Just Been Allocated An Allotment

After 2 years of being on the waiting list, just been allocated an allotment, to say its a Jungle is a bit of an understatement.

Was reading how best to clear the ground after years of neglect, I would be right in saying, that work on a small piece at a time (least that gives a chance to grow something this year) maybe get hold of a petrol strimmer and cut the grass down, then use a spade or fork to get the rest of the grass up? and then maybe use a rotovator, otherwise I will be just spreading the grass seeds everywhere?

Or it it best to just clear a small area for this year and put weed killer on the rest and then use a rotovator, it might not be the cheapest way but would that be the quickest way?

And maybe make a heap in the middle and burn all the grass / weeds as well as all the old broken pallets , been told that its ok to have a bonfire after 7pm

 

If your new to growing food have a walk around your plot first with a more experienced plot holder (ask them nicely, they will help) See if you have any plants already there, you may have things such as berries/currants, maybe some rhubarb and even some asparagus or artichokes...they all come back year on year so are worth saving if you know where they are.

Ground clearance can be done a few ways, first cutting down with a strimmer is a good start, then digging a small area at a time to give you ground you can use.

Then either use weedkiller on the rest or cover the ground either with old carpets or black plastic/weed membrane...anything that excludes light to stop weeds growing. You will find it easier to dig next spring this way. Don't burn the pallets just yet they will be useful for weighting down the carpets/plastic.

Steve...

 

Could be a lot worse - the main problem is grass but it may not be couch grass. No sign of brambles, nettles, ground elder, although that yellow stuff is probably creeping buttercup - chop the heads off quick before it seeds!

Looks like you may have a row of raspberry canes on the left, you'll probably get some fruit off those this year.

It looks like it may have been used as recently as last year - nature can take over very fast! What is the bare patch in the middle? Is it soil or some kind of hard-standing? If it's soil, clear the edges by strimming for example, and get a crop in asap. Beans or courgettes bought in from the garden centre, for example. It will make you feel as though you are getting somewhere and of course you'll be able to eat then eventually.

Similarly, as Steve R says, every time you prepare a little patch of ground, plant it up straight away then move on to the next. If you cover anything you can't yet manage with carpet you will keep control and this can be left on all winter giving you some nice clear ground when you peel it off next spring.

 

Thanks for the replies, I managed to clear a very small piece of ground tonight (maybe 6' x 6')
but it took a couple of hours as the ground is so hard, so I left a few bits as I couldn't even get the fork into the soil.................is it best to spray the hard ground / soil with water first a few times and let that soak in or is this caused by the compaction? never seen ground as hard as concrete before - thought I was going to break the the fork as it just bounced off the soil

 

We have taken 3 plots on,1 is planted up almost now but i started on the 2nd one today,done a small patch,the existing pathways are like concrete on this one as you have mentioned plus all lined with black plastic i have to dig out
It wont take you long once you stuck in and very satisfying ......and painful x

 

Water will certainly help you get your fork into it, I use the same trick myself...even on cultivated beds I have before rotovating, but don't overwet it.

Steve...

 

6'x6'? That's a huge patch! Well done.

Definitely a bit of water would help.

 

+ tomatoes. If you're putting carpet/plastic/etc. down you can cut X shaped holes in it and plant straight through into some roughly cultivated grown underneath.

If you weedkiller & rotovate more than you can plant/cover up now/over winter it will probably get taken over by new weeds from all the seeds building up in the soil whilst it's been neglected, so some areas might be best kept strimmed until you can deal with them, but check your site rules as some organisations require you to cultivate the entire plot.

 

Apart from isolating any existing plants that you find and want to keep I would strim it and then once it starts growing back I would put a Glyphosate weed killer (such as "Roundup") on it (its more effective on growing plants, so don't apply it to the strimmed stubble). Use with caution, it will kill any plant it touches, including drifting onto your neighbours plot on a windy day ... and watch out for any on your boots when you walk off the plot.

The weedkiller will take 2 weeks to have an effect, so don't worry if you don't see any immediate effect. After 2 weeks re-apply to anything left that is green - bits you missed or persistent weeds.

If the ground is hard you may find that a rotavator won't make much impact, unless you get a really heavy duty one.

If you can cover with some weed suppressing membrane (I hesitate to suggest Carpet, as it is a nightmare to get up once it starts to rot) then you could plant Squash though the membrane . They take up quite a bit of space, so you can "crop" a large area with only a few planting holes. That's assuming that you like squash ...

Beyond that if you can cultivate an area then you can plant that this season. The ground under the membrane will become softer due to retained moisture not being able to evaporate, so will be easier to work. But otherwise I would be aiming towards getting the plot functional next season - unless you are quick we will be past the main planting time for most crops this year. Keeping it covered for the rest of the year will help kill any weed seed that germinates, and you can then roll the membrane back in the autumn, dig it, and then re-cover and plant through the membrane next Spring saving you a lot of weeding, and keeping the moisture in.

Rotavating will chop up pernicious weed roots, and all the bits will grow :( so best to make sure they are properly dead before you do that, or hand dig and remove any bits of root that you see.

 

Ordinarily, I would not disagree with Kristen, but I do here. Carpet does take a while to rot away ( I have some on my plot three years old) and is a good stop-gap measure to cover land to either kill off weeds or/and stop them growing...until you can properly cultivate the ground into use, then maintain that. Not everyone has the funds to be able to buy decent weed suppressant material straight away.

By covering the ground in old hessian backed carpet ( NOT foam back or underlay), your giving yourself a better chance to get on top of things next spring. Pull back the carpet, dig out any remaining pernicious weeds (usually docks) then cultivate the ground. Afterwards, the carpet can be used as temp pathways, burnt, passed on to other plot holders or taken to the tip.

Most of the carpet on my plot will be gone next spring as I now have large sheets of black plastic for soil warming and also large sheets of weed suppressant stuff for covering ground where I don't use green manure.

But there will still be carpet somewhere until my plots are fully sorted out...another couple of years yet...at least.

Steve...

 

Yes, it did cross my mind to say what you have, the point that went through my mind (didn't articulate it though) is that carpet can be laid with good intentions of short term project and then it turns out that it gets left ... well, speaking purely for myself of course! I frequently do temporary fixes that become long term or permanent, so I now prefer to make temporary fixes that will survive a good while

I like the idea of having Best Wilton Hessian-backed carpet for the paths. Very posh!

 

What happens if you have no power on site for the Hoover

 

Good point. I think I'll put Amtico down instead

 

I knew I should have paid more attention when I was in the Scouts
went to the allotment this evening to do a bit more digging and to burn a lot of the weeds……..got a litre of engine cleaner (Gunk) and sprayed that onto the heap,
lit it and it went well for about 30 seconds then then went out, tried again and
same thing, went out after 30 seconds.


Added some wood and put the full litre of gunk on the heap, again went well
for a minute or so and then went out again……all the weeds that had been pulled
out didn't seem wet, but I guess they are green and I should have looked at the page below before I started...lol

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Fire


Second attempt tomorrow

 

Managed to build a raised border and clear about a 1/4 of the site, so now ready
to plant in the area thats been cleared

Was thinking about planting some last potatoes but not sure what variety I should be
looking for?

Also whilst digging I noticed that the ground had a lot of old potatoes and wasn't sure if it ok to plant the same vegetable in the same area again?

Madahhia suggested planting Beans (assume this means runner beans?) & Courgettes, is there any other vegetables can be planted now or is it too late for anything else?

Thanks for the replies