Topic: Any tips on starting out

[heyho]

My first post on here so go easy on me  ;D

Just aquired my first allotment. It has been 'reclaimed' from an old council run site and has been left to 'naturalise' over the years. Which means a lot of work to get it ready. I've no problems with a bit of digging but at the moment I don't have a lot of time - it's dark on an evening after work and half the weekend is spent being a 'dad taxi'.

Any suggestion on how to expedite matters. Is it worth hiring a rotavator/cultivator or is that just being plain lazy and there is no subsitute for a bit of hard graft no matter how long it takes.

Oh and here are some photos

[grawrc]

Hi Heyho!
Welcome to A4A. Some folk like rotovators but if you have a lot of perennial weeds they tend to get chopped up and spread by rotovating. My advice would be: dig little and often (try getting the kids involved too), cover up what you can't clear with cardboard/carpet/black plastic and give yourself realistic (small) targets. Apart from that only grow what you and the family can and will eat and enjoy it!!  Plan how you want it to end up now on paper and you'll be amazed how quickly it'll look like your plan. Plan shed, greenhouse, paths, beds (raised or otherwise) and rotation.

I don't know how experience a gardener you are so I won't labour the point, but all the advice you might need is here somewhere either by using search, looking at the wiki or following links in people's posts.
Anne

[5rod]

WELCOME HEYHO
ITS BEST TO DIG FRIST AND REMOVE AS MANY WEEDS AND GRASS
AS POSILBE.THEN USE  ROTOVATOR.JUST INJOY AND DO AS MUCH
OR LITTLE HAS YOU FEEL LIKE .
               GOOD LUCK YOU NOW KNOW WHERE WE ARE.
                               5R0D
                               :D :D

[Lauren S]

Welcome to A4A from me too.
Congrats on your huge allotment.
Like Grawrc has mentioned, a bit of forward planning will save you loads of time. During these still dark evenings plan your plot. Where do you want the paths to go? No point digging where the paths will go, leave them nice and hard. get some string and bits of wood to mark out where you want the beds to go. You do realise now you are officially *An Allotmenteer* you have to join the skip diving team ::). It's compulsory  ;D. If you see a skip outside a property, take a look inside and see if there are any useful bits you can use. If yes, don't forget to knock and ask first. If you can get hold of some of those builders dumpy bags to start you off they make great compost bins. I wouldn't advise putting any perennial weeds in though, i.e couch grass or docks etc. Source out some stables for free manure and load it into your dumpy bags while you are still in the planning stages. Oh you will have great fun planning your allotment.
Check out as many A4A lottie blogs as you can, most have before and after pics that will inspire you; (They certainly did me). You usually find them at the bottom of each members posts.
An ounce of planning will save you a ton of digging 8) (Oh that's going to be my new motto)
Take lots and lots of pics. Look back every couple of weeks and you really will see you are making progress.
Most of all.........ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE  ;)
GOOD LUCK AND WELCOME TO YOUR NEW WAY OF LIFE
Lauren  :)

[asbean]

Welcome to A4A, Heyho.  This is a great site for advice and anything else you care to discuss. 

Don't try to do it all at once - it is daunting, but when you've cleared your first little space you'll want to do more and more. Accept all the help that's offered too.

[Tee Gee]

Looking at your plot I know how you must feel I know how I felt when I took up a plot like that.

I was lucky in one sense I had a flame gun so I went around the whole plot and burned off all the stick like vegetation such as 'fat hen, 'willow herb and various dead grasses.

Now I know that in some areas 'fires' are frowned upon but using a gun is a bit more controlled than a fire. Wait till evening to do it, this allows people to get their laundry in, and it also helps if the wind is blowing away from ant nearby houses.

Once this is done you will be able to see the bigger clumps of pernicious weeks more easily and dig them up individually. The smaller annual weeds can be controlled as part of the season husbandry.

By the way the resultant ash is a good fertilser.

As I mentioned on another thread, mark out where your growing beds are going to be and dig these one at a time.

Doing it this way can cut down on the digging you will have to do, simply because you won't be digging areas that will eventually be footpaths.

But as you have intimated; there is no substitute for a bit of hard graft no matter how long it takes

But is worth it in the long term.

Good luck to you and welcome to A4A

[RosieMcPosie]

hi heyho, welcome :)
that lottie is HUGE, congrats!
apart from all the excellent advice you've been given already, can i just add one piece of my own.
once you have a small area prepared, plant something. whether it's flowers, fruit, veg, anything. it can be very hard work digging your plot over and i found it really cheered me up to see how my few little plants were doing... that's what it's all about after all!
enjoy :)

[sarah]

hi and welcome. i would second what has been said already. I would add that you should give yourself a realistic timeframe for getting things as you would like. get a bit dug and planted this year as rosie says, as this will lift the spirits, but as for the grand scheme it will take you a good two or three seasons to get it as you want.  a littlle and often.

[wheelabo]

Hi and welcome.  Dad taxi the kids to the allotment and get them digging!!!  Only joking although my kids have really enjoyed helping out on our new lottie.  As the others said do a bit at a time.  We saw an allotment on the same site as ours that has been rotovated by the council.  It looks like the weeds have just been chopped into trillions of pieces so maybe best to do what has been said already and dig first.  Good luck :)

[SMP1704]

Hi Heyho and welcome

Digging or rotavating or a bit of both is up to you.  Digging is great exercise and you can pull up roots as you go and rotavating is good for breaking up really hard ground, yes it will chop up the roots but generally too small to do much in the short term.  As long as you get back in there with the spade and remove obvious roots it is much of a muchness.

It has taken me 3 years to feel like I have control over my plot and this will be the first year that all areas are under cultivation. 

Dig a bit, plant a bit and remember to look at what you have cultivated rather than what is left to do and have fun.

I have two boys and they aren't that keen on digging but they love building their den and that keeps them occupied while I get on with my digging and they even bring their friends!

[heyho]

Thanks all - I have managed to secure a free weekend and at least one of the kids is keen (I've bought him some gloves).

Aquired a shed off my mother and a load of 2x2's so will start by preparing an area for that. Oh and the tree is getting seriously pruned back although it isn't a problem with the sun.

[manicscousers]

hi, heyho, welcome to the site, sounds like you've got a brilliant plan for the weekend  ;D

[Multiveg]

Take some more photos so you can chart the progress.

[star]

Welcome Heyho, happy growing and lottie evolving ;D ;D ;D

[heyho]

An update:

The whole plot is now cleared (down to bare earth) and a small section paved with cheap slabs and a 2nd hand potting shed erected (pictures to follow). Planted some seeds in the potting shed, got some plug plants (ok a bit extravagent but it is my first year), strawberries and raspberry canes on order.

Booked a rotovator (yes I know its cheating a bit) but had to cancel it due to about 4" of snow descending on the plot so will book it again soon.

And I am bloody loving it!!!

Only problem I've got is an old rugby injury of the elbow making digging somewhat painful (ahhh get the violins out I hear you all saying)

[foresterone]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll81/foresterone/P1000144.jpg 


This  was my plot 1 year ago!

[heyho]

A few more photo updates:-

Firstly a good raking got rid of the rubbish and weeds at ground level:-



and an area paved and a potting shed added:-



and the best 40 quid I could have spent - a days hire of a good rotavator (went over it 4 times and it has dug down almost to a spades depth):-




p.s. for those into Health and Safety my nine year old was only posing, it was switched off at the time  :)

[twinkletoes]

Crickey heyho - that is bloomin' brilliant!   Well done.  Bet you're sitting there with a big wide grin on your moosh eh - and rightly so.  Can't wait to see the next lot of pics in 6 weeks time!  Bet you can't wait to get stuff planted in there and growing now eh? Bet you couldn't have done it without your helper though.
twinkletoes

[Barnowl]

Looking good. Great work  :)

[Patrick King]

wow what a change  :o cant wait for the next lot of updates.