Will I regret rotavating?

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Will I regret rotavating?
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judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 07 10:48 am Post subject:

Lisa wrote:

So: beans and garlic in to the fifth I have cleared. Get the next area up, the bit that has been carpeted so far, rotavated for potatoes, and get to work clearing the rest. If it ever stops bl**dy raining.

Sounds like a plan!
But do you even need to rotavate the section you have earmarked for spuds? I would just dig a trench and chuck the spuds in - you could then "earth them up" with straw or summat like that, giving you more time to tackle another bit of the plot.

Lisa

Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 248
Location: Cheshire

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 07 10:52 am Post subject:

judith wrote:

But do you even need to rotavate the section you have earmarked for spuds? I would just dig a trench and chuck the spuds in - you could then "earth them up" with straw or summat like that, giving you more time to tackle another bit of the plot.

Really? Even better!

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 07 10:54 am Post subject:
I did it last year in a bit of field that wasn't nicely dug over. It wasn't the best crop of spuds that I've ever had, but that probably had as much to do with lack of watering during the early Summer as anything else.

mark

Joined: 14 Jul 2005
Posts: 2191
Location: Leeds

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 07 11:10 am Post subject:

judith wrote:

Lisa wrote:

i would folow same trench strategy with bean - just slicing off tops of surrounding weeds - they'll grow above surrounding weeds

then use your cleared bit for carrots parsnips garlic and onions
carrots like to be grown with the oninons, shallots garlic

LynneA

Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 4893
Location: London N21

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 07 11:35 am Post subject:

Nettles are one of the best indicators of fertile soil, so look on them as a blessing as much as a problem.

You may even be tempted to leave a patch to harvest or use as "security".

We treated ourselves to a Mantis rotovator late last summer, and it has proved a blessing. Instead of chopping the couch roots, it seems to draw them out and wrap them round the tines. Howard does a second dig after so we don't get a soil pan, but it has speeded things up substantially.

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 07 1:01 pm Post subject:
I've heard that it is only the orange-yellow parts of the nettle root that re-grow. Though I try to get as much as I can of all the root. Anyone else think this works ? I'd agree : couch and bindweed are by far the worst. Also ground elder. At least dandelions don't spread by the roots, and creeping buttercup spreads above ground.

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 07 1:08 pm Post subject:
Further to my comments on mulching and planting through a mulch you might find this interesting. https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicgardening/plot_clearing.php

VSS

Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 2845
Location: Llyn Peninsula, North Wales

Posted: Wed Mar 07, 07 10:27 am Post subject:

The worst weed to rotovate over is DEFINATELY the dock. Our garden had been a horse padock for 10 years and the dock population was quite heavy. We put some pigs in to do most of the digging but the dock seed bank is so full that the blighters poped up again, and rotovating just multiplied them.

Now i've virtually given up on hoping to clear them. We just rotovate the ground to clear it, and keep hoeing all summer. Eventually the dock will give up - if i dont go mad first!

www.viableselfsufficiency.co.uk

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 07 8:49 am Post subject:
With docks in fields, we just whip the tops off to make sure they don't seed. When we are desperate we spot spray.

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