Topic: Where to start?

[Katinkka]

So I am the proud owner of an allotment quite near my house.  Its been a bit of a rush decision as a friend got one and I got one immediatly next to her.  I've thought about getting one in the past as I would love to grow a herb garden and veggies but am unable to do that at home due to kids/lack of space.

Anyway, I have it now and its a mess.  No real rubbish to clear just clumpy ground covered in grass and dandelions.  THe council offered to rotavate but apparently they offer it to everyone, they just fail to actually come and 'do' the rotavating. 

It has a concrete base already for a shed and we are getting one this weekend.  Then hopefully work can begin!  Should we rotavate or just dig it ourselves?  Any suggestions for what we can grow in the next month or so?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Dig what you can, and put black plastic or weed fabric over the rest; you can grow quite a lot through holes in the plastic. You can plant most things now, though you're probably too late for onions. If you hurry, you can still get seed potatoes, and plant through holes in the black plastic. Dug areas should be reserved for things which have to be grown from seed.

[MikeB]

welcome to A4A, at the top of the page there is a row of buttons, one of them is marked wiki.  Click on this button, when the wiki loads, click on methods of cultivation, you will see amongst the headings ' clearing a new allotment ' and included under this heading ' rotovation ', read, any queries please ask, no problem.

[SMP1704]

Welcome Katinkka

I am a manual fork and spade person, but only because I have some serious perennial weeds and wanted to get out as much root as possible.

There has been an interesting thread about whether or not to rotavate.  (use the search button at the top of the page and use the keyword rotavating) I think the key thing to success with rotavating is to do it several times, so that the perennial roots are chopped, chipped and mashed to such timyh pieces that there is no chance of them regenerating.

Another approach would be to use Round-up or similar, which will take a few weeks to kill weeds and their roots and then rotavate.

I marked out beds with string and dug those out manually.  This worked for me as I could see the area that I needed to dig and an 8x4 area always seemed more achieveable than the whole plot :o  Recently I became more ambitious and dug out a 12x12 bed for my sweetcorn ;D

I think the key thing is to take your time, do little and often and to enjoy the time that you spend at the lottie.

Now is the time to grow practically everything!  Outdoor toms and cucumbers, pumpkins, sweetcorn, lettuces, carrots, beetroots, spring onions to name but a few.

Enjoy

[machman5]

Hi Katinkka,
I watched 'It's not easy being green' on BBC recently and they moved on to their new land in June which meant some fast work was needed.
They laid cardboard straight on top of the weeds, edged with rocks/bricks, put a layer of soil/compost on top (I think about 4 inches) and then they planted their stuff into this - on top of the cardboard!

I think the way it works is that the card will rot and your roots can get through to the soil underneath but the weeds are suppressed because of the cardboard.  This is enough apparently for the first year and then you dig out the old weed roots at the end of the season when you have a bit more time.

Don't know if it will work but would be interesting to hear what others think   :-\

I think you can check them out on the bbc website.

Anyway good luck to you and welcome to allotmenting!
Donna.

[Curryandchips]

Welcome Katinkka, an alternative or supplement to plastic etc is to plant some stuff which will help suppress weeds. Good examples are squashes, there are many varieties, pumpkins are good fun, and both summer and winter squashes will give you a decent crop, and help to suppress some of the weeds while you get control of your ground. You can just let them grow ...

This is always a busy time of year, so good luck !

[keef]

Cut everything down to the ground with a strimmer / mower, scrape the top off with a spade, then dig it all - much better then rotorvating.

[busy_lizzie]

All good advice previously, Katinkka,  welcome to the board and enjoy your allotment - I am sure you  will never regret it, especially after you taste your wonderful veggie produce.  :) busy_lizzie

[weedbusta]

welcome to a4all, you'll probably find that as you dig and clear a bit your lottie neighbours will give you their spares to get you going. I'm really grateful for all the freebies i got last year. try to cover what your not clearing with anything that will block the sun,, plastic cardboard old carpet etc. as long as it blocks to light it Will help to kill the weeds/grass/jungle making it so much easier when you get around to digging it. and remember to sit facing what you've just cleared when you stop for a break!! enjoy.

[Crash]

I bought a rotorvator 2nd hand but didn't get round to using it. I'm glad now that I didn't as I managed to get most of the roots out. I might try to get it going later in the year and go over the plot a few times.
I've only had my plot since autumn and love my time down there. I'm sure you will too.

[Katinkka]

THanks so much for your replies!  The plan this weekend is to get some covering for most of the plot and get it down.  We need to get the shed sorted also.

The last time I grew something was broadbeans in first school.  This is going to be a huge learning curve!

I also like the suggestion of raised beds.

THanks

[Crash]

I'm in the same position but a few months ahead. 40 last year and not grown anything since the first year of high school.
Clear a bit plant a bit. Makes you so happy to see something growing and a big pile of weeds.

[anneski]

Hi Katinkka,
I watched 'It's not easy being green' on BBC recently and they moved on to their new land in June which meant some fast work was needed.
They laid cardboard straight on top of the weeds, edged with rocks/bricks, put a layer of soil/compost on top (I think about 4 inches) and then they planted their stuff into this - on top of the cardboard!

I think the way it works is that the card will rot and your roots can get through to the soil underneath but the weeds are suppressed because of the cardboard.  This is enough apparently for the first year and then you dig out the old weed roots at the end of the season when you have a bit more time.

Don't know if it will work but would be interesting to hear what others think   :-\

I think you can check them out on the bbc website.

Anyway good luck to you and welcome to allotmenting!
Donna.

I saw this, and I did much the same a couple of years back. I had two wooden frames made up, and put it on an old lawn. Lined the bottom with cardboard and newspaper, then chucked mushroom compost and ordinary compost on top, and planted. Most things did really well, and now a couple of years later I'm using the frames for my handy salad stuff - leaves, radishes, spring onions etc.

[Svea]

welcome on board. i have two things to say to you:

get yourself a good book, such as joy larkcom's 'grow your own vegetables' - it's stuffed with advice from preparing your soil, to descriptions of all sorts of veg to help you along. it's bedtime reading for me :)

the other: if your plot is large enough, mow the 'grass' around your shed and make it into a seating area, where you can hang out/have tea/BBQ/whatever. this might mean as much as leaving half of your plot untouched, except for regular moving. when you get the other half under control and need more space, you can tackle your grassy area at leisure. :) it's got to be less depressing this way, for sure.
someone of this board did the same thing last year. :)

[cowellen]

hi Katinkka

I am also new to allomenting. I got my plot on 18th March - and thanks to all the advice on here ... which is a fantastic help... i have shocked myself with how much has been done...  :o

take a look at my photo dairy http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,17985.0

[Katinkka]

Thanks for the photo diary!  You have done amazingly well. 

Went to the allotments yesterday and my bloke tried to dig some over but it was so hard.  I couldnt even get my spade to go in the soil!  So its been covered in roundup and we will see where we go from there.  Hope fully we will rent a rotavator or get the council and we can get going!  Meantime we have got all the other bits, compost bin, plastic greenhouse, wheelbarrow etc.

I planted some tomato seeds in a propagator last night and left them in the plastic greenhouse.  Is this ok?

[Svea]

dont know how others do it - i would leave the tomatos indoors until they make an appearance, then move them outdoors to slow them down.
but that's just me :)

[ThomsonAS]

Welcome

I guess an early decision is about how natural you want to be!  I started off with organic intentions in my first year (2005) but when the real enemies (bindweed and couch) fought back, I went for a chemical solution!

Even with chemicals  tough weeds come back and this year I'm learning that there's no substitute for digging!

That said, I'd recommend stuff that gives you early successes - which may not be what you imagine - last year was a total disaster for my lettuces in the face of rampant slugs - but  I did better than expected with courgettes and sweetcorn.

My final tip would be to be ruthless with the undergrowth (I kept a few dock leaves last year for sting relief since I inherited a nettle-ly border - but they were a holiday resport for the snail population!

Alastair

[timnsal]

Hi Katinkka,

Welcome. Oh, it's good to know I'm not the only one who rushes into these things. I've had my allotment for about 3 weeks now.

Hope you have as much fun as I am.

Sally