I've just joined the group and wanted to say hello. All going well, in the next few weeks we'll be taking on a nice big prickly bramble patch which apparently used to have an allotment underneath it. We're just waiting for the council to sort out a couple of things, then hopefully we can commence our attack on the said weeds. Forks (and old cardboard) at the ready..
We're very new to gardening, and so far the amount of information we've read in books, magazines and online, is frankly quite bewildering! (Do we plant in raised beds..? Rows..? Dig..? Don't dig..? Clear weeds with old carpets..? With a fork..? A flamegun..? etc.) So many different ways to do things, we always seem to end up with more quesions than we find answers.
It's great to see there are so many experienced and friendly people on here. I know we're going to have loads of questions over the next few months, so I'm hoping we'll be able to ask for advice. It looks like there is a nice community on here. I'll look forward to talking to you guys.
Welcome Radish. You will find answers to your every question here. The 'search' facility is great and you will probably find that someone else has asked just the same things as you when they started too. Hope that you manage to get down to soil level in a short space of time. Best advice..........a bit at a time ;)
Nice to hear from you Radish.
Welcome Radish! I'm fairly new to the boards and very new to allotments! :-\ This is a great forum and I am sure everyone will help you out as needed.
As I keep saying to everyone please post a photo of your plot so we can follow it from before to after. I know a lot of people on here like to see the pictures. I certainly do. ;D
Good luck for when you finally get on there.
Amanda
Brambles are deep rooted and not easy to get out, so take it slowly. Hack it all down to ground level and have a bonfire. Cover most of it with black plastic, take a small patch, and dig thoroughly; dig the bramble roots out as much as you can, but you may find they go too deep. If so, don't worry, just keep pulling it out as the shoots surface; it'll give up in the end. As you get one bed dug and planted, move on to the next.
Welcome to A4A. Wishing you luck (and not too many back aches!!) with yourallotment.
A chap at our site took on a ghastly plot last October with self-seeded ash trees and brambles and litter of a hundred kinds and mega weeds. He was there maybe twice a week for an hour cutting back the weeds and making a huge pile for Guy Fawkes' night. Then when the weeds were trimmed to ground level he put down weedkiller - not MY style but hey as a one-off to get you started it's allowed. Next weekend I was there he was with 2 or 3 other guys with a chain saw cutting down and chopping up the ash trees.
Now his plot is clear and he's beginning to dig the beds. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does with it.
All this just to say that it may look awful but there iis an allotment hiding there somewhere and it won't be too long before it surfaces.
Good luck! Enjoy it! and don't forget to have a tipple on hand for the end of every session. I go home for mine cos I drive there but if you walk to the plot it's more fun to have it there.
Just wanted to say thanks for the nice welcome and words of encouragement. Looking forward to all the lovely home-grown veg and fruit, though I can't say the same for the bramble experience. We'll just have to stock up on thick gloves and bottles of Radox.
I don't have any photos yet, because the allotment won't be ours for a couple of weeks, all going well. But I've already started a blog, which hopefully will follow our progress, and I'll put up some 'before' photos as soon as we can get onto the site again. (Perhaps with a warning for those of a nervous disposition.)
Hope this question hasn't been asked too many times before, but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for veg we could put into the first bed we get ready. I guess it'll be mid-late february when we're ready to plant, and I already have a few fruit bushes ready to put in. But I was also trying to think of veg that isn't too complicated as our first attempts, but that might give us some encouraging results, to keep our enthusiasm up during the hard initial stages of clearing. Any suggestions would be welcomed.
Leeks, you can't kill a leek. At least I couldn't, and they're happily growing in a bed that's otherwise full of couch grass. Slugs won't have 'em, they largely ignore weeds (don't grow as big, but I'm no exhibitionist :D). You'll get better advice from better gardeners, but if you're looking for idiot-proof, ask an idiot ;)
Garlic any time you like, broad beans and onions in March. Once the soil warms up you can plant other seeds, by which time you should hopefully have cleared a bit more. If you like rhubarb, see if you can scrounge any, and put it in any time over the winter.
Quote from: redradish on January 22, 2006, 15:42:44
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We're very new to gardening, and so far the amount of information we've read in books, magazines and online, is frankly quite bewildering! (Do we plant in raised beds..? Rows..? Dig..? Don't dig..? Clear weeds with old carpets..? With a fork..? A flamegun..? etc.) So many different ways to do things, we always seem to end up with more quesions than we find answers.
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We took over our plot last May. The weeds were 4 foot high, with generous numbers of brambles, docks, and nettles, all of which needed digging out. We took the "little at a time" approach, and although it was late in the season, we got quite a lot from the beds that we cleared.
At this time of year, it'll be quite difficult to dig out all the weeds, because the soil will be wet. But you can get out the big deep rooted ones using a fork and/or spade. I think right now my advice would be:
(1) Dig out deep rooted weeds
(2) Scrape any areas of couch grass using a mattock
(3) Use a flame gun on the remaining (small) weeds. (Flame guns don't work well on couch grass, hence the need for step 2)
You can then put black plastic or carpet down to keep the area weed-free until you're ready to plant.
Later in the year, as the soil dries out a bit, it becomes practical to dig over an area and remove all the weeds by hand. We found this was a good "his'n'hers" job. I attacked the docks and brambles etc with a spade, then my wife followed with a border fork to remove the smaller stuff. We could thoroughly clear a bed on a Saturday, then prepare the surface and rake in some compost and have it planted on Sunday. That was very satisfying, becuase we went from jungle to neat rows of tomato plants (or whatever) in a weekend, and we could chart our progress up the allotment.
I've tried clearing with and without first hitting the area with weedkiller. To be honest, I'm not sure it makes much difference to the effort involved in digging out the roots. I used weedkiller last year to try to keep the uncleared parts of the plot from getting any worse. It worked, but it was very expensive. This year, if I was faced with a similar problem, I'd use a flamegun (Santa brought me one for Christmas :) ). Flaming is more environmentally friendly (even though it uses fossil fuel), but more importantly it's quick, it's fun, and you attract a fan club who will all be dying to have a go. ;D
John