Earlier this year I had sown swedes into this field but after the crop failed for various reasons, I rubbed them out and have left it tilled in beds for next year. I will spray the weeds with herbicide and sow it again in better conditions in spring 2024.
Initially, I drilled the field using a drill plough and sowed onto the drills, but when I saw the swedes were not going to make it after the majority of them had been devoured by slugs, I decided to leave the field sitting in beds for next year. I tilled the drills with a bedtiller, which made a great job of the soil and means I can use the same tractor to perform the tilling and sowing.
The drills were made and sown in mid June – which is late, they were rubbed out in August and I noticed weeds starting to grow on the beds by September, so I sprayed them with glyphosate- although in hindsight I should have let the weeds grow on for longer before spraying, just to have caught more of them.
Since then the weeds have begun to grow back – I noticed this by November and more by December.
I hope to spray the field for the final time with glyphosate in January if I get a long enough period of dry weather. This should last until I prepare the beds with the bedtiller in April.
More updates coming soon…
