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

Well if it helps I'm in both camps!

The first garden I made (when I was about 18, and thus fitter than I am now!) must have been close to an acre, and I hand dug it - most of it was dug double-deep. Weed killers back then just brunt the tops of (more like Weedol today), so not much use, and a yester-year rotavator would have sturrgled to open up the clay easily.

I have a recollection that some of it was ploughed by the farmer, and then I dug it ...

I think, given the choice, that digging is better. It takes longer, but clears more weeds.

You may then want to rotavate it to get "tilth". Ordinarily you would dig in the Autumn, and the frost would give you tilth by the Spring :thumb: but that doesn't help if you are starting in May and want to plant this year.

If you rotavate weed infested ground you will chop the roots, and multiple the weeds. That's not a good plan, unless you then cover the whole lot in thick black plastic.

If you spray the weeds with weed killer first, give it time to work (2 to 4 weeks) and then rotavate you shouldn't get too much weed come back, other than seeds that have germinated [which you will even if you hand dig], and if you were happy to use weed killer the first time you might as well use it again on the stuff that re-emerges. You are then in good shape ... however, it has taken 4 weeks to get from Now to Then, and we are late in the season to be waiting a month before planting ...

Alternative is: dig pits and "fill" with well rotted manure. They can be about 4 feet apart. Put a stick in each one (so you can find it again), cover the whole lot with thick black plastic and plant through it into the pits - Pumkins, Squash, Courgettes. By next Spring most of the weeds that were under the plastic will be dead, or weakened. Cultivate the soil in the Autumn, re-cover with the same plastic, plant all your veg through the plastic next year (weeds will be supressed, but you will have increase in slugs). So that's the best part of 2 years under plastic, pretty much all the bad weeds will have given up by then.

 

excellent idea

 

Good idea Kirsten, your suggestion has raised another issue mentioned before in previous advice in this post, that of " well rotted manure and composting " . The thing is I have no manure well rotted or otherwise . I have been told of a farmer who will supply fresh manure ( or rather his cows will lol ) but that it will need to stand for a good year or so before I can use it on the land. Likewise with the composting as this is our first week on the allotment we have no composted material either. I can buy pelleted feed and blood , fish and bone fertilizer, growmore etc. but I do need to watch the escalating costs involved in this project ie , ground rent £15, seed, tools,black plastic etc.the plot measure 20FT.x 100FT.

 

Yes,manure needs to be stacked for 6 months, or more, before use - otherwise it will rob Nitrogen from the soil (in the rotting-down process) and may be "strong" enough to burn plant roots, and stems, that it comes into contact with.

If you aren't going to do anything with some/all the land putting it on "fresh" and rotavating it in is fine - it will rot down in the soil, and immediately cheer up the soil by improving the structure and so on.

Alternatives are spent Mushroom compost / Spent hops - if you have supplies of either near to you. Or peat (but I expect that is relatively expensive. Your council may have compost [from recycle bins] which can sometimes be had for nothing, or provided you collect it yourself.

I have heard of allotments that get a central delivery of either manure, or council compost, and its free (or cheap or whatever) but you have to be there on the day to help yourself. I expect you've looked into that route, but if not might be worth asking the Lottie folk.

 

tony bo,
Forgot to tell you, yesterday after you left commity man said you can buy 1yr old well rotted muck for £15 from up near hardwick :thumb: