Quick question:

I going to expand my garden and my veggies area another 400sqm. this
new piece of land has been left to nature and it has a wild flowers,
weeds and a few vines and rumbles... and it is hard like hell. I am
thinking on use some roundup and then use a rotovator... question is
should I first use the weedkiller and then rotovate or the other way
around? can the dead weeds stay in the ground and destroyed by the
rotovator?

any alternative to roundup?

thanks

I going to expand my garden and my veggies area another 400sqm. this
new piece of land has been left to nature and it has a wild flowers,
weeds and a few vines and rumbles... and it is hard like hell. I am
thinking on use some roundup and then use a rotovator... question is
should I first use the weedkiller and then rotovate or the other way
around? can the dead weeds stay in the ground and destroyed by the
rotovator?

any alternative to roundup?

thanks

Several points...

1. I was told that Roundup is the brand name for Glyphosate. It is now no
longer under patent protection so it is generally cheaper to buy the generic
Glyphosate rather than Roundup.

2. You should apply Glyphosate before rotovating because rotovating will
simply chop up and spread certain roots around compounding the weed problem.
A few weeks after rotovating you may need to apply glyphosate again because
rotovating can bring lots of weed seeds to the surface which can then
germinate - I've had this problem myself and acquired a stunning green
blanket of weed seedlings a few weeks after rotovating.

3. It is getting a bit late in the season now. Glyphosate may not be quite
so effective. I think it works by over plant growth somehow which kills the
plants, however this is best done when weeds are growing vigorously anyway.

4. If you have any brambles, dig them and their roots up - glyphosate simply
makes brambles look poorly for a week or two then they recover -
alternatively use a weedkiller specific to brambles.

So in short you may need to make several passes with the soil weedkiller -
rotovator - weedkiller - rotovator etc to make the ground suitable for
gardening and free of weeds. If it is heavy clay you may need to also apply
lime and manure, but not at the same time.

--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the advice.

The weeds there are not vey agressive. I was thinking using the roundup
(or the generic) now and rotovate in 2 weeks time and then do it again
in february. After applying the weedkiller how long do I need to wait
before start using the soil and how far do I need to keep if from the
already cultivated areas (fruit trees, plants and veggies)?

I never used chemical weedkillers, but now this is quite a larger area
and I think I will have to use to speed up the process.

Thank you again...

The weeds there are not vey agressive. I was thinking using the roundup
(or the generic) now and rotovate in 2 weeks time and then do it again
in february. After applying the weedkiller how long do I need to wait
before start using the soil and how far do I need to keep if from the
already cultivated areas (fruit trees, plants and veggies)?

I never used chemical weedkillers, but now this is quite a larger area
and I think I will have to use to speed up the process.

Thank you again...


Sounds OK to me. You should check the label on the weedkiller regarding the
time you need to wait before planting. I think it may need to be longer for
veg than none-edible plants - I don't know if there is any risk of veg
absorbing anything harmful to health. Personally I've recently set a lawn on
ground glyphosated and rotovated only a couple of weeks earlier, and the
grass is thriving. I think glyphosate may be one of those weedkillers that
loses it potency anyway when it touches soil - again check the label -
unfortunately I can't check my label as it is all in French and I'm not that
fluent yet! Just don't use something that lingers in the soil such as sodium
chlorate - that is only suitable for paths.

In my experience of spraying glyphosate it is important not to let any spray
drift onto nearby plants, so I'd do the spraying on a wind free day or when
there is a light breeze away from your already planted area. At any rate I'd
leave a gap of a few feet. If you have a large sheet of cardboard or similar
you can carefully move that along as a barrier with you while spraying
closer to your veg - using that method I managed to spray grass and weeds
that had encroached within about 6 inches of my row of asparagus without
harming the plants.
--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

"mertin" wrote in message
ups.com...
Quick question:

I going to expand my garden and my veggies area another 400sqm. this
new piece of land has been left to nature and it has a wild flowers,
weeds and a few vines and rumbles... and it is hard like hell. I am
thinking on use some roundup and then use a rotovator... question is
should I first use the weedkiller and then rotovate or the other way
around? can the dead weeds stay in the ground and destroyed by the
rotovator?

any alternative to roundup?

thanks

Sodium Chlorate,

use it now, you cannot use the ground for six months so it should be ready
for you next year.

Dave