Weed killer

[warmmfeet]

Moved into a house which has a garden that was neglected for 10 years as house was empty.

Have recovered a veg patch full of weeds and the odd potato.

I've handed weeded and dug over several times but the weeds keep coming back.

Shall I put a load of weed killer on? Or would this also kill my veg plants when i come to plant the seeds a few weeks / months down the line ??

Thanks v much in advance!

People will come along about how terrible weed killers are, especially glyphosate.

I would recommend ammonium sulphamate, it breaks down into harmless chemicals and if it's good enough for the National Trust, English Heritage etc. it's good enough for me.

What are the weeds? Dock, brambles, horsetail, bindweed or something else? I would identify the weeds first then come up with a strategy for dealing with them.

Some people do advocate a one off use of glyphosate, but that won't work for horsetail, for example.

If you'd rather avoid weedkillers, have a look at Charles Dowding on YouTube - loads of stuff there about dealing with perennial weeds.

I've handed weeded and dug over several times but the weeds keep coming back. Because every time you dig over more seeds are brought to the surface to germinate. Weeding is the gardening equivalent of hoovering or washing up. You always have to remove weeds, but you’ll make it worse by turning over soil.

If you apply a weedkiller which won’t kill your veg plants, you will have to keep weeding between the veg, if you apply a weedkiller that will stop future weeds germinating, you won’t be able to grow veg either.

@MereDintofPandiculation thank you. Can you recommend a weed killer which won't kill my veg plants? Im happy to weed in between them

@Turkeyhen docs, couch grass, dandelions, nettles, etc

@Ifailed interesting thank you, I will look it up.

Depends what weeds you're talking about.