"Mel" wrote in message
...
"Janet Baraclough" replied

I have to choose between 2 allotments,
Do I choose soggy couch grass or a zillion horsetail?

you can build raised beds for growing in, and never have to worry
about
watering.
The horsetail one will be a long nightmare. I would rather wait
for
another vacancy than take a horsetail plot.

Thanks for the reply, Janet. I'm swaying towards the couch grass
plot
because I know that horsetail is even more of a nightmare!

You can work with the wet couch infested one. After 30 years of
stuggling with insufficient soil depth over soggy boulder clay 10s of
feet deep I've finally bitten the bullet and started converting to
deep beds. You can clear the couch easily and quickly with Roundup -
if you are of the organic persuasion then I suggest you make an
exception and get rid of the couch before you start applying organic
methods. We are preparing the deep beds one at a time, dig the bed as
deep as you can, then apply any organic matter you can get. We then
dig any soil from the area designated for paths between beds and put
that on top of the manure, then make the sides of the beds from
whatever you can get that's cheap, durable and not too unsightly. We
are using thick Larch boards because it grows on trees around here.
Another big plus with deep beds is you can change the nature of the
soil to suit particular crops - in our case we're adding a lot of
grit/sand in some beds for carrots etc. Protecting crops with
enviromesh is also easier if you are growing on a bed system.
--
Rod

My real address is rodtheweedygardeneratmyweedyisp
Just remove the weedy bits
and transplant the appropriate symbol at.

In message , Mel
writes
Hi all, can you please help with my dilemma?

I have to choose between 2 allotments, both of which are in abandoned
states. One site absolutely full of horsetail, and I mean so chock-a-block
that in some places I can hardly get a fork in for the roots. The other
site is full of couch grass and is very wet (I can hear the soil squelching
when I walk on it).

It's between a rock and a hard place! Do I choose soggy couch grass or a
zillion horsetail?

Thanks.

If you don't object to chemicals, glyphosate will see off couch grass.
(In hindsight I ought to have sprayed my allotment when I started,
rather than treating the couch - and dock, creeping thistle, nettle and
other pernicious weeds - by sieving.) Wet could be a problem if it's
still waterlogged after this dry spell. But my back garden (heavy clay)
is also still waterlogged, and does dry out in the summer.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Mel" wrote
Hi all, can you please help with my dilemma?

I have to choose between 2 allotments, both of which are in abandoned
states. One site absolutely full of horsetail, and I mean so
chock-a-block
that in some places I can hardly get a fork in for the roots. The other
site is full of couch grass and is very wet (I can hear the soil
squelching
when I walk on it).

It's between a rock and a hard place! Do I choose soggy couch grass or
a
zillion horsetail?

The Horsetail you can't do anything much about, the couch is easily killed
permanently with glyphosate (Roundup) as that's what it's designed for.
The
alternative is digging it out every year because you won't get it all.
:-(
The soggy soil may be just a winter thing, you will have to ask
neighbours,
but the soil is something you can change over time by using compost, muck,
mushroom compost.....etc.
Our last allotment had Horsetail and being someone who doesn't like weeds
on
his plot I wouldn't want another with it as it never goes away.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London
~~~~~~~~~~~
I agree with Bob totally. Roundup is first class against couch[
'twitch' locally]. Another point ,missed, is that couch is not a grass of
marshes or wetlands but does form a mat and hold water. Hence, it is
probably wet due to the couch. Try not to disturb before application of
roundup and do give at least three weeks to work. Do wait till quite a lot
of new growth is showing. Make it a late year for sowing.
Good Luck Brian.

On Tue, 31 Jan 2006 18:02:45 GMT
Janet Baraclough wrote:

The message
from "Mel" contains these words:
However, the couch grass is also
totally covering the allotment with not a single inch free of it. Both
plots are crap, actually, and I'm wondering if I should bother at all, but
I've been on the waiting list for many years and it could be many more years
before anything else becomes vacant. Decisions, decisions!

You can get rid of couch grass by excluding all light (cardboard
catrons, old wool carpet, old tarpaulins) until it dies.


yes, I've done this with cartons and clippings as per Janet's
suggestion. Worked a trick.

I'd pick the couch grass in a second.

-E
--
Emery Davis
You can reply to ecom
by removing the well known companies

"Mel" wrote in message
...
Hi all, can you please help with my dilemma?

I have to choose between 2 allotments, both of which are in abandoned
states. One site absolutely full of horsetail, and I mean so
chock-a-block
that in some places I can hardly get a fork in for the roots. The other
site is full of couch grass and is very wet (I can hear the soil
squelching
when I walk on it).

It's between a rock and a hard place! Do I choose soggy couch grass or a
zillion horsetail?


It is indeed a hard choice. I would go for the one with the horsetails
though, in summer you will at least be able to hoe off the tops and present
the appearance of having dealt with the weeds.

Briefly.
The couch grass is on runners and is a bugger to hoe.

Although in reality you are almost certainly going to end up with both,
that's how they work. My allotment has both, plus ground elder, nettles, and
bindweed, not to mention raspberry canes escaping from a neighbouring
garden. All coming from various sides and aiming to meet in the middle. I
wouldn't mind if there was a chance they'd have a final confrontation and
destroy each other :-((


All you can do is try to keep them down to a manageable level.

Steve

Go for the couch grass plot every time. My allotment has horsetail and
nearly 10 years of me attacking it just seems to have encouraged its spread
as even a tiny bit of root will grow. Couch was killed off in my first year
by a dose of glyohosate.

PW

"Mel" wrote in message
...
Hi all, can you please help with my dilemma?

I have to choose between 2 allotments, both of which are in abandoned
states. One site absolutely full of horsetail, and I mean so
chock-a-block
that in some places I can hardly get a fork in for the roots. The other
site is full of couch grass and is very wet (I can hear the soil
squelching
when I walk on it).

It's between a rock and a hard place! Do I choose soggy couch grass or a
zillion horsetail?

Thanks.