My allotment is fully reclaimed except for the grass amongst the
raspberry canes. Are there any tips for getting the stuff out?
--
Mike Reid
"Art is the lie that reveals the truth" P.Picasso
Wasdale-Lake district-Thames path-London "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" -- you can email us@ this site
Eat-walk-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" -- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap

"The Reids" wrote in message
...
My allotment is fully reclaimed except for the grass amongst the
raspberry canes. Are there any tips for getting the stuff out?

After several years of neglect, the row of raspberries in my garden is
full of weeds, including but not restricted to bind weed, various grass
species, creeping buttercup, stinging nettles and brambles.

This year I resolved to tackle the problem, and got down on my hands and
knees for hours of tedious weeding. The results are quite satisfying,
even if my knees ache and my hands tingle from the stingers.

Neil

The Reids30/4/04 11:56

My allotment is fully reclaimed except for the grass amongst the
raspberry canes. Are there any tips for getting the stuff out?

Would a 'weed wand' work? We have a gadget that is a clear plastic tube
with a 'foot' running out of it at right angles. Around this foot,
lengthwise, is a stout piece of rope which soaks up the herbicide in the
clear tube. This means we can safely dab at weeds among other shrubby
plants but without damaging the plant we want to keep. You could probably
make something similar for yourself or attach e.g. a sponge to a stick and
dip it into herbicide (making sure it doesn't drip onto the desirable
plants, of course!)
--

Sacha
(remove the weeds to email me)

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
The Reids30/4/04 11:56

My allotment is fully reclaimed except for the grass amongst the
raspberry canes. Are there any tips for getting the stuff out?

Would a 'weed wand' work? We have a gadget that is a clear plastic
tube
with a 'foot' running out of it at right angles. Around this foot,
lengthwise, is a stout piece of rope which soaks up the herbicide in
the
clear tube. This means we can safely dab at weeds among other shrubby
plants but without damaging the plant we want to keep. You could
probably
make something similar for yourself or attach e.g. a sponge to a stick
and
dip it into herbicide (making sure it doesn't drip onto the desirable
plants, of course!)
--

That sounds like a good gadget! I'm not sure it would have been much use
in my razzers, though, because the weeds were intwined in among the
canes and crowns.

Might be useful making something like that for elsewhere, though.

Neil

Following up to Neil Jones

This year I resolved to tackle the problem, and got down on my hands and
knees for hours of tedious weeding. The results are quite satisfying,
even if my knees ache and my hands tingle from the stingers.

do you have an hourly rate? :-)
--
Mike Reid
"Art is the lie that reveals the truth" P.Picasso
Wasdale-Lake district-Thames path-London "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" -- you can email us@ this site
Eat-walk-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" -- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap

"The Reids" wrote in message
...
Following up to Neil Jones

This year I resolved to tackle the problem, and got down on my hands
and
knees for hours of tedious weeding. The results are quite satisfying,
even if my knees ache and my hands tingle from the stingers.

do you have an hourly rate? :-)
--
Of course - everything's negotiable :-)

"The Reids" wrote in message
...
My allotment is fully reclaimed except for the grass amongst the
raspberry canes. Are there any tips for getting the stuff out?
--
Mike Reid
"Art is the lie that reveals the truth" P.Picasso
Wasdale-Lake district-Thames path-London "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" --
you can email us@ this site
Eat-walk-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" -- dontuse@ all, it's a
spamtrap


Very carefully !!!

Gently pull out the tufts after heavy rain when they should be easy to
remove

Do not dig around the raspberry canes or you could damage the roots
Alternatively I have seen on a Gardening Programme about 1 ft of compost
piled up around raspberry cane stems this would smother the grass and mulch
the canes at same time ........then in the autumn you can dig and clear out
grass and weeds and move any canes that need moving

The message
from The Reids contains these words:

My allotment is fully reclaimed except for the grass amongst the
raspberry canes. Are there any tips for getting the stuff out?

I'd soak some newspapers in a bucket and lay them (unopened) on the
soil, right up to the rasp stems, covering up the weeds to smother them.
Then pile mulch (compost, manure, grass clippings, seaweed etc)on top of
the newspaper to cover it; make sure the mulch doesn't touch the rasp
stems.

Janet.

On 4/30/04 3:56 AM, in article ,
"The Reids" wrote:

My allotment is fully reclaimed except for the grass amongst the
raspberry canes. Are there any tips for getting the stuff out?
I have raspberries and have resigned myself to the moving of them about
every 10 years. This allows me to pick out all the weeds by their roots.
Then after replanting the raspberries I mulch with leaves, pine tree
needles, or something like that. Weeding after is easy because the weeds
are new and are in the mulch and not very deep. I have a source of chicken
manure and I dig trenches along the rows that I fill with chicken manure and
cover. Great results!
Gary
Fort Langley
BC
Canada