What have I done ?????????

My two-pennorth would be to work progressively. Start at the front, (call it bed A), then every time you go over for a session, start working on bed A, even if it's already perfect (they never are), before moving on to bed B etc. Clean beds get easier to maintain, and you avoid the discouragement of finding that while you were working on bed C, bed A has gone to pot again!

 

Without wishing to state the obvious, but in the spirit of not biting off more than you can chew, I wonder if dividing the plot into 'managable chunks' and preparing it 'chunk by chunk' would be easier. eg dig over, prepare and plant, say, a 4ft strip, then go on and do another etc. until it's all done.

We're new to this sort of Gardening and Mrs Doogle is one of the anti-rotovator clan. Our (new - land has been lying fallow for many many years) plots are full of bindweed, couch grass, thistles, etc. We divided the area into 10ft X 4ft strips, stripped off the top couple of inches or so with spades, dug, forked and hand weeded as many of the roots as we could, (putting them onto the bonfire heap rather than the compost heap).

In some of the strips we dug in some well rotted horse manure, covered it with fleece for 10 days and then planted some vegies. It took us, well mostly Mrs Doogle, about 4 hours per strip to prepare. I provided a lot of moral support and Management Advice

We started at the beginning of March and have 9 strips planted up. I'm a third of the way through the tenth. They all need weeding every week and I'm guessing that will be the case for a couple of years at least. (Mrs Doogle doesn't want to use any chemicals either, and we're experimenting with some Weed Surpressing Membrane on the eleventh plot which we don't expect to do anything with until the Autumn) There's quite a lot of clay so we've put spuds in the 3 'worst' strips to help break it down.

It was one of those 'don't look at how much still needs to be done, just look at what's been achieved' sort of things and seems to have worked for us.

Anyway, good luck.

 

Hi Tony you are in the same boat as we were last year although we managed to get our first plot in June so you have a good four weeks on us.:hehe:

We didn't use no weedkiller or rotavator on our first plot;
1) Because we didn't like the idea of using weedkiller being a total newbie to veg growing and all, most of the guys told us to use the weed killer and then wait 4 fours to start working it but this seemed such a long time.

2)We didn't want to hire the farmer to plough the field (charges £15) because he just makes a mess of the plot and doesn't get the weeks out. Refused to buy a rotavator because didn't what to waste money on something that might just be a fly in the pan hobby....how wrong were we!:D

So what I did was get cracking in the first week chopped down half the plot and dug a bed or about 20ft x 30ft or so although both Bob and I are in poor health I can dig for England now I can clear a 19ft x 30ft soil ground (not been dug for 15 years or so) in 4 hours I kid you not the guys down on the plots are amazed!

You don't have to kill yourself just have a goal what you want to do and when you want it done for this works amazingly well for Bob and I.

I tend to do a first dig and then get the weeds out on the second dig if your ground hasn't been dug for a few years and is also clay you will have to do quite a few digs to get it something like, I had to dig over our first bed 8 times I kid you not!

I was totally against using machine tools but now with another bigger plot as well we use the machiney as much as we can although it is still a full time job keeping the weeds at bay as no matter how well you weed those little blighters always are replaced with some more!

Good luck and happy digging.Hel.xxx.

 

I'm in the Weedkiller and Weed Supressing Fabric camp, but I respect (neigh, revere!) anyone who can go the organic / chemical free route.

OK, that said, whats the drill with Weed Supressing Fabric after a few seasons - do all those plasticisers get into the soil and absorbed by the plants / critters in the soil?

I dunno, but I'm curious to know. Maybe, on my scale of 1-10, Weed Supressing Fabric (W.S.F.) would be a bigger culprit than a one-time initial Round-up.

I've been thinking about W.S.F. in the veg patch. I spend a fair amount of time weeding it at present, but have done it differently. Clearly if it saves me lots of hours a year its a help, and having last years holes / spacing pre-made for next-year's crops would be great!!!

 

Kirsten

"and having last years holes / spacing pre-made for next-year's crops would be great"

How would you deal with rotation?

After the weedkiller and the rotavator comes the hoe and then more hoeing and even more hoeing.

 

"How would you deal with rotation?"

My plan was to move the W.S.F. to the next patch (all my beds are the same size). It had crossed my mind that the W.S.F. might carry disease with it, but I don't know if that is actually likely ??

 

Kirsten,

...and the timing of moving the WSF.

You could always give the WSF a wash before re-using it

Its amazing what ideas we come up with!!

 

Well I've been to the allotment today 4 o'clock til 7.30. Initially I was there on my own but as I stood contemplating how to get the expense of a rotavater passed the housekeeping committee a chap came across to talk ( 1 1/4 hrs ). apparently there is a rotavater belonging to the site that can be borrowed on a weekend for the cost of the fuel so it seems I won't have to spend any more of the kids inheritence to buy one . I got some help from my daughter and son-in-law so we cleared a fair bit , don't feel so overawed with it now that we have started .Found gooseberries, red currents, strawberries, raspberries, apple tree,(and spoke to the man who planted it twenty years ago ). Looking forward to the weekend to have a bit longer at it.

 

I'm faintly amused by the fact that the other Lotties are recommending that you don't rotavate, but the lottery ... sorry ... allotment ... has its own rotavator!

 

Totally agree about the social side of allotment growing John, all Newbies have to do is you put on a brave face (i.e.not be shy) and go around their site, pass the time of day with the friendly folk on there.

Ok you are going to get a couple who are not 'into' talking but the vast majority just love chatting to someone else who shares their own interest with them to see their eyes light up is very enchanting.

One word of good advice I can give is to stick at it once you start because you will not believe the praise you get from the veterans on the plot when you really go at it and keep things nice.Hel.xxx.

 

I have had an allotment now for about 9 months and although I don't have a lot of time I try to do as much as I can can. When I first took it on I was going to rotavate but all the allotment holdeers around me advised me against it and said it was best to dig. I think the problem with rotavating is you chop the weeds up and then gets lot lots more

 

Good point Kristen, it would seem that the hand dig brigade are in the minority and as such are clearly ignored,such is life.

 

It seems to me Lesley that supporters of either system are fervant believers in their preferred method. Each advocating their way is best, and the arguements they put forward in support of their method all appear logical at the time . I bet whichever method we choose we will come across snags and a round of " I told you so...) from the opposing camp. We have decided to hand dig the weeds and pull out as much root as we can leaving it "rough dug ", then rotavate it to break it down ready for planting.