Chickweed

[Mikew]

Hi, my allotment seems to have been infested with chickweed,
Unfortunately I started weeding and turning the soil before I realised what it was. Can you advise how best way to deal with it ?
Best regards.

[tigerburnie]

Difficult to remove any weeds, at this time of the year it will probably have already set seed and with the mild temperatures, it will keep growing. Quick method is to hoe the plants, but I find this less effective, removing each plant by hand is the long term option, using weed killers is not an option I would use as this will get into your edible crops and I don't fancy eating poison. Covering the ground with a light excluding membrane, or even carboard if you can get enough of it will exclude the light, the theory is this will cause the weeds to die.