New Allotment

[brian4951]

I have now got a brand new allotment. It has been rotovated by the council but the problem is clay soil and couch grass. I have pegged out workable areas and I will leave some of them fallow for a while. I will grow potatoes, carrots and beans first. Now the question. How do I get rid of the couch grass quickly? I have read Roundup is good but if I use that will I be able to plant the veg? Any answers gratefully received. Brian

[brian4951]

[Trevor_D]

Hello, welcome & congratulations!

You can't get rid of couch grass quickly! I've still got it after eight years. Just dig it out and burn it on a regular basis. And I'm afraid that if it's been rotovated, you'll have loads of little bits in there. But you can manage it and live with it, which is different. It's not as bad as convolvulous!!!

I'd forget carrots for the first year, especially on clay soil. But potatoes are great because they help break up the soil. So are things which spread and give good ground cover: courgettes & squashes for example. And don't plant permanent stuff yet, until you got the couch in hand.

As for the clay, dig in plenty of organic stuff and things like sand & spent compost. I garden on clay and my soil is pretty good now, but I've dug it rather a lot!

Best of luck!

[Tee Gee]

I agree with Trevor!

Having said that if you have bought your carrot seed then try this method;

In manured ground, or in your case clay lumps, insert blade of spade into the bed and push it backwards & forwards to form a 'V' shaped trench.

Trickle in a proprietary potting compost into the trench and sow the seed.

More info here;

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Carrot/Carrot.htm

[elvis2003]

congrats on getting your plot and welcome to this site!

[Melbourne12]

I have now got a brand new allotment. It has been rotovated by the council but the problem is clay soil and couch grass. I have pegged out workable areas and I will leave some of them fallow for a while. I will grow potatoes, carrots and beans first. Now the question. How do I get rid of the couch grass quickly? I have read Roundup is good but if I use that will I be able to plant the veg? Any answers gratefully received. Brian

Presumably the couch has been rotovated into the soil?  If so, and it's all chopped up, I suggest covering the designated growing areas with weed suppressant fabric or carpet, which will discourage it a bit in the spring.

If the couch is still in place, now is a good time to remove it, while it's dormant and (relatively) dry.  If you use a mattock or azada, you can slice off the layer of couch grass fairly easily.

In the spring, when it starts to grow again, is the time for Roundup, if you use it.  It will probably take around 10 days to take effect, but the couch will eventually turn brown and dry.  You need to wait the 10 days for the roots to be killed, and then it will come away easily with the help of a spade or azada.

The major issue with Roundup is that it is expensive, but it works very well.  It's deactivated on contact with soil, so you can plant things straight after removing the couch if you want to.

[saddad]

Welcome to the site Brian.  :)

[manicscousers]

hia, briaan, welcome to the site  ;D
our soil is that bad, we have a 2' tall raised bed we fill to grow carrots and parsnips in, I like Tee gee's suggestion, but ours would probably get eaten by slugs  ;D

[brian4951]

Hi All,
Thanks for all your tips. The soil is very waterlogged and all the area has been rotovated by the council before they created the lotties. All 52  are at the bottom of a long sloping field. It was a meadow before the farmer donated it to the council. I'll try Roundup. I think B&Q sell it. The wife works there so we get 20% off.

[KathrynH]

Please think twice about using Roundup - do you really want to eat stuff that is grown in that soil and sucked up all kinds of chemicals? It's not too difficult to dig out couch grass and although it will come back it won't be as much and I'm sure you'll find it manageble - and it's a great way to keep fit!

[Melbourne12]

Hi All,
Thanks for all your tips. The soil is very waterlogged and all the area has been rotovated by the council before they created the lotties. All 52  are at the bottom of a long sloping field. It was a meadow before the farmer donated it to the council. I'll try Roundup. I think B&Q sell it. The wife works there so we get 20% off.

Part of our allotment is very wet.  There's a small underground watercourse there.  The plot next to ours gets waterlogged, worse than ours.  You certainly can't grow potatoes there, nor things that need good drainage like raspberries.

It might be worth chatting to the farmer about the water problem and getting some advice from him.

We've found that the best solution is to put good deep raised beds on the wettest parts, and avoiding planting spuds or parsnips there.  You get great tomatoes, though - plenty of water when they need it!

[Crash]

Please don't use carpet. I'm trying to get it banned from our field. I'm still finding buried carpet three years after taking my plot on. It's murder trying to get rid of rotten carpet.

[kt.]

Welcome to our little internet haven 8).

[ManicComposter]

I took on my allotment last June so am fairly new to the whole thing. Here are my thoughts...

When we first got our allotment the weeds were above my head at over 6 foot. There was loads of couch and bindweed and the nettles were huge. I started out by removing this. I got myself a scythe from the local farm machinery shop and spent two evenings chopping it all down to a height through which I could walk without scratching my face.

I then proceeded to wait till it had rained and began digging out the tougher bits of weed and the countless rhubarb roots that had rotted in the ground. I did this for about two weeks solid.

I then spent a few days scrounging a load of black plastic which I covered the allotment in. Completley covered from top to bottom. For the love of god don't use carpet, its gets wet and heavy and its a pain to dispose of.

Leave your plastic on the plot for three weeks or so and then take a sneaky peak to see what the surface is like underneath. Then wait for it to rain so the ground is soft and begin digging the rest of the now hopefully rotted weeds out of the ground.

I have elected to leave my plastic on the plot even though the majority of the weeds are gone, I am hoping this will save me so time in the Spring.

I doubt this is the best way to do things but this is the way that has worked for me :)

Remember to take loads of photographs. I look at my pictures of the plot when I first got it and how it is now and it makes me smile. Will all be worth the effort in the Spring and Summer when I can get growing :)

[brian4951]

Thanks for all your ideas. I have also read that to errdicate some weeds and help improve soil quality, lay a thick layer of newspaper on the ground and then cover that with compost and then when you're ready for planting say spuds, you  make a hole through the paper and compost. Any thoghts on that one? Brian