How do i get started with my first alloment

I have just recently taken over my frist allotment and have many questions on how I get started.

My allotment is covered in grass as it hasn't been used yet really, so my question is how deep do i dig down when taking the turf off and then once i have got it off what should i do with the turf?

After I have dug out the turf what do I need to do to the ground to prepare it for planting?

What should be the first things i start growing, the allotments have been open for two years so everyone else is already up and started?

Once i have dug up the plot and planted do i need to put anything over the patch to protect it?

Where are the best places to go to get seeds etc for planting?

If it has worked i have attached a photo of my allotment to show you what i am working with.

 

Sorry Adam,

With everything else thats been going on this evening, your post got missed:DOH:

Welcome to Gardeners Corner,

We'll sort you out in the morning

 

Hi Adam, welcome to GC

Work on small areas at a time. It's too late in the year to use weedkiller on the grass or to cover the grass with carpet/black plastic, both of these are methods to kill of the grass, so you'll have to fig the grass up,

If you can, it might be an idea to mow the grass first.

Using your spade to "cut" with a stabbing action mark the grass out into pieces as wide and as long as your spade, then holding your spade almost flat push it under the turf about an inch or so deep, get your knee behind it to help push and skim off the turf...it gets easier with practice.

These turfs can be stacked away in a corner of your plot, grass to grass and soil to soil, eventually they will rot down (couple of years) and mafe great potting loam for you.

Once the turf is stripped off dig down a spade's (spit) depth, turn it over and roughly break it up, any frosts we get between now and spring will break it down further and you can go over it again in the spring with a garden fork.

This will give you a pretty rough bed but good enough to plant in, in the spring and you can further improve things as you plant or harvest, or both.

Potatoes are a great crop for breaking up rough ground.

The other best piece of advice I can give is to come back here a lot and read read read as much as you can, there is so much good info here that by springtime you should be quite well informed.

Steve...

 

Hi Adam
alternatively you could hire a Rotavator for a day and have a bit of fun with that.

Digging it over will be easier and any large sods of turf can be piled up to rot down.

Alternatively you could invite some of the other allotment people over for a few beers - in exchange for some help. That might be quite enjoyable.

Good luck anyway.

 

First actions.

Do you want grass pathways between beds. They are a pain to keep cut and act as a bug reserve and these bugs may be nasties.

I would hire a turf cutter and remove the lot. Stack the turfs in a remote part of the area, grass to grass then the next layer soil to soil.

I wouldn't rotovate as it 'froths up the soil to the depth of the tines then produces a 'hard pan', a solid layer of soil that later roots may have difficulty breaking through,

Sorry to be a traditionalist, but there is no better method than getting a new area into 'good heart' than "Double digging". It is the hardest work and afterwards only you will know what you have done, but once completed it will pay dividends in good crops.

If your 'pride and joy' is set to grass, then be ready for wireworms. Forewarned is forearmed. Cheers, Tony.

 

Thanks so much guys thats a huge help, will try all these things you mention and let you know how I get on. no doubt i will be on here with many questions again soon.

I have enlisted some friends to help me on the allotment and am going to see if i can source a rotavator from somewhere to help the process.

 

forgot to say what does double digging mean?

and should i be using fertilizer or any other products for the soil to help the growth and development of what i grow?

 

Hey Adam,

Double digging is good when you are starting a new plot.

You dig a trench, one spade spit deep, loosen the soil below that with a fork, then back fill that with the weeds/grass from the next trench.

Probably not exp;ained that very well

 

If you have the time go with the advice regarding digging as rotavating will multiply the number of unwanted plants (weeds) such as horseradish etc....

Will save you weeding time in the long-run by digging rather than rotovating. I rotovated my plot 3 years on once I had managed the weeds and removed the majority of larger stones. Growing potatoes in rotation will help break-up the soil too.

 

I wouldn't bother rotavating untill you have got rid of all perenial weeds, else you'll chop them all up and make hundreds of new ones.

As you have a completely new plot I would not bother double digging either (this season) as it's time consuming and hard work. You'll be wanting to dig as much as possible and plant as much as you can.

I started a new plot myself last year and single dug it all over, weeded, planted and harvested good crops. This year, one bed at a time I will start double digging the beds one at a time as time allows me too, from the end of this coming season and in rotation.

Steve...

 

Adam, ignore ANYONE who suggest double digging ( aka barsteward trenching ) it is not needed.

 

Adam, go with Steves sensible ( and correct ) advice.

 

thanks guys all very usefull and invaluable advice i really do appreciate it.

 

I took over a similar plot.

I did almost exactly what Steve R suggested. Stripped the turf off and stacked it in a corner to rot down, roughly forked over the soil, then left it for the frosts to break it down.

You'll probably find, once you get past the turf, that the soil is in fairly good condition as it's been cultivated so often, so you won't need to do anything else until planting time (no need for the dreaded Double Digging!)

Then just fork over lightly to produce a nice even surface, and add compost while you're planting. Then just see how well things grow - that'll give the best idea of what additional work you need to do next year!

I'd avoid rotovators like the plague too. Terrible for the condition of your soil, and you can end up multiplying weeds.