On Sun, 29 May 2005 18:30:43 +0100, Pam Moore wrote
(in message ):

The prospect is a bit daunting, isn't it!

What bothers me is that if i burn off all visible weeds in the morning (my
low-effort version of hoeing) then there is new stuff showing up the same
evening! So if I leave it a few days, there's a lot more...

Your idea of sinking quite big pots is good, but even then, bindweed
could possibly get in through the drainage holes, though that is
improbable.

Even if that did happen, I could just sacrifice that particular pot and
replace it with something else, and that is still better than trying to
disentagle bindweed from a clump of something growing in the ground. So it
does seem like a workable idea.

My experience with weed covered ground (allotment) has been to spread
black plastic and leave for some months. This will kill the annual
weeds. When I peeled back the plastic, all that was showing was
largely blanched dandelions and bindweed. These greened up after a
few days and then I sprayed with glyphosate.
Leave it long enough for the glyphosate to get down to the roots. They
say the best time to use glyphosate is in September, when the sap is
naturally going down, and it takes the chemical with it.

Ok, that's useful to know. I'll cover it up till September and then be
prepared for whatever is underneath! And maybe just cover it all up again
after that.

I don't see
the need to burn and use a spray. If you want to be organic, then burn
is the alternative.
There will still be annual weeds in the soil but once the worst is
dealt with you can deal with a few more easily. Hoe for 5 minutes
every day rather than an hour once a week! (No, I know the maths isn't
right but you know what I mean!)

Pam in Bristol

I thought the maths was ok. Hoeing for 35 minutes in total IS better than
hoeing for a hour!


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