Clearing vegetable patch please :)

chrislee765 wrote:

Hi,
I dont really want to use and chemicals because i want my produce to be organic, Maybe a long weekend of weeding is in order

Appreciating you do not want to use chemicals, I would just say that Roundup (glyphosate) works only on the plant, and is actually inactivated by contact with soil. I would hand grub out the blackberry bushes, and spray the weeds with glyphosate, which is effective on both grasses and broadleaf weeds. You need a good wetting, and a minimum of 6 hours contact time prior to any rain for it to be rain-fast. Works best with activily growing weeds not yet mature. Takes time to work, so be patient. Kills the roots, and the aerial parts of the plant follow. Still need to hoe the dead material out and even though there is no residual effect, acknowledging your organic requirements, you might like to dispose of this rather than turning it in. I have checked through the legislated standards for organic farming, and there are no herbicides listed as acceptable. You may be surprised at the lists of chemicals that are acceptable for organic farming for use as pesticides etc.
Otherwise, as you say, a long weekend of weeding.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/organic/legislation-standards/

You're welcome It looks like rather dry reading.

Can you still hire rotovators from Hire-It or some other hire shop? This is one way to do it - just get one for half a day and churn up the ground as best you can. It will chop up the weed roots, so you have to be careful to get them out afterwards. They are quite hard work to use but not nearly as bad as digging!

What I used to do was turn the soil over fairly late in the year. Dig out a spade full and dump it straight back into the whole it came out of upside down so that the greenery is buried and the roots are at the top. Lack of light takes care of the green bits and winter frost does for the roots. No other work needed. In early spring it'll just need a light going over with maybe half a dozen dinky weeds to deal with and your soil has been composted to boot!