Best way to prepare a new allotment

The local council has marked out a few new plots on an existing allotment complex and my son has taken one on (which means that I shall be roped in, of course!). A quick description of the area where the plots will be, is it’s flat, with no brambles, tall weeds, or small bushes, and the grass is short – because it’s been maintained that way by the local council for years. They will, also, be rotavating the new plots in the next few days.

The soil is light clay, easy to dig, virtually stoneless, and never been used for growing anything (other than grass!).

The other allotment holders dig horse manure in each year, which I am happy to do, but is there any other advice anyone can give me, please? I assume that’s all we can do (apart from dig and dig again!) but is there anything else we could do to better prepare the ground for next year? We shall, of course, ask the other allotment holders for their advice but, as I say, any advice will be very welcome wherever it comes from.

 

Before rotavation starts, check over the ground for weeds..if there is lots (and there probably will be) forget rotavating as you'll be creating more weeds for next year.

Have a look at this topic here, for some practical planning help http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/general-gardening-discussion/31154-garden-planning-help.html There is no point in putting a shed where it will later shade out one of your beds, or putting a greenhouse where it cant maximise the available light.

Get your hands on a cheap or secondhand petrol lawn mower and/or strimmer or find someone who will regularly lend one to you.

Also start collecting either of the following old carpets, black plastic sheet, viscreen, weed membrane fabric...basically anything you can cover ground with to stop weeds growing.

As your plot has never grown crops before it will probably be similar to my new plot and be quite fertile, so for the first year you wont need to enrich it with manure this year.

Check out where your water supply is and means to store it on your plot, how to get it there etc.

Steve...

 

First priority would be a fence, Don,t Rotovate it, it will cause more problems

lay old carpets down to suffocate weeds, spray with weedkiller and cultivate a bit at a time, planting as you go.

 

If they are not going to rotavate for a fortnight and you can get Roundup / Glyphosate weedkiller down in the next day or so that would be my choice. (You need to have 6 hours dry after applying the weedkiller, otherwise it will not be so effective)

If its rough-cut grass I doubt there will be much in the way of pernicious weeds, so rotavating might not be all that bad (but it would be better to kill the grass etc first if possible)

If its all rotavated before you can do the weedkiller thing then I would be inclined (if you can bear to!) to leave it fallow for 2 or 3 weeks so that weeds appear. Assuming that pernicious weeds do indeed come up you can then spray them; no need to dig them out, wait a few days (see weedkiller instructions for exact timings) and then plant / sow directly into the soil; the weeds will be killed in-situ.

The longer you can leave it fallow the more weeds than will appear to be sprayed & killed before you start planting; if you can water the site well (or if the weather rains heavily on your plot :thmb that will help get as many weeds growing as possible.

 

Just because the grass is short now, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's always been cut regularly enough to ensure that no annual weeds have dropped their seeds.

If you rely entirely on initial cultivation/use of weedkillers to clear the ground, it could then be subjected to a massive growth of annual weed seeds which neither method will kill.

Which is why I always suggest use a mix of cultivation (and weedkiller if you insist) plus lots of growing through membranes & mulches, or you could be spending an awful lot of time hoeing and/or hand weeding.

 

Thanks for all your advice! I’ll have a look at what’s been said!

It’s difficult to describe the ground but the grass is shorter and far better than my lawn! It’s only a small allotment complex with about a dozen plots at most, so perhaps the other plot holders or the council have kept the weeds down and cut the grass.

I’d better explain that the plot is over an hour’s drive from my home and within 5 minutes walk of my son’s, which is why I can’t easily ask the other plot holders any questions – he can, and will, but I thought I’d like all your opinions so I hope no one minded

There appear to be no weeds, though there must be some, but nothing dreadful. The ground, however, looks as though it will be hard-packed and a nightmare to dig the first time, so rotavating would make it far easier to do so afterwards. Apparently, according to the other potholders, the Council always rotavates all new plots in the area.

I’ve never had a garden with clay soil before (it’s, apparently, according to the other plot holders, only light clay but, none-the-less, still clay) and wondered if there’s anything that can be done to improve it other than dig in horse manure.

I’m grateful for all the advice (and will read and follow where I can!) but my main thoughts were on whether there is anything I can do or ought to do to to improve the clay soil othere than horse manure beings dug in.

Also, I assume that the earliest my son can grow any crops there will then be next year once the manure has rotted.

 

I agree. Better you are incentivised to get cracking, rather than put off by months of hand-digging of sun-baked clay that has set like concrete!

Nah, clay is a good thing. Holds nutrients and water. I have heavy clay. It sticks to your boots in wet weather (I don't walk on mine!) and is heavy to dig (I don't dig mine!)

Horse/Cow manure is best. Also: make a compost heap. Buy in Spent hops, or mushroom compost, if you can get them in bulk cheaply enough. Your allotment might have a communal manure-delivery, in which case you probably need to be there on-the-day with a barrow and muck fork!

Beware of the threat of Aminopyralid contamination of manure. Make sure that the provider of the manure knows for definite that there is no chance of contamination, or you do a "Bean germination test" on it before spreading on your plot.

I have raised beds on my plot. This means that the soil level is slightly higher than the surround, and helps the clay drain. I never (I mean NEVER EVER!) walk on the beds to avoid compacting the clay, and I never dig them. (Not quite true, they get some digging when I harvest Parsnips, Leeks and Potatoes, and I sometimes run a mini tiller through them to "froth up" the surface, but mostly I spread well rotted manure on the beds as a mulch and that's it.

My plot was ploughed and rotavated (by tractor) and then I made my beds 4' wide (maximum you can reach from each side), with 18" paths, and I just dug the soil from the paths one spade depth and put it on the beds to "raise" them (and lower the paths). There are no wooden sides (although that would be nice, and is in my long term plan) - so called "lazy raised beds".

I planted mine the first year, and after a couple of years the soil was very easily worked.

Plenty of time! For things that should have been sown a while back you can buy plants. It generally takes 4 - 8 weeks to grow a vegetable from seed, in a pot, until planting out, so you can gain a month or two that way.

Grow what you like to eat. no sense putting at that work in, at the beginning, and having a disaster on something you don't really like very much anyway! Experiment once you've got the basics sussed.

Grow high value crops. Main crop spuds are hard to store for very long, and cheap-as-chips (Sorry!) in the shops.

Runner beans / Climbing French beans (whichever you prefer the taste of) are easy to grow, very prolific, and expensive in the shops :thumb: Buying plants for them anytime from now until 2nd week of June, or a bit later, is fine. You could even sow some now (in individual pots, little plastic cups (make a hole in the bottom!, or modules), they'll be ready for planting out in 3 weeks).

There is a sowing / planting calendar planner on my blog. You'll have to click the thumbnail to expand it big enough to read though.

Vegetable Patch « K’s Garden

Other candidates for buying plants are Brussels Sprouts, Winter Cabbage, Winter sprouting broccoli (still time to sow them though) Celery, Sweetcorn, Courgette, Squash

And Summer-sown crops include Chinese cabbage,Cauliflower, Kohl rabi, Swede, Radish, Turnip, Beetroot, Carrot, Sweetcorn, Lettuce.

If you are anxious about time etc. in your first season then one of the best approach I have seen used is to make some planting holes (with plenty of rotted manure), put a stick in (so you know where they are!), cover the plot with weed suppressing membrane, and plant Squash through that. They trail a long way, so you don't need many plants / planting holes, and the weed membrane will prevent weeds regrowing (and any seeds that germinate will not survive)

next year you can plant all your crops through the membrane (you may lift it / dig underneath / prepare etc in the Autumn, and then relay the membrane in the Spring) so you have no weeding issues next year (or two).

The weed membrane will also help with moisture retention.

Cardboard would do instead of membrane - particularly if you can get big boxes - e.g. the sort that bicycles are delivered to shops in.

 

Thanks Kristen, There's a great deal of useful information there. I shall have to spend some time reading it! I'll have a look at the over-wintering crops. It depend on just how good or bad the soil is at present. If it's bad I'd be better off adding the manure and whatever else I can and wiat for next year - if not as bad as I worry, then heigh-ho-aplanting we will go!

Thanks to all for your help, advice, and suggestions.

 

If you go the "wait for next year" route then I recommend that you sow a "green manure" - basically a crop that you dig back in, and it adds goodness to the soil. If you want advice on that please ask as the seed is expensive from many places, and the choice of plants is bewildering, and folk here will have some suggestions on both counts.

 

Again, thanks Kristen!

I've used green manure in the past and my mistake then was to leave it too long before digging it in with the result it was a nightmare to do so! It is a good idea, however, and if I decide to go that route, then, I'd be pleased to hear that advice!

At the moment, what I'm thinking of doing is, look at the soil, ask other allotment holders what they think, and, if, from what I see and what they say, I consider the soil is not too bad, dig it over to remove anything I don't want and, then, plant/sow some of whatever is not too late to plant/sow - things that can be harvested later this year.

After harvesting, I can, then, cover the ground with horse manure, and other things that I may be able to get, and dig this all in. I may, also, be able to plant some over-wintering crops, taking up only a small area at the one end, which can be horse-manured next year.

I've got a very large garden and plenty of home-made compost so, perhaps, where I want to plant something, I could dig a hole, fill it with my compost, and, then, plant/sow.

It all, really, depends on what the other allotment holders tell me!

I've had lots of good ideas and suggestion from this forum. so thanks to all! I'll bear them all in mind.

Thanks again!

 

It also depends on the manure you can get hold of also, and if it is, well rotted. Our alotment has manure delivered thats supposed to be well rotted, but is not. If I spread that on my beds over winter this year, I would not be able to plant carrots and parsnips in it next year.

As I said in my earlier posting, if the land has only grown grass before..it will probably be fertile enough for your first years growing. If then the council rotavates it for you, it will be dug over and fertile and ready for a full seasons use, after crops have then come out is the time to enrich with manure. All you have to do this year (to my mind anyway) is cover the land to stop weed growth coming through, lift the covers next spring and plant/sow.

Steve...

 

I agree with Steve R :thumb: