"Dcjtee" wrote in message
...
It takes a week or more, but really erdaicates
the weeds.

But not the seeds..........

True. Young sedling weeds are easy to hoe out.

One guy I knew swore by the use of a paraffin flame
thrower for weed killing. Almost totally organic as well.

There's only one thing wrong with that: It does not get rid of the
weeds. It only makes the surface of the soil look neat for a while,
until the weed roots regrow. Glyphosate kills the weeds off roots and
all.

Franz

"Joe Fogey" wrote in message
...
You'd be better off with a wall to wall carpet of carpet, cardboard,
black
poly or anything that shuts out the light.

Your weeds would then rot down to make compost and would give you a
good
surface to plant in next year. Vegetables like potatoes and
Jerusalem
artichokes also help clear ground of weeds.

That works only if you leave the covering on the soil for a full
growing season, otherwise many roots will regrow.

[snip]

Franz

"Joe Fogey" wrote in message
...
You'd be better off with a wall to wall carpet of carpet, cardboard,
black
poly or anything that shuts out the light.

Your weeds would then rot down to make compost and would give you a
good
surface to plant in next year. Vegetables like potatoes and
Jerusalem
artichokes also help clear ground of weeds.

That works only if you leave the covering on the soil for a full
growing season, otherwise many roots will regrow.

[snip]

Franz

[snip]
Once you have your allotment "clean", avoid letting it get like that by
using green manures to cover bare patches. These are grown like regular
crops (in rotation) and are intended to both blot out weeds and improve the
soil ready for your crops.

See web and http://www.hdra.org for details.

Paul DS.

[snip]
Once you have your allotment "clean", avoid letting it get like that by
using green manures to cover bare patches. These are grown like regular
crops (in rotation) and are intended to both blot out weeds and improve the
soil ready for your crops.

See web and http://www.hdra.org for details.

Paul DS.

thanks for all the comments, i'll starts weed-killering the worst areas now.

DD

"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message
et...
[snip]
Once you have your allotment "clean", avoid letting it get like that by
using green manures to cover bare patches. These are grown like regular
crops (in rotation) and are intended to both blot out weeds and improve
the
soil ready for your crops.

See web and http://www.hdra.org for details.

Paul DS.

thanks for all the comments, i'll starts weed-killering the worst areas now.

DD

"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message
et...
[snip]
Once you have your allotment "clean", avoid letting it get like that by
using green manures to cover bare patches. These are grown like regular
crops (in rotation) and are intended to both blot out weeds and improve
the
soil ready for your crops.

See web and http://www.hdra.org for details.

Paul DS.

Doug,
I cannot seem to make sense of your comments.
What has squatters rights got to do with having respect for the neighbor in
the next allotment?

"Doug." wrote in message
...

"Martin Heames" wrote in message
...
Hi,
The best thing to do this time of year is cover over the areas you are
not
using with matting, black bags what ever you can get your hans on.
Then wait
till it's time to dig over usually in the autumn ensuring you pull any
weed
roots along the way.
Works for me every time :-)

Please do not use chemicals remember you are growing edible crops and
think
of your neighbours growing and groaning after scoffing your peas and
beansin the next plot!

Martin
www.thegardenspider.com

*********
Good thinking!,- the neighbours' growing kids have Human Rights you
know,and they could get anasty belly-ache from scoffing your raw
carrots, peas etc. They could enter your allotment,and so long as they
don't break in they could pitch a belltent and live there as squatters
if they like and there's sweet b'-all you or anyone elses can do about
it.
Doug.
********

"dirt dibbler" wrote in message
...
Having taken on an overgrown allotment this season, i have been
fighting
back a forest of weeds all year.
The problem seems to have got out of control over the last month & i
now
have a wall-to-wall carpet of weeds.
I feel like blitzing the whole lot with weedkiller in the autumn,
can
anyone
offer advice on what the best time
of year would be to do this & possibly the best chemical to use?

thanks

DD

"dirt dibbler" wrote in message ...
thanks for all the comments, i'll starts weed-killering the worst areas now.
[...]

If the weeds are quite tall, it might be a good idea to run a rugged
mower at a high setting across them first, and rake away the debris.
(Ideally, I'd have done this a month ago!) It can be a bit of a pain
dribbling herbicide over taller weeds, and using a sprayer high up
won't make you popular with the other plot-holders.

It's probably safer to have a separate and very different-looking
watering can for weedkiller, by the way: a red one if possible.

Mike.

"dirt dibbler" wrote in message ...
thanks for all the comments, i'll starts weed-killering the worst areas now.
[...]

If the weeds are quite tall, it might be a good idea to run a rugged
mower at a high setting across them first, and rake away the debris.
(Ideally, I'd have done this a month ago!) It can be a bit of a pain
dribbling herbicide over taller weeds, and using a sprayer high up
won't make you popular with the other plot-holders.

It's probably safer to have a separate and very different-looking
watering can for weedkiller, by the way: a red one if possible.

Mike.

On Mon, 2 Aug 2004 16:54:12 +0100, dirt dibbler wrote:

Having taken on an overgrown allotment this season, i have been fighting
back a forest of weeds all year.
The problem seems to have got out of control over the last month & i now
have a wall-to-wall carpet of weeds.
I feel like blitzing the whole lot with weedkiller in the autumn, can anyone
offer advice on what the best time
of year would be to do this & possibly the best chemical to use?

Having read over this thread, it seems to me that one thing's
missing from the discussion.

Entirely aside from the weeds you see (and their roots below
ground), the soil in your allotment is heavily laced with weed
seeds. These will cause endless work as they germinate. So, in
addition to killing such weeds as are already growing, it would
be desirable to eliminate or reduce the numbers of weed seeds in
the soil.

Unfortunately easier said than done!

I've read of several methods:

One, use a pre-emergent weedkiller like simazine; this kills the
young weed seedlings just as they germinate. I do not know if
simazine is still available.

Two, leave the ground fallow for a season, water it, fertilize,
and hoe it regularly. This encourages the weed seeds to germinate
and then destroys them.

Three, cover with *clear* plastic and let solar heat sterilize
the soil. I don't know if the UK is sunny enough for this to
work, but I've seen it used in a provincial park here to
eradicate a weed that had been introduced by campers' tents from
another continent -- some weed the authorities were highly
interested in preventing the establishment of.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
[change "atlantic" to "pacific" and
"invalid" to "net" to reply by email]

On Mon, 2 Aug 2004 16:54:12 +0100, dirt dibbler wrote:

Having taken on an overgrown allotment this season, i have been fighting
back a forest of weeds all year.
The problem seems to have got out of control over the last month & i now
have a wall-to-wall carpet of weeds.
I feel like blitzing the whole lot with weedkiller in the autumn, can anyone
offer advice on what the best time
of year would be to do this & possibly the best chemical to use?

Having read over this thread, it seems to me that one thing's
missing from the discussion.

Entirely aside from the weeds you see (and their roots below
ground), the soil in your allotment is heavily laced with weed
seeds. These will cause endless work as they germinate. So, in
addition to killing such weeds as are already growing, it would
be desirable to eliminate or reduce the numbers of weed seeds in
the soil.

Unfortunately easier said than done!

I've read of several methods:

One, use a pre-emergent weedkiller like simazine; this kills the
young weed seedlings just as they germinate. I do not know if
simazine is still available.

Two, leave the ground fallow for a season, water it, fertilize,
and hoe it regularly. This encourages the weed seeds to germinate
and then destroys them.

Three, cover with *clear* plastic and let solar heat sterilize
the soil. I don't know if the UK is sunny enough for this to
work, but I've seen it used in a provincial park here to
eradicate a weed that had been introduced by campers' tents from
another continent -- some weed the authorities were highly
interested in preventing the establishment of.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
[change "atlantic" to "pacific" and
"invalid" to "net" to reply by email]

In message , Rodger Whitlock
writes
On Mon, 2 Aug 2004 16:54:12 +0100, dirt dibbler wrote:

Entirely aside from the weeds you see (and their roots below
ground), the soil in your allotment is heavily laced with weed
seeds. These will cause endless work as they germinate.

There are generally so many weed seeds in the ground with long latency
that you will never get rid of them.

So, in
addition to killing such weeds as are already growing, it would
be desirable to eliminate or reduce the numbers of weed seeds in
the soil.

You can only do this by attrition. Regular hoeing is as good a way as
any and preventing any seed heads on existing weeds. You cannot do much
about all the wind blown seeds arriving in vast numbers..

Unfortunately easier said than done!

I've read of several methods:

One, use a pre-emergent weedkiller like simazine; this kills the
young weed seedlings just as they germinate. I do not know if
simazine is still available.

Bad idea. Nothing else will germinate in the soil. I once knew someone
who had problems with holes in their lawn caused by using this stuff
irresponsibly. I certainly would not use anything so nasty and
persistent on ground that I intend to grow fruit and vegetables on. On
the paths maybe as a last resort.

Two, leave the ground fallow for a season, water it, fertilize,
and hoe it regularly. This encourages the weed seeds to germinate
and then destroys them.

There are so many weed seeds that the moment you turn over the soil
light activates a whole bunch more. There are plants whose seeds
specialise in lying dormant almost forever in soil until they get a
chance at the surface.

Three, cover with *clear* plastic and let solar heat sterilize
the soil. I don't know if the UK is sunny enough for this to
work,

We call those poly tunnels over here. It might allow the weeds to get a
better head start in spring, but it would never heat them up
sufficiently to kill them. We seldom get really warm cloud free sunny
days.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

In article , Martin Brown
writes

You can only do this by attrition. Regular hoeing is as good a way as
any and preventing any seed heads on existing weeds. You cannot do much
about all the wind blown seeds arriving in vast numbers..


The other possible approach is to have a "permanent" mulch of cardboard
with a few inches of straw over it. As the cardboard gets older, rain
soaks through it - but it keeps most moisture in the ground and keeps
the surface soil at a steady temporature. You'd need to temporarily
lift it to get new plants in (and growing from seed would be difficult.
However, this significantly reduces weeds and the amount of watering
required. As a bonus, it makes an excellent environment for various
predator insects - thus potentially reducing pests.

--
regards andyw