"Mike Tickle" wrote in message
...
I have just moved to the new house and there is a 7m x 9m plot at the back
of the garden that belongs to us. Sadly for years this has been left and
is
filled with rubble, weeds, nettles, brambles and blackberry bushes (and
something else with red tubers/roots.
I have managed to stack the rubble in a corner (awaiting mini skip) and
remove all the surface weeds (happily burning away in an incinerator I
borrowed from my new neighbour).
So now for the questions...
Is it worth getting a weed lance/flame gun/blow torch on a long pole type
thing to burn of what's left on the surface?

I doubt it. It is the roots of the perennial weeds you have to get at.

I have started double digging the plot

Excellent.

(very hard work)

Yes

and taking out the
weed roots as I go. There are lots of bits of root left - 2" bits of them
that have been cut while I have been digging. Is it OK to leave them in
the
ground or will these bits of root turn in to next years weeds?

You will not get them all out in one go, try though you may.
Wait for the next growing season and then give the reborn weeds a birthday
treat of glyphosate. When correctly applied, that will kill the roots off
without doing any known permanent harm to the soil.

If so will
renting a rotovator/cultivator help or make things worse?

That would simply help distribute bits and pieces of viable weed remnants
like stems and roots.

Does the fact it
has been dry of late help as it will dry out the exposed bits of root, or
is
the rain that's coming going to kick start the weed growing process.

At the moment I am double digging as the roots go that deep and a
rotovator
does not (16cm for the one I have seen). Are there any simpler options?
I
am avoiding chemicals as in spring this will be my veg plot (if I get it
ready in time) - but is this just my lack of knowledge - are there
weedkillers that will kills the nettles and brambles but allow me to plan
in
spring?

Yes. Any glyphosate-based weedkiller like Roundup. It attacks *only* via
the leaves and you can use it amongst growing plants, as long as you
studiously avoid wetting the leaves of desirable plants.


On the prevention side - we back out on to a bit of land that has brambles
on it so I was going to line under the back fence with a damp proof liner
to
stop the weed roots form coming through. Is there any thing more I can
do?
Is there any way to stop the weeds I have disturbed coming back with a
vengeance next year?
I am considering raised beds (since the soil is mostly clay and the plot
is
on a slope) if the roots are buried deep enough will that stop them, or
will
it just take longer?

And looking forward - if you had a 9x7m veg plot that faces east (with a
chain link fence at the east end so it is not in the shade in the morning
and a lattice fence on the west side so it can catch the evening sun until
it goes behind the house) what would you plant (remembering the problem
with
the clay)?

Good luck with getting your new plot going.

By the way, any little areas which you do not intend using immediately will
clear themselves of weeds if you cover them with black polythene for a whole
season, provided that you attend immediately to any weed roots which might
find themselves reaching the edges in their search for light. Very few
plants can stay alive for a whole growing season without any light.

Franz