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Sorry to say it depends on the weeds. Annuals will be killed off by the plastic but perenneial weed roots, especially thistles and bindweed and couch grass will just bide their time and shoot again the minute you move the plastic.The raspberry canes may well send up new shoots this spring and those will fruit so remove the dead canes and weed round them. Starwberries are best re-planted every year so you crop on a 3 year rotation - the first year plants are getting their roots down and will not produce much fruit. The second year plants will fruit well and the 3rd year plants will fruit and sen out runners you then plant out or pot up to keep the rotatio and vigour going. If you want to keep your budget low, try some Tlc for the strawberry plants still there by weeding round them and/or re-planting in a cleared bed.Start making your own compost with all the weeds and dead material you clear. Try planting thru cardboard on new beds. It will keep the light off weed seeds and roots and reduce your need to hoe.
Knowing where to start is always the hard bit! First thing I’d do is try and identify any useful features, paths, compost heap, trees.Then I’d dig out any perennial weeds, especially docks and dandelions which will just grow back if you strim the tops off. I’d then strim the rest and take off the long grass and annual weeds to start a compost pile or add to an existing one. That should leave you with a better idea of your space, so you can decide what you want to grow this year. Only grow what you and your family normally eat or would like to eat! There are plenty of planting and sowing charts available online ( see TeeGee’s excellent resources on this site) to help you work out what needs sowing when. After that, only clear an area when you are ready to plant something in it….there is nothing more demoralising that clearing an area, only to have weeds take it back over with depressing speed. Cover other areas you know you won’t be tackling for a while with weighed down cardboard from recycling skips to help knock the grass and weeds back before you tackle them. Prepare, plant and keep weed free as you go. I sow very little directly in the soil as starting seeds at home and planting them out at the allotment has several advantages. Making a defined bed or some sort, a area pegged out with string or with wooden sides can help your morale as it immediately looks better, it stops you walking on it and compacting the soil, and with a defined area if you have limited time you can concentrate on just one bed per visit, sort it out really thoroughly depending on what it requires (dig it over, or cover it, or plant it up, or weed it) then it looks good and you can move on to the next bit. It might seem overwhelming at first but regular visits doing just a few tasks at a time is usually a successful approach rather than trying to sort it all out at once. Getting to know your allotment neighbours can be a worthwhile sharing site knowledge and seeing what grows well there. Enjoy!
Interesting cultivation targets……surely it will depend in the time of year you take over a plot though!?Another reason to have marked out areas to tackle, it looks like you are doing something even if the marked out are is still weed covered! Find out if your site get any free deliveries of wood chips or other resources like seed swaps that you could utilise to avoid spending. I’d be tempted with your strawberries to dig them up, discard the oldest looking/ any poorly growing ones and put them in pots temporally, then clear a bed/ area completely to plant them up in rows well spaced and they will be ready to grow on and fruit this year.This RHS link will help you id your weeds…https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/common-weeds
The first season is always the toughest....Card and plastic covering is very good at weakening weedy top growth and will pretty much eliminate annual weeds while you are tackling other areas. Rather than the hard work of digging it might be better to try forking over initially. This gives you a chance to check for perennial weeds roots and riddle them out. Don't try to compost any of these just bag them and put them in the dust bin. The perennial weeds are your main potential problem. Ideally you want an area cleared of perennial weeds before starting a strawberry or raspberry bed....Finally, while many contributors here avoid herbicides and pesticides you could consider knocking the growth down with a herbicide and digging it over once it's clearer.
Should I bother to salvage those by weeding around them? Or maybe dig them out and move them? Or will they be worthless weeds themselves by now?...Rotovating is not in my plan. I could strim it, fork it or dig it, but I want to save some effort. How much weed root can I get away with leaving behind? (How long is a piece of string)
Hang onto the rhubarb, it's mighty hard to kill and, once it sprouts and you can see where the edges are, you can clear round it. It's also a PITA to dig out - I made the mistake of trying to move mine, it had a taproot about the size of my thigh! Roundup won't work unless things are growing so at this time of year it won't touch much apart from groundsel, which is easy to clear anyway.
I would suggest buying a digging hoe. It is surprising just how fast you can clear a piece of land. They seem to have gone up a lot in price, but ebay still seems to have some Silverline which are not too pricey. Any space that you cannot clear I would suggest covering in courgettes, squash and pumpkins. They are allelopathic and kill most things round them. Once they have finished the space they leave will be easy to cultivate.
It’s also easy to grow squash and courgettes through cardboard. Simply make holes for the plants and let them spread over the cardboard. It keeps them clean and the cardboard will suppress any further weeds. It does stop the squash throwing down extra roots but they still seem to thrive and produce in my experience.
If you’ve got a good sized compost heap, in June put a bucket full of decent soil of muck in a hole on the top and plant courgettes or squash in them. The roots get a bit of extra warmth from the heap and the growing plants will cover the top smothering weed growth and shading the heap a bit plus you get a bonus crop as well!
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Topic: Any Advice for Clearing My Badly Overgrown Plot. (Read 9339 times)
