New to this

[DebUnderhill]

Hi everyone

Myself and my partner have recently accquired along with a friend a rather large allotment - my friend has been on the waiting list for a long time and this one has finally come up.

Its over 250m square and very overgrown - from my understanding its not been worked for a couple of years - the weeds are knee high in some places and buttercup runs throughout the whole plot.

I have a petrol strimmer to use this weekend... any other thoughts and first tips would be great.

Thanks.
Deb

[DebUnderhill]

[star]

Hi there, check out flowergirls thread....'new allotment' ;)

[Lauren S]

Hi Deb congrats on your new lottie.
Don't forget to take lots of before and after pics. Once you start clearing you will be surprise how quickly you'll forget just how overgrown the lottie was.  ;D
Great time of year to aquire one. Good excuse to have a bonfire and lovely to watch the weeds burn up.  ::)

Lauren

[star]

Hi Deb,

How rude of me >:(. Of course you deserve your own thread!


The buttercup is easier to get rid of than couch IMO anyway. The roots dont go as deep for a start. You can either dig it out if you want to be organic or spray with glyphosate in spring when the weed is in active growth.

As its buttercup (wish I had that instead of couch) I would dig it out, but wait and see what other advice you get, then you can decide what is best for you  ;)

[cornykev]

Hi Deb and welcome to the madhouse, strim it down to ground level and then lots of digging and weeding ahead of you, a third of a plot each to dig but take your time and mark out small areas at a time, usually I would say put all your weeds in the compost heap or dalek but buttercups I'm not sure of, someone will come along and advise. Good luck and happy digging.  ;D ;D ;D

[manicscousers]

hiya, deb..welcome to the site, mark it out and work a little at a time, soon clear it, lots of annual weeds will be dying off this time of year  ;D

[DebUnderhill]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the advice so far... today is the first day that we have worked in the allotment - I am so pleased!

This morning... myself, my husband and friend (who we share the allotment with) went armed with tools and a petrol strimmer and wow did we work hard.

Here is a picture before the actual work started...its a huge plot.. well it seems huge - its actually 270 meters sq on the plans:

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=371

We are so excited to have the lotty... we have cleared the right hand side with the strimmer and dug a border around half of the plot.

We have blisters but also a sense of achievement.

[jockomorrocco]

having seen your pic i would advise that you mark off an area for courgettes and other  upper growing things such as tomatoes chillies, goosberries ,runner beans, french beans ,and put down some weed supressing membrane(about 20 quid for a 50m roll)and plant through it for your first year. it will kill what is underneath it while giving you useable ground. best of luck

[DebUnderhill]

Thanks for the comments.

we have managed to dig a quarter of the plot - thats the plot for the potatos - we intend on hiring a rotavator to do the rest possibly next weekend.

I dont want to leave any of the weeds down as it looks so unsightly. :-[

[littlebabybird]

hi deb and welcome.
deb sorry if I'm talking out of turn but every one has advised me not to use a rotovator on my new and very over grown plot,  please check with some of the more experience people than me before you do coz it could be a mistake.
what i have been told is that lots of the weeds will simply regrow from all the little copped up bit giving tonnes more weeds :(
lbb

[star]

Thats quite right LBB, couch is the main problem and it benefits greatly from being rotavated.....it loves it! And grows merrily away while we look on and pull our hair out.

Dig out as much root as possible and you will eventually weaken it, Good luck, my lottie is the same ;)

[DebUnderhill]

Oh thanks for the advice. :o didnt know about that.

I guess its more blisters and back ache but will all be worth it in the end.

[cornykev]

Deb gloves should cut out the blisters, and with three of you you should get quite a bit done, but give yourself a small target and take long rests in between digging, rotavating will only chop up the weeds in to pieces and they will grow back ten fold, cover what your not digging and that will weaken the weeds when you come to dig that bit of the plot, happy digging.  ;D ;D ;D