Topic: wild in the country

[beastiefishboy]

hi everyone!
im a "lottie" virgin so was gonna be a pain and pick your wise brains!
my lottie has been neglected for years by previous owners and has now fallen to me to bring it back to productive life!
however the grass is well over waist height.
how do i prepare it?
would i be ok to strim it then thoroughly dig it over or should i get a rotavator?
any tips?
thanks for listening!
andy

[jo2]

Thats what we did and it appears to have worked but don't forget to pull the roots out as you dig or they will only regrow.

[Mrs Ava]

Cor, rotavate or not to rotavate, that is the question, and it is a question that has been raised here several times.  I personally am a hand digger kinda chick - back breaking, but thorough.  Our first plot, many years ago, was covered in couch grass, which we strimmed, then rotavated in (I hear your gasps, but we were still learners), and what happened, the bind weed and couch came back with avengance as all we had done was shredded all the roots and produced millions of cuttings, which had all grown!  We never conquered that plot  :'(.  New plot, Ava strimmed, then I dug, and dug and dug, but now it is clear, well, apart from the occassional marestail, and now I would possibly rotavate, if I owned one.

Anyhow, after all that mindless rambling, welcome and congrats on your new allotment.

[Sarah-b]

On part of the plot, you could adopt the "no dig" approach. I haven't tried it myself, but there's some info on the web if you do a search. I think it basically would involve strimming then mulching, then covering with a permeable thingy and then planting through that. Then later on you can do what you like, cos the weeds should be all gone underneath - well so the theory goes.
If I was going to dig it all by hand, I'd mark out beds - and then feel great everytime I completed one. Rather than face a demoralising huge field of labour.

Whatever you do - the very best of luck to you.

Sarah.

[adamhill100]

Andy,

I only got my lottie this year and was in a fair ole state... I just kept digging a bit at a time so as not to kill myself.. Also got some much needed help from dad.!  You do get there in the end.! Just have to be a bit patient.!  Good luck

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[beastiefishboy]

thanks for all the help guys (and gals)
i think im gonna dig it the old fashioned way!
theres no rush and like you said if i mark out my plots then i can give a cheer everytime i complete one!
gonna start with the hedge this weekend!
once thats doin the whole thing will look better immediately!
can i use the hedge choppings in my compost?
or have i gotta get rid of it another way?
was gonna burn the grass i strim in my burning bin!

[Sarah-b]

One consolation is that the digging season goes on a long time!

Think you have to chop up hedge trimmings quite a bit to compost them. Maybe you could just pile them over some of the strimmed bits, to act as a light-excluder until you're ready to dig that bit? In my experience even a month or so of light-exclusion weakens the weeds and makes them easier to dig out whole.

Sarah.

[beastiefishboy]

ill give that a go thanks sarah-b!
tis nice to know im not on my own in all this!
is kinda daunting but very exciting!
never grown anything before!
cept cress!
lol