Will I regret rotavating?

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Will I regret rotavating?
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Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 07 9:54 pm Post subject:

Lisa wrote:

dougal wrote:

Sometimes allotments have buying groups to share such bulk purchases. Ask around the folk that are there!

Nothing like that here, unfortunately.

So why not start one?

mark

Joined: 14 Jul 2005
Posts: 2191
Location: Leeds

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 07 11:59 pm Post subject: Re: Will I regret rotavating?

Lisa wrote:

OK, so this new allotment malarky. I know I was full of good intentions about digging it over properly and pulling out the nettle roots, but time is marching on, I have only cleared about 1/5th of my space and I *really* need (want) to get lots of things planted so I don't get disheartened. I've got lots of lovely seeds and some little plantlets already. I'm considering letting a friend of a friend have a go with his rotavator. I know it will spread the nettles but I reckon I can pull 'em up as they sprout, and then if it still needs it I can dig it over properly next Autumn when I'm not in late pregnancy/early newborn hell as I was this year.
Does this sound foolhardy to anyone? And who can tell me how deep a rotavator cultivates: will I have to dig it again anyway or can I just rake and sow from that point?
Thanks
L

start sowing inthe 1/5 of the space you have and clear another fifth
(ignor crop rotation fot the first clearing year) sow in april that fith and you have got half you plot working
use anoth fifth roughly cleared for potatoes - by the tiem you lift them it wil be pretty clear.

rough clear another big area - and dig out some nice clear circles to plant squash and corgettes and the like that wil spread block out light for everything else

in the meantime you can be clearing the last section for your brassicas to get planted out when their time comes - and you've more or less got it sussed.

Its the way i broght my plot into action - a bit at time whien the rest of my life was VERY busy!

Mark

bernie-woman

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7824
Location: shropshire

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 07 7:52 am Post subject:

As others have said, if nettles are your only major weed problem then I would rotovate but I would ask around other allotment holders to see if you have any couch grass or bindweed (which would be an absolute nightmare if rotovated) on the allotments. The main reason for this is that many of the weeds die back completely and won't be visible yet

The other thing that rotovating does do is bring loads of annual weed seeds to the surface so get the hoe ready

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 07 10:02 am Post subject:

Do I have different nettles to everyone else then? I've just spent the last n weekends clearing a large patch of the swines the hard way, and I wouldn't dream of rotavating it. Not all the roots run along the surface - some go down a couple of feet or more. It is so easy to leave bits behind and new nettles grow from quite small pieces of root. One of my real pet hates is putting my hand into a row of peas or beans to harvest only to encounter a clump of nettles that escaped the fork and has grown up mid-row. I imagine it would put off the kiddies too.

I would go with Dougal's method over rotavating if you don't have the time to dig properly.

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 07 10:10 am Post subject: Re: Will I regret rotavating?

mark wrote:

Lisa wrote:

I'm sort of with you Mark on advice. Lisa if you're busy at the moment why not just plant up what you've got and gradually clear the rest.

We took three years to clear our overgrown plot and we'd planned it that way. We knew it was too much to clear in the first year and we'd not be able to keep on top of it if we did.

If you clear it you've then got to find time to plant it and tend it. See if what you've got is manageable and just work on that bit til the babes are bigger. There's nothing worse than clearing a patch then not being able to do anything with it and it getting overgrown so you have to do it all over again.

Lisa

Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 248
Location: Cheshire

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 07 10:38 am Post subject:

Now you're all just being mean!
Sorry, what I mean to say is thanks for the advice. I'll re-plan my plot so I can get something in to the bit I've already cleared (it was earmarked for spuds but if they can get away with a less-cleared bit then that makes sense) and I do want to grow squashes as they are my favourite thing to eat.
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.
Re starting a bulk buy group: very subversive! The rest of the plot-holders are Very Old Boys who have been growing there since time began. They have their ways of doing things, and have yet to be convinced that "a girl" will manage.
L

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: 18415

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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