Ground clearing plants

[Charlie R]

Hello to you all

I too am an allotment virgin having taken on a half plot a month ago, I have already dug a fair amount and put in a row of potatoes, which I gather from posts on this site are excellent for ground clearance.

I am finding it hard to get any more chitted potatoes at this time of year, so what other plant would people recommend for helping break up the soil or at least suppress weeds?

And yes I am really enjoying spending time working the soil.

Charlie

[Charlie R]

[saddad]

Spuds really are your best bet, it is the digging in and digging out that do most of the clearnace because you will take out perrenial roots at the same time. You should still be able to get some if you scour places like Homebase and Wilkinsons.... anywhere that isn't a real garden centre...
;D

[timnsal]

Our local garden centre still had spuds at the weekend.
They might start selling them off cheap soon ;)

thinks ... new plot ... lots of ground to clear ... better go see if they still have some ...

Sally

[jennym]

Squash, pumpkin, even gourds will cover the ground and suppress weeds, and you don't need many plants to cover quite a large area.

[Charlie R]

Thank you for the ideas, I shall try the DIY stores, otherwise I'll just have to dig!!

[djbrenton]

If only you were in Nottingham. I've still got around 100kg in the shop which may well end up being disposed of. It may also be worth asking around the site. There are probably others like me who are over optimistic about the amount of enthusiasm they'll have for digging and end up deciding not to put some in. I've ended up with 3kg of Wilja I just can't be bothered to clear ground for.