pros and cons of weeding

[antipodes]

Just thinking about something. As everyone knows, I am a bit of a lazy git and also very very busy (can't wait till retirement! sadly about 25 years to go... ;) ) so I tend to manage the plot this way: dig over a first bed late winter (generally the onion bed) - fertilize with compost or manure - cover it well - in a couple of weeks, uncover, tidy a bit if necessary (most weeds have died or are well damaged), plant crops. Then dig over another area (usually then the early spud area), cover it and so on and so on. 
I leave the rest until I am ready to do something with it. I usually casually weed it to get rid of things like dandelion, plantain etc that can overrun you fast. But no more. I like this because it means that on the same day you plant THEN you dig, so there is less pressure and when you go to plant, you can just weed the new weeds that have come up.
Bear with me...
I noticed a neighbour who this week went to his plot and dug over the WHOLE 100 m2, by hand, from morning to night. It is now standing bare, as obviously too early to plant or sow much.
Now obviously that looks extremely tough and diligent, but I am wondering if it's really such a good idea? Does that not expose all your nice topsoil to the wind, rain etc, possibly eroding it?
Obviously by the time I am at my last beds, I do have to weed more, as it is already May. But the covering method seems so sensible. Yet, I am the ONLY person on my plot to do this.
Does anyone here do what that bloke did, and what are the advantages to doing it that way?

[antipodes]

[Digeroo]

One reason for me for doing an early dig is that as it dries the soil becomes much much harder to dig.  Also it is hotter, so I tend to prefer to do all the digging early on and then have no more to do.  I put in green manures which I hoe off just before planting.

Last year I started rather late so used a dig and plant method.  But this year I am further on.  A lot was dug in the autumn and so now I can enjoy the sowing and planting since someone (that's me) has already done most of the hard work.

[froglets]

I can only say that whan I had little time to spend on my then very overgrown inherited mess of a plot, I did what you do Antipodes and got enough veg and the quality was fine.

Then I had more time and I have a neat and tidy plot, but the only real difference is that I grow a lot more differing crops and give more away as I have the space.

I'd say it's horses for courses.  Nice if you have the time and energy, but if you don't, just carry on the way that works for you, especially if you're happy with what you produce.

Cheers

[sarah]

I agree, I also think it's horses for courses and very much dependent on your circumstances. When I had a plot on a council site there were quite a few 'old timers' who dug their plots over in one go as you have described and their plots always looked immaculate quite in contrast to my own which was like yours sounds.  I was always chasing the weed demon and never winning the battle.  But I am a busy mum and only had a limited time frame to get everything done in. Also I was growing with out chemicals. The guys with the perfect plots were mainly retired and had tended their plots for a number of years and had the whole thing running like clockwork, but unlike me, they were there everyday.
I had to give my plot up eventually as my mum was ill and I also felt a bit defeated by it. I wasnt enjoying the constant tail chasing.
I now have a plot in my own garden which is so much easier time wise and management wise.  Interestingly there are far fewer weeds in my garden than there ever were on the allotment site. I think that they proliferate in organised sites and I also think the 'old timers' (no offense intended by that term btw) used chemical weed suppressants aswell.
Definitely horses for courses.  Do things the way you want them done. Learn from those around you but go your own way.

[goodlife]

I never winter dig...I leave the weeds over winter..and it does the job of the green manures..and now I just weed out all perennial ones and turn over annual ones and they can rot off and restore some fertility..
I think if you leave your soil "clean" over long periods of time then you loose the fertility and get other problems...

We all have our ways... ::)

[lincsyokel2]

last year i rotavated it all, left it for a couple of weeks the weeds to appear, the covered it all in black plastic till February, then turned it over again. Not a weed in sight.................