Couch grass campaign

We've been making headway with clearing the rhubarb patch of couch grass and bindweed.

Electric rotary soil sieve

A few weeks ago we started off digging up rhubarb plants and putting them in pots and fencing off the "good" bit from the "bad" bit of soil. Very hard work to clear the soil of couch grass roots, especially with the very wet weather making the ground heavy. But hubby always attempts to find a better - i.e. mechanised - way of doing things. He did lots of research on the web and eventually purchased a SCHEPPACH RS350 compact electric garden rotary sieve.  

I was a bit skeptical, but actually it does the job pretty well. There's still a lot of shovelling dirt to be done but it does a good job of separating out the stones and, importantly, the couch grass roots. It's a bit easier because we had a few days dry weather and the soil was drier. We're about half way through the first section and between sessions we're covering the un-sieved soil to prevent it getting drenched again. (Last night we had another downpour). The sieve folds up so we can store it in the greenhouse.

Remains to be seen whether the cleared soil will be completely couch grass free because from experience the wretched stuff will grow from the tiniest bit of root. And after the rhubarb patch there's the rest of the garden......