New weedy allotment - Flame gun?!!
Last post 24-01-2009 10:45 PM by bogweevil. 2 replies.
-
23/01/2009 01:42 PM
|
|
|
Hello, I have read the posts re how to start a new allotment - cutting back surface weed then digging out like you do for turf and then digging over and checking for roots but I was wondering would it work to use a flame gun and then go straight to the digging over - ie avoiding the turf style digging?!! Any experience of this? Thanks, my allotment is brand new as of today but very overgrown and unloved. Thankyou!!!!!!!
|
-
|
23/01/2009 02:47 PM
|
|
- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
-
2,971
|
Nice idea, reddy, but there is a real danger of setting fire to things and burning up the neighbouring plots! I like flame guns for driveways, and enjoy torching weeds, but see them as an expensive way of weeding. The other thing with burning is that you'll still get tap rooted weeds growing back.
If you want to get started asap then there isn't really any way around skimming the top off, taking out the perennials weeds and then digging. If you're happy to leave it for a while then you can put down a plastic mulch for 6-12 months or use weedkiller.
|
-
|
24/01/2009 10:45 PM
|
|
|
|
The thing about burning garden debris is that it has to be be dry and warm. In winter it is often very cold and wet. Therefore you will have to burn lots of gas with your flame gun making debris hot and dry. Not only does this take a long time and is very boring, but it costs a lot of money and contributes to climate change. In summer it can be warm and dry. In these cases flameguns are a lot more useful. Clever gardeners can just kill weeds in summer with the merest wisp of flame and come back a week later (rain permitting) and set the dead weeds on fire making them contribute to their own doom, and thereby save fuel, time and money. However soil is a very good insulator so burning the top will not affect weed seeds or perennial roots.
The presence of thick white roots in the soil is a good indicator of perennial weeds which will survive flaming and have to be dug out. If there are no thick roots then it may be that once you remove the vegetation not much digging out of roots will have to be done. There will be weeds seeds of course, but that is inevitable in allotments and there is nothing you can do at this season.
If there are no perennial weeds maybe you can use a heavy hoe called a mattock to scrape up vegetation, or use a spade to lift turf and stack it up for a year to rot. It should then be a little easier to dig over the ground. However a skilled digger can bury turf as they go and this is best as it improves the soil and leaves a weed free surface for sowing. Good Luck.
Boggy
Beware the bat-eared bogweevil
|