To use a rotervater or not *Please advise*

[FionaH]

Mattock = a truly brilliant bit of kit!

[PAULW]

Nigel, how about if you clear the surface stuff now, then lay cardboard down over it, weighed down with heavy objects (someone on here recently advised me to do this - Zazen I think it was), and just concentrate on making one small plot weed-free for now so that you can get some stuff in now and giving you the motivation to keep going. Then in early spring you can gradually start work on the next bit and the next bit and then the next bit. Before long you will have several beds in action and more to work with. I kind of see getting an allotment (she says not having started work on one at all) as a long term investment, but there's no reason why you cant start small and work upwards

I cannot understand why anyone would recommend covering the plot and leaving it till the spring you have five and a half months of late summer,autumn and winter to prepare the ground most of this time there will be no weed growth and the weeds that do grow will die and can be turned in when preparing the ground for sowing/planting out. By the way I find a fork the best thing to dig with rather than a spade.

[Helgalush]

I cannot understand why anyone would recommend covering the plot and leaving it till the spring you have five and a half months of late summer,autumn and winter to prepare the ground most of this time there will be no weed growth and the weeds that do grow will die and can be turned in when preparing the ground for sowing/planting out. By the way I find a fork the best thing to dig with rather than a spade.

Forgive my mistakes - I'm still learning myself and was trying to summarise my thoughts, but obviously gave duff advice. I was meaning to do little and often and work upwards when one has the time and energy to prepare more. I think perhaps I will keep schtum until I'm more experienced myself. Just trying to be helpful but obviously backfired on this occasion. Happy to stand corrected on my jumbled thinking process.

[taff]

Wel, the way to look at it is, do you want to do a lot of work in one year and not so much in subsequent years, or do you want to do a little the first year and increasing amounts the years following?
You should dig out bramble roots because they will re-sprout. Nettle roots also should be dug out and and definitely bindweed, couch grass and dandelion, in any area you want to grow in, otherwise they'll keep re-sprouting.
Someone here had a couch grass infested allotment so they dug a pit, not sure if it was lined or not, then threw all the diggings in there, covered it over, left it for a year and hey presto, they had a not-so-instant bed full of compost.
I do a similar thing with my weeds. They either go in a big pot full of water to drown, thus giving me a liquid fertiliser for plants, or into a plastic bin to rot giving me extra compost. Nettles can be drowned for a nitrogen rich liquid feed for cabbages etc.
It will be hard work to start with, but as long as you know that and accept it to start with, the rest isn't so bad. Plus, think of the extra body toning you'll be doing with all that excercise

[taff]

I think perhaps I will keep schtum until I'm more experienced myself. Just trying to be helpful but obviously backfired on this occasion.

don't be silly. I gibe people advice all the time and I'm wrong too sometimes It is sound advice, just that you were given it at the middle of summer, he has all winter to work on his plot, so slightly different, but basically, sound advice so keep giving it, just bear in mind the time of year is all

[Helgalush]

don't be silly. I gibe people advice all the time and I'm wrong too sometimes It is sound advice, just that you were given it at the middle of summer, he has all winter to work on his plot, so slightly different, but basically, sound advice so keep giving it, just bear in mind the time of year is all

Thanks, I dont know what I was thinking really - probably because I've convinced myself its autumn already. I also get a bit of a foggy head at times, so do make mistakes with my thought process. Apologies for detracting from the topic here and getting it a little wrong.

I'm enjoying reading everyone's replies. Had no idea what a mattock was!

[ixithepatriot]

Using a rotovator will save you a lot of time and hard work applying a glyphosate based weedkiller a week or 2 before hand then rotovating should help with the weed problem as this kills the whole plant on the brambles you just have to follow the instructions given on the weedkiller to apply the right dose to kill them off.

i recently done this a few weeks ago in my back garden then grass seeded the lot i recommend the barreto rotovator has decent power and had no probem ripping out old privet hedge roots while turning the soil most hire places should have one.

Barreto 13 hp roto tiller in action! - YouTube

[chris]

Looks a bit of a beast!

Welcome to the forum

[Two_Sheds]

applying a glyphosate based weedkiller a week or 2 before hand then rotovating should help with the weed problem as this kills the whole plant

You need to leave the plants a lot longer than that* for them to die: the poison needs to get through the plant's system to the roots, to kill it all. If you chop up (rotovate) perennial weeds before they're dead, they will regrow

Glypho also needs to be applied when the plant is full of growth. I hear of people strimming their weeds to the ground and then applying glypho: completely pointless


* annual weeds will die fairly quickly, but things like bramble, ivy etc will take weeks and possibly several applications

[ixithepatriot]

You need to leave the plants a lot longer than that* for them to die: the poison needs to get through the plant's system to the roots, to kill it all. If you chop up (rotovate) perennial weeds before they're dead, they will regrow

Glypho also needs to be applied when the plant is full of growth. I hear of people strimming their weeds to the ground and then applying glypho: completely pointless


* annual weeds will die fairly quickly, but things like bramble, ivy etc will take weeks and possibly several applications

i believe if you spray the correct doses of glyphosate you will see the effects in a week on the annual weeds and again using correct doses you will see the effects on the likes of brambles on 2 weeks many people will just spray brambles using the same dose as annuals this will simply kill the foliage but not the overall plant and therefor say its doesnt work when im talking about glyphosate im not talking about the weak versions that b and q, and homebase sell im talking about the likes of round up pro biactive 360/450 or rosate.

strimming weeds is not pointless in very overgrown areas bigger weeds will act as umbrellas to weeds underneath so strimming or cutting before hand can help overcome this and through experience would say that it doesnt have any lesser effect as this is common practice at my work in areas we weedkill

[Two_Sheds]

I'm sure it works for you Ixi

... but our contracted works chap glyphoed the couch grass & horsetail, then immediately laid membrane and 2" bark chippings over the top. It's all coming back up through

[zazen999]

I cannot understand why anyone would recommend covering the plot and leaving it till the spring you have five and a half months of late summer,autumn and winter to prepare the ground most of this time there will be no weed growth and the weeds that do grow will die and can be turned in when preparing the ground for sowing/planting out. By the way I find a fork the best thing to dig with rather than a spade.

If you read Helga's post - it doesn't say cover and leave until spring - it says 'Then you can gradually start work on the next bit and the next bit and then the next bit. Before long you will have several beds in action and more to work with.' The covering is to stop anything from growing and smothering anything that is growing in the meantime.

HTH

[ixithepatriot]

I'm sure it works for you Ixi

... but our contracted works chap glyphoed the couch grass & horsetail, then immediately laid membrane and 2" bark chippings over the top. It's all coming back up through

Should have worked no problem with the couch grass, Marestail (horsetail) is a different matter this is a problem weed just spraying glyphosate over it isnt enough as will have very little if any effect

[zazen999]

im talking about the likes of round up pro biactive 360/450 or rosate.

Yummy. Sounds just the sort of thing that fruit and veg appreciate getting their roots into.

Or not.

[ixithepatriot]

Yummy. Sounds just the sort of thing that fruit and veg appreciate getting their roots into.

Or not.

The advice was given as to help clear overgrown piece of land nothing was mentioned about spraying when fruit or veg was present and if your talking about the lasting effects of using it on soil which is going to be used for edible crops then maybe you should look into it.

no need for the scaremongering post