill it.

Sounds odd, but that's the way it is.

So yes you would be wasting your time and money.

[coffee time]

thank's for that advice a penny saved etc. just heading down now for a few hour's to enjoy the sun