Rick wrote:
On Mon, 16 May 2005 11:39:39 +0100, "Paul D.Smith"
wrote:

I find nettles far less resilient that you might imagine. I would
expect a good rotavate and rake to get rid of most of them without
the need for chemicals.

They have done very well where the Excavator has been running over
the
garden

And they'll do even better after a rotavator has done its stuff:
wonderful tools, from a perennial plant's point of view. Expect also
a beautiful crop of dandelions, and sheer delight if you have any
bindweed in there. My understanding is that the rotavator industry is
heavily sponsored by the National Union of Perennial Weeds and Allied
Trades. But if there are a lot of wheeltracks, there may be no
alternative on such a big area.

The trouble with raking after rotavating is that unless the soil
condition is just right, you get big lumps which are exhausting to
work.


Of course chemicals will also help against the other weeds that
might be around. Depends on whether you want an organic garden,
or
not.

BTW, nettles are good activators in a compost heap as well as
attracting various insects so you might want to keep a patch
around.

The neighbor has plenty :-)

If the area was even, I'd try mowing the nettles off a few times to
let the grass take over: one weed you don't typically find in an
established lawn is the nettle, because they don't like the regular
cutting. For the first cut, an ordinary mower wouldn't do: you'd need
to hire a clearing mower or a motor scythe. But it sounds as though
it isn't a level surface, so you may indeed need to use a herbicide
if it's too big a job to level first. In that case, the thing is to
mow as short as possible, wait for new leaves to sprout well, then
hit them with the glyphosate: you can't realistically spray half an
acre of fully-grown nettles.

Confronted with a similar problem, though on a smaller area, I just
took my courage in both hands, put on a thick shirt and gloves, and
pulled out all the top growth by hand. I got stung on the face more
often than I could reasonably enjoy, but quite a lot of root came up
with the stems. I then raked over, picking up any loose bits of root
and pulling out any projecting ends. Not a few young nettles came up
with the grass I then sowed, but a combination of pulling out and
regular mowing removed the problem soon enough. That's the way I'd
want to do it; but half an acre's an awful lot.

--
Mike.