Hi. I'm new here, and I want to be a gardener but so far have been
hopeless at it.

We live in the north and have a moderately large garden, which was
derelict when we moved in ten years ago, and we are very very slowly
reclaiming it - it was all brambles and raspberry canes when we moved
in.

We've done the bit nearest the house and are in the process of killing
off the rough grass (think couch grass and horsetail) in the area
beyond. We are thinking of just sowing grass on this bit while we think
what to do. When it's dead (after its second application of weed
killer) what do we do then? Dig it over, I presume, but what do we do
with the dead stuff? As it's so full of nasty stuff, should we take it
to the local dump?

TIA
--
Jill the terrified gardener

"Postmaster" wrote in message
...
Hi. I'm new here, and I want to be a gardener but so far have been
hopeless at it.

We live in the north and have a moderately large garden, which was
derelict when we moved in ten years ago, and we are very very slowly
reclaiming it - it was all brambles and raspberry canes when we
moved
in.

We've done the bit nearest the house and are in the process of
killing
off the rough grass (think couch grass and horsetail) in the area
beyond. We are thinking of just sowing grass on this bit while we
think
what to do. When it's dead (after its second application of weed
killer) what do we do then? Dig it over, I presume, but what do we
do
with the dead stuff? As it's so full of nasty stuff, should we take
it
to the local dump?

If you had used either glyphosate or paraquat, compost or dig in the
dead stuff. Those two very effective weedkillers attack only the
green parts of plants and both are inactivated quite quickly once they
are in the soil. If you had used some other persistent chemical, you
should get it out of your garden one way or another.

Franz

In article , Franz Heymann
writes

"Postmaster" wrote in message
snipped some

We've done the bit nearest the house and are in the process of
killing
off the rough grass (think couch grass and horsetail) in the area
beyond. We are thinking of just sowing grass on this bit while we
think
what to do. When it's dead (after its second application of weed
killer) what do we do then? Dig it over, I presume, but what do we
do
with the dead stuff? As it's so full of nasty stuff, should we take
it
to the local dump?

If you had used either glyphosate or paraquat, compost or dig in the
dead stuff. Those two very effective weedkillers attack only the
green parts of plants and both are inactivated quite quickly once they
are in the soil. If you had used some other persistent chemical, you
should get it out of your garden one way or another.

Franz

The weed killer is roundup, so that's OK, I just don't trust the plants
to be totally dead - so out of the garden with it I suppose.



--
Jill the terrified gardener

On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 19:32:31 +0000 (UTC), Franz Heymann wrote:


...glyphosate or paraquat...
Those two very effective weedkillers attack only the
green parts of plants and both are inactivated quite quickly once they
are in the soil.

Glyphospate translocates throughout the plant and kills both root
and leaf. Paraquat acts as you describe. That's why glyphosphate
is effective against couch grass and paraquat isn't.

It's true that what falls on the soil is deactivated in both
cases.

BTW, for the benefit of the original poster, a warning: Be very
cautious with paraquat. It is a nasty poison that can kill you if
ingested. In particular, be very careful, if you use it, to mix
it in a container that cannot be mistaken as containing a potable
liquid -- no pop or milk bottles, iow.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
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