Dig now or later ?

Somewhat depressed last night when I attempted to weed one of my borders only to find that the soil is so hard & dry that it was a struggle to pull any of the weeds out. I've also got that invasive grass spreading itself out. Is it called Couch grass ?

I feel that I need to get my small rotovator & turn the soil over so I can remove the weeds and grass roots easier. Question is do I rotovate the soil now or later in the year around autumn ? Followed by removal of weeds as well as roots.

 

Sounds like Couch to me. It is really difficult to get rid of as if you leave small bits of root it will happily keep growing. Rotovating will just break the roots of the Couch up and possibly make matters worse. From what you describe it sounds like a weedkiller job to me unless there is some reason it's not suitable. I'd weed kill and then wait until the ground was not so hard/dry, dig it over at the same time adding compost/manure to improve the soil's structure.

 

That's what I was worried about... making matters worse. My concern about using weed killer is about the effect it will have on the plants I have in the same area. Such as Fuschia, Lavender & a few Allium bulbs that I can think off the top if my head.

 

If you use the likes of Roundup it will kill anything green it touches. Possible to cover the plants to protect them whilst spraying? My only other suggestion would be to dig up and move the plants to somewhere weed free and then put them back once the bed in question is sorted. You'd just have to be careful not to transplant weeds as well! Anybody who says gardening is easy can't have been gardening for long!!!!

 

I'd break up the soil now as (guessing here) if it rains it will all run off and not actually add any moisture to the ground. You could use a plastic bottle with the top chopped off and hold that over the weed while you spray?

 

I've been using a spray weedkiller on the lawn. If you the squeeze trigger ever so slightly you'll get one single drop to dip on the the weed leaves. Done this on the whole lawn and can't see any dead grass yet. Did it about a month ago.

 

Isn't it easier to get a selective lawn weedkiller?

Or are you trying to kill something that is hard to eradicate with lawn weedkillers? (I alternate between two brands to get a better kill on the things that one or other of them are not very effective on)

 

I dont think there is any easy way with this.
You have just got to get in there with a small border fork, or even a normal garden fork, break the ground up and remove as much weed and roots as possible.
If you were thinking of a Rotavator the plants must be well spaced, but as has been previously stated, you will just chop up the roots and make the problem worse next year, that is if you are sure its couch grass.
The only other alternative is the glyphosate route, then replant possibly next spring.