Hello all

My vegetable garden is swamped in weeds
with very fine hair roots
that are almost impossible to clear by simply digging out.
I think they arrived in the manure a local farmer gave me.
They just keep reappearing year after year
and tend to elbow out young veg seedlings etc.

Does covering the ground with plastic tarpaulin
over winter and early spring actually help ?

Best regards
Ray

(.¿.)

On Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:55:30 +0100, "Raymond RUSSELL"
wrote:


Hello all

My vegetable garden is swamped in weeds
with very fine hair roots
that are almost impossible to clear by simply digging out.
I think they arrived in the manure a local farmer gave me.
They just keep reappearing year after year
and tend to elbow out young veg seedlings etc.

Does covering the ground with plastic tarpaulin
over winter and early spring actually help ?


It should keep the ground weed free but the minute you remove it
they'll regrow unless you keep it on for a long time.

Grow something that'll swamp them out quickly.
In summer courgettes and pumpkins cover soil quickly ...
Spring - but harder. But why not plant things out and give them
cardboard circles like you might to stop root fly? And then mulch
round them with straw, grass cuttings etc?

Do you know what the weeds are?
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

mogga wrote in
:

On Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:55:30 +0100, "Raymond RUSSELL"
wrote:


Hello all

My vegetable garden is swamped in weeds
with very fine hair roots
that are almost impossible to clear by simply digging out.
I think they arrived in the manure a local farmer gave me.
They just keep reappearing year after year
and tend to elbow out young veg seedlings etc.

Does covering the ground with plastic tarpaulin
over winter and early spring actually help ?


It should keep the ground weed free but the minute you remove it
they'll regrow unless you keep it on for a long time.

Grow something that'll swamp them out quickly.
In summer courgettes and pumpkins cover soil quickly ...
Spring - but harder. But why not plant things out and give them
cardboard circles like you might to stop root fly? And then mulch
round them with straw, grass cuttings etc?

Do you know what the weeds are?

If the weeds have seeded they will grow very quickly after the tarpaulin is
removed in spring. You will have to hoe and sometimes hand pick them. We
all have to do this to some extent. Manure is a bugger for weeds IME but we
have to have it I think.

Mogga's idea with cardboard and then mulch works well for me but watch out
for slugs, they love it under there. This is the best bet even so IMO.

Very best of luck.
Baz

On Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:08:02 GMT, Baz wrote:


Grow something that'll swamp them out quickly.
In summer courgettes and pumpkins cover soil quickly ...
Spring - but harder. But why not plant things out and give them
cardboard circles like you might to stop root fly? And then mulch
round them with straw, grass cuttings etc?

Do you know what the weeds are?

If the weeds have seeded they will grow very quickly after the tarpaulin is
removed in spring. You will have to hoe and sometimes hand pick them. We
all have to do this to some extent. Manure is a bugger for weeds IME but we
have to have it I think.

Mogga's idea with cardboard and then mulch works well for me but watch out
for slugs, they love it under there. This is the best bet even so IMO.

Very best of luck.
Baz


We should be treating for slugs still apparently. They're out on the
milder nights still. Part of an all year round slug management
solution.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

On 31/10/2012 11:26, Martin wrote:
On Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:55:30 +0100, "Raymond RUSSELL"
wrote:


Hello all

My vegetable garden is swamped in weeds
with very fine hair roots
that are almost impossible to clear by simply digging out.
I think they arrived in the manure a local farmer gave me.
They just keep reappearing year after year
and tend to elbow out young veg seedlings etc.

Does covering the ground with plastic tarpaulin
over winter and early spring actually help ?

Yes, it helps to get rid of some of the weeds.

I'd would use the "Stale seed bed" technique.
Work the ground as normal and get it ready to plant or sow seeds into,
then let a flush of weed come through, hit them with Weedol; a contact
weed killer then plant or sow a couple of days later with as little soil
disturbance as possible.

On Wednesday, October 31, 2012 12:08:02 PM UTC, Baz wrote:
mogga di wrote in
:
On Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:55:30 +0100, "Raymond RUSSELL"
russell.ray wrote:


Hello all

My vegetable garden is swamped in weeds
with very fine hair roots
that are almost impossible to clear by simply digging out.
I think they arrived in the manure a local farmer gave me.
They just keep reappearing year after year
and tend to elbow out young veg seedlings etc.

Does covering the ground with plastic tarpaulin
over winter and early spring actually help ?

Cardboard works well, just leave it in place and it rots down. If you put a layer of compostables under it, so much the better.



removed in spring. You will have to hoe and sometimes hand pick them. We
all have to do this to some extent. Manure is a bugger for weeds IME but we
have to have it I think.

There are ways to avoid weeding, such as cardboard, or plants that swamp weeds, or plants tall enough to not care.


NT

In article , David Hill
writes
I'd would use the "Stale seed bed" technique.
Work the ground as normal and get it ready to plant or sow seeds into,
then let a flush of weed come through, hit them with Weedol; a contact
weed killer then plant or sow a couple of days later with as little
soil disturbance as possible.

It might be a good idea just to identify the weeds first. For instance
are they really perennials or maybe very fertile annuals that are self
seeding quickly like bittercress.
--
Janet Tweedy

In article , Martin
writes
This is sufficient to stop even persistent weeds regrowing, but is
soft enough to cut through with a trowel when you are ready to plant
pot-grown veg and fruit.


No it isn't I put 4 layers of whole newspapers over ground elder then
topped with soil, in the end it was about 2 foot higher than the path.
So I let it grow and went in UNDER the roots as they don't seem to be
deep growing and lifted the ground elder out. Actually it worked that
way but I can say covering ground elder doesn't work terribly well
--
Janet Tweedy

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , Martin
writes
This is sufficient to stop even persistent weeds regrowing, but is
soft enough to cut through with a trowel when you are ready to plant
pot-grown veg and fruit.


No it isn't I put 4 layers of whole newspapers over ground elder then
topped with soil, in the end it was about 2 foot higher than the path.
So I let it grow and went in UNDER the roots as they don't seem to be deep
growing and lifted the ground elder out. Actually it worked that way but
I can say covering ground elder doesn't work terribly well
--
The only way I got ground elder out of my garden was to dig it out and then
carefully sift the soil for any broken roots as I found it will grow again
from the tiniest root left.
It took a while but I am now free of it. Although it's now approaching
again from next door :-(

On Sun, 04 Nov 2012 14:38:27 +0100, Martin wrote:


We are more interested in getting rid of couch grass.


It's called bermuda grass in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynodon_dactylon

Doesn't make it any easier to get rid of but sounds so much more
exotic.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

On 05/11/2012 16:23, Martin wrote:
On Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:17:05 +0000, mogga
wrote:

On Sun, 04 Nov 2012 14:38:27 +0100, Martin wrote:


We are more interested in getting rid of couch grass.


It's called bermuda grass in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynodon_dactylon

Wrong couch grass
The weed is Elymus repens
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/...e.aspx?pid=283


Doesn't make it any easier to get rid of but sounds so much more
exotic.

I must wear Couch shorts to do the weeding.

I don't know.
On "The weakest link " the other day the question was
Name a type of shorts named after a Caribbean island
The answer given was "Hot Pants"
One of the lost islands of the Caribbean?

In article , Martin
writes
I must wear Couch shorts to do the weeding.


Well only if it's a couch triangle hoe!

Gives a whole new look to the Bermuda potato
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article , David Hill
writes
I don't know.
On "The weakest link " the other day the question was
Name a type of shorts named after a Caribbean island
The answer given was "Hot Pants"
One of the lost islands of the Caribbean?


Guadeloupe must be the ones that hang down in a baggy sort of manner and
goodness knows how tight British Virgin shorts must be worn!


--
Janet Tweedy

In article ,
David Hill wrote:

On "The weakest link " the other day the question was
Name a type of shorts named after a Caribbean island
The answer given was "Hot Pants"
One of the lost islands of the Caribbean?

Well, it's as good an answer as any. I can't answer that, and I don't
think there IS an answer! Bermuda is not in the Caribbean.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 11/5/2012 12:30 PM, wrote:
In article ,
David Hill wrote:

On "The weakest link " the other day the question was
Name a type of shorts named after a Caribbean island
The answer given was "Hot Pants"
One of the lost islands of the Caribbean?

Well, it's as good an answer as any. I can't answer that, and I don't
think there IS an answer! Bermuda is not in the Caribbean.

No, but Jamaica is. Jamaica shorts are a bit shorter than Bermudas.