Petrol/ battery strimmer?

[pixieface]

We need to get either one or the other to keep the weeds on our uncultivated bit of the allotent under control..... any suggestions, under £70 if poss cannot really afford to spend more than that and less would be great.

We have been away for two seperate weeks and could hardly seet he spud bed when we got back.... I soent all day Thursday weeding and digging the spud bed and earthing them up, we had a very wet spring and have lost quite a few, although I did manage to dig up one or two that were just starting to shoot, so quickly put them back.

We need to keep the weeds down on the bits we have not cutivated, I plan to strim them until we have time to skim the soil and dig it when its a little dryer, at the moment you could make dinner plates with the soil, will aslo have to look at some sort of soil improver to try and break it down a bit, some parts areok, the rest is dreadful..........

[Muddypause]

If it's only for occasional use, how about hiring one? Any decent tool hire shop (look in the Yellow Pages) will be able to oblige with a good one for a lot less than buying it, and if there are other allotmenters needing some bush-whacking done, you might be able to share the cost.

Having said that, my experience of strimmers is this: cheap electric stuff from B&Q (or shed of your preference) - ie. < £30 - is a complete waste of money. It will last for one season, possibly two if you're careful. It will also be awkward to use and underpowered. Modest petrol strimmer - about £120 - is, pro rata, much better value for money, and will outlast the cheap stuff many times over. It's also a much more capable machine and doesn't need to be in range of a power point, or to have long trailing cables. But I'd be a bit worried about a petrol strimmer for as little as £70 - it may suffer from 'cheapness' in the same way that the cheap electrical stuff did.

Edit: Just seen you mention the word 'battery'. I've no experience of these, but I can't imagine they would be up for much other than the lightest of duties, and need frequent rechanging. It's hard to see how they could deal with any substantial cutting back.

[Wombat]

I used to have a battery (cordless) one and it was only fit for the lightest of light duties. I gotta go with Stew on this one!

Nev

[ina]

A second hand petrol strimmer would probably be the best idea, if you want to buy rather than hire, and if you know what to look for to make sure you are ripped off... (I wouldn't, I'd have to take a clever person with me!) Or else, do a Stonehead and go for a scythe.

[charlie]

We've just bought a battery strimmer.
We're going to use it today for the first time.
Will let you know how we get on. It was under £50 from Homebase.
Decided we needed one as recent rain has made our allotment totally overgown.

[Stonehead]

It really depends on how big an area you need to clear, what types of weeds you need to cut, and how often you plan to/need to do the clearing.

If it's a one-off and the weeds are mainly long grass,dandelions, dock and the like, then I'd buy a grass slasher for between £10 and £20, slash everything back, and then dig out the roots of the tougher ones (like dock).

For a small area of brambles, nettles, spiny grasses etc, then I'd go for a grass sickle (with serrated edges). You should get one for between £7 and £12.

If you have a slightly larger area and will need to do it regularly, then I'd go for a scythe but a good one is not cheap. Scythes are especially good if the area is fairly open, with no rocks or broken bricks, and you have wire netting for fences (you can slide a scythe along under the bottom wire). If you're fit enough to use a petrol strimmer, then you're fit enough to use a scythe.

The lightweight electric strimmers are all but useless except for two points - they can be used by people for whom a petrol strimmer is too heavy and they aren't too bad on grass growing up against smooth walls, raised borders etc. For heavier weeds and in rough going, they are worse than useless. You're also tied to a power cord and it can get infuriating to have to keep going back and moving to a new socket!

Petrol strimmers with heavy duty line are very good for working up to rough surfaces (stone walls etc) but can make a right mess of trees. They are good in very heavy going (eg a thicket of brambles) if you take your time and work your way in. With the metal grass cutting blade, they make quick work of small patches of long grass, but you have to be extremely careful not to hit yourself, rocks, trees or anything else hard.

Also, with a petrol strimmer go for a straight shaft and not a gooseneck. The gooseneck shafts last nowhere near as long. Petrol strimmers will wreck a lightweight wire mesh fence faster than you can glance at it (ask my neighbour!).

Petrol strimmers (and electric) have additional costs - you really should wear steel-toed boots, shin protection (football guards are good), anti-vibration gloves, ear defenders and face protection. With the other tools, I'd go for steel toed boots and leather rigger gloves.

You also have to get a petrol strimmer serviced every year, there are the fuel costs and they stink.

The final tool is the Australian-style slasher. This has a long shaft with a forged iron blade - about 18in long, slightly curved (with the edge on the inside of the curve) and a squared end - projecting from the end of the shaft. You use it with a chopping motion and it's brilliant for cutting through brambles, lantana, bracken and the like. I've not seen one in the UK though, but the Irish and Hereford brush hooks are fairly close (more curve to the blades though).

You can find some slashers, sickles etc in Permaculture's Earth Repair Catalogue; another good source is the BTCV online shop (this takes you to the top level of grass, scrub and hedging tools); Wolf do a rather good grass hook, and Garden Tools for All Seasons have just about every grass, weed or brush tool you can name.

I hope this is of some help.

Stonehead

PS Yes, I really am an aficionado of agricultural hand tools!

[pixieface]

Thank you for your replies, the front part of the allotment we plan to seed with wild flowers eventually, the rest is bits of the beds which we have not been able to dig, I wanted to cut down the grass nettles and mustard just to try and keep them under control until we get round to digging and planting them. We do have problem with brambles in various places, I just keep chopping them off and then painting the tops with roundup, hoping that they will eventually die back.

I think I might just use the shears and cut the stuff down and stick it in the compost bin......we are hoping to get up again tomorrow so will be able to see if things have got any worse in the past 2 days.

Any ideas what we can use as a soil conditioner to try and break uo some of the clay, we have put a load of compost into it already.........trying to break it down on Thirsday was impossible and no way could we plant into it......the plants are still sitting in their trays in the back garden.[/img]

[Stonehead]

Thank you for your replies, the front part of the allotment we plan to seed with wild flowers eventually, the rest is bits of the beds which we have not been able to dig,

Consider getting a slasher. It will be easier than using shears and will be useful for cutting back the wildflowers after they've gone to seed.

As for clay soil, add lots and lots of well-rotted organic matter. Leaf mulch is very good for this. Sharp sand (not building or soft sand) will help aeration, making the soil easier to work and encouraging your plants to root better (buy it from your builders merchant - much cheaper than a garden centre).

You can also use lime or gypsum to open up the clay and make it more permeable. Both should be used with care as they change the pH of the soil - lime will move pH up (more alkaline), gypsum will move it down (more acid).

So, if you want to raise the soil's pH and break up the clay, add lime. If you want to lower pH and break up the clay, add gypsum (just buy bags of plaster from a builder's merchant). Make sure you work both well into the soil, along your organic matter and sand.

Whatever you do, you're in for a lot of digging!

Double digging is probably your best bet - dig out a trench and reserve the spoil, the dig the next trench and turn the spoil into the first trench. Tip your organic matter, sharp sand and lime/gypsum on top of the spoil and fork it through thoroughly. Then dig your next trench and turn it into the vacant one and so on. At the end of the bed, take the reserved spoil and tip it into the final trench, then work your improvers into that.

Oh, and while a rotovator may speed things up, they often bounce off dry, hard clay and they often don't go deep enough to make a real difference. They can also leave a hard pan under your top layer of soil.

Good luck and enjoy the digging.

Stonehead

[ina]

and if you know what to look for to make sure you are ripped off...

Just noticed that mistake - are NOT ripped I wanted to say, of course.

Why is there no edit function on this forum??? Can we have one, please, Andy ?


Stonehead:

If you're fit enough to use a petrol strimmer, then you're fit enough to use a scythe.

I can back that up - it's very knackering, using a fairly heavy duty petrol strimmer all day long.

[pixieface]

We went to the allotment today and I cut the front part with the shears, it looks much better now, we also managed to get the belle de fonteney weeded, another bed turned over and the strawberry bed weeded. There is still a lot more to do, but we are getting there, wish it would dry out a bit though. I have got a piece ready to put the climbing beans in, just need to put the sticks in and plant the beans. OH also planted half a row of red onions. We have lettuce etc wating to go in but until we can break the soil down a bit they are going to have to wait.

We hope to go again one day this week, but we need to do some work on our garden here at the house tonorrow. I have tomatoes and a courgette to go in grow bags in the back as well as some herbs to plant out. We need to extend a bed in the front garden to alleviate the overcrowding in there, some of the shrubs have become thugs trying to push the smaller plants out.

[hedgewizard]

I've got the same bother due to not having been on site at the start of the season. About 200 m sq of weeds where green manure should be growing! I've had a crack at it with my rusty old scythe which will stop most of it from setting seed, but the grasses are just going to keep coming... I think my best way to deal with this is to build the chicken tractor and set them to work, while establishing the paths with membrane and sowing GM on the bits I dig as I go. A shame there's too much else to do to even attempt any of this!

[pixieface]

That was my idea too to stop especially the mustard from setting seed, it does pull out quite easily at the moment but there is so much of it, I hope to cut off another bed when we go later this week. We cannot keep hens on our allotment otherwise I would do so, we have an urban fox who caused quite a bit of damage, we found a very large hole in one of the paths when we went up last Thursday...... looked like it was trying to get to Austrailia!!!!!!!!!!!

Just on my way out to tackle the front garden whilst the sun is shining.........

[Wombat]

*Looks around*

I don't see any fox!

Nev

[pixieface]

It hasn't got there cos I filled in the hole!!!!!

[oddballdave]

Get a push mower!

My dad bought me one as a thank you present, about thirty pounds IIRC.
I am using that all over the allotment. It is set to the highest level of cut, so it copes with all the lumps and bumps. Been using it a week and none of my dandelions are in any danger of flowering.

Carpet squares over the dock leaves, being held down with bricks.

Thick layer of cardboard and newspaper on the paths between my beds, covered in wood chippings kindly donated by the local council.

I too was looking at a cordless strimmer, decided it couldn't take the stress of my weeds. So lawnmower and feed the clippings to the rabbit and the guinea pig for processing, then into the compost heap. I rented a petrol lawnmower, but too much hassle in collecting it, getting it started, returning it, and as stonehead says "it stinks".

Dave