How to kill off weeds in your vegetable patch

[farmer giles]

Hi, Im having trouble killing the weeds off in my new vegetable patch, any advice would be most welcome as Im a newbie here

many thanks

[adgecutler]

At my allotment I keep things organic and pull the weeds weekly, a few minutes spent regularly and the problem isn't a big one. However at work I could never take this aproach due to lack of time and too many weeds therefore I use glyphosphates such as Glyphos (the same as Roundup but a fraction of the cost) or if I wish only to kill broadleaf weeds and not grass I use Pastor or Grazon.

[Florence Fennel]

Could you smother them for a while with some cardboard or black plastic? If you need to get going with planting now, you could plant through this, or leave it down for a couple of months to suppress the weeds.

[claire2965]

wat about bindweed? how is this best eradicated. am looking to move my veg plot down to the bottom of my garden but have noticed alot of bindweed

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Claire, the only way we were able to clear bindwind was by digging the ground over and removing all of the roots because even the tiniest piece of root will regrow. Now is a great time to do the job before you start planting out your veggies.

[vegetable-gardener]

When we moved into the home we live now - we had a terrible problem with bindweed and ivy in the garden.

Ivy got killed as we just continually pulled it down. Bindweed was another matter as like Lesley said any tiny bit grows again. So hubby bought a bottle of readymade up weedkiller (roundup) and just a tiny spray on the leaves and it dies. We don't have any problem with it now.

[claire2965]

many thanks for the advice will try the weedkiller suggestion. let you knowlater if it works.

[jaywest09]

Most gardeners don't mind the odd weed as long as the lawn still looks pretty good. However remember that the odd weed in spring could be a large infestation by midsummer if you don't deal with it.

[Saturna]

Originally Posted by claire2965

wat about bindweed? how is this best eradicated. am looking to move my veg plot down to the bottom of my garden but have noticed alot of bindweed

Dynamite

Seriously though one of the more potent brushwood killers or round-ups, certainly not anything described as a fast acting weed killer as they only burn the tops off leaving the roots intact

[vegetable-gardener]

We use roundup as hubby says it goes right down to the roots and kills them - he must know he was a farmer but it works very well. We buy the round-up mix from the shelf in the garden centre.

[Hammer]

I have been using Roundup and Resolva as a spot weed killer on the lawn and i,m getting there, i have always had problems with Creeping Buttercup, even after stripping about 80 tons of soil off the entire garden and bringing in new soil from a Farmers Barley field to replace it. I,ve even figured out that if you can find the main root and kill it the plant can then be raked and it dies (Creeping Buttercup as it,s name suggests grows along the ground and puts down roots as it travels and can take over large areas). Feeding the lawn well keeps the grass healthy and strong and the grass then inhibits other weeds from getting established.I also have problem with Horses Tail but am winning a holding action, i can,t completely get rid of it as i think the roots can go down a couple of feet,it comes in through the fence from next doors garden, just pull em up or hoe regularly.
I don,t use any weedkiller on the veg beds.
Hammer

[vegetable-gardener]

Hammer -That reminds me of a story about my dad. We moved from Holland to the UK and my dad started growing vegetables. We went round to some friends and she had a pretty plant with yellow flowers all over her garden - buttercup! My dad asked for a plant and she kept saying no you don't want that it's a weed a awful weed. My dad was adament that he wanted one because his believe was you could use certain weeds (which is true) but lets just say our garden was very quickly overrun with creeping buttercup.

34 years later it's quite funny

[tanyae]

Great thread of advice. I also have weed problems in my raised vegetable bed and am planning preparation of it now.

Is now (Jan) the right time to put week killer (I'm using tree and root killer) over the patch? How long does it linger in the soil for? I don't want it to ruin the veg I plan to put out in April.

Also, when should I put down my compost on the veg patch? Just prior to planting out the veg (March) or now to enrich the existing soil?

Signed,
tanyae - newbie gardener.

[Rudyard51]

Originally Posted by Florence Fennel

Could you smother them for a while with some cardboard or black plastic? If you need to get going with planting now, you could plant through this, or leave it down for a couple of months to suppress the weeds.

It works fairly well, but when I take mine off my beds, there are still thistles coming through.