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clearing waste land to plant new veg garden
"Mike Tickle" wrote in message ... I have just moved to the new house and there is a 7m x 9m plot at the back of the garden that belongs to us. Sadly for years this has been left and is filled with rubble, weeds, nettles, brambles and blackberry bushes (and something else with red tubers/roots. I have managed to stack the rubble in a corner (awaiting mini skip) and remove all the surface weeds (happily burning away in an incinerator I borrowed from my new neighbour). So now for the questions... Is it worth getting a weed lance/flame gun/blow torch on a long pole type thing to burn of what's left on the surface? I doubt it. It is the roots of the perennial weeds you have to get at. I have started double digging the plot Excellent. (very hard work) Yes and taking out the weed roots as I go. There are lots of bits of root left - 2" bits of them that have been cut while I have been digging. Is it OK to leave them in the ground or will these bits of root turn in to next years weeds? You will not get them all out in one go, try though you may. Wait for the next growing season and then give the reborn weeds a birthday treat of glyphosate. When correctly applied, that will kill the roots off without doing any known permanent harm to the soil. If so will renting a rotovator/cultivator help or make things worse? That would simply help distribute bits and pieces of viable weed remnants like stems and roots. Does the fact it has been dry of late help as it will dry out the exposed bits of root, or is the rain that's coming going to kick start the weed growing process. At the moment I am double digging as the roots go that deep and a rotovator does not (16cm for the one I have seen). Are there any simpler options? I am avoiding chemicals as in spring this will be my veg plot (if I get it ready in time) - but is this just my lack of knowledge - are there weedkillers that will kills the nettles and brambles but allow me to plan in spring? Yes. Any glyphosate-based weedkiller like Roundup. It attacks *only* via the leaves and you can use it amongst growing plants, as long as you studiously avoid wetting the leaves of desirable plants. On the prevention side - we back out on to a bit of land that has brambles on it so I was going to line under the back fence with a damp proof liner to stop the weed roots form coming through. Is there any thing more I can do? Is there any way to stop the weeds I have disturbed coming back with a vengeance next year? I am considering raised beds (since the soil is mostly clay and the plot is on a slope) if the roots are buried deep enough will that stop them, or will it just take longer? And looking forward - if you had a 9x7m veg plot that faces east (with a chain link fence at the east end so it is not in the shade in the morning and a lattice fence on the west side so it can catch the evening sun until it goes behind the house) what would you plant (remembering the problem with the clay)? Good luck with getting your new plot going. By the way, any little areas which you do not intend using immediately will clear themselves of weeds if you cover them with black polythene for a whole season, provided that you attend immediately to any weed roots which might find themselves reaching the edges in their search for light. Very few plants can stay alive for a whole growing season without any light. Franz |
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