my husband and I got our allotment a few months ago, but have only started digging now ( got it mid winter) the soil is still very wet and clammy, is it best to carry on the digging or wait for it to dry out more
Wait till it dries out a bit more.
If it is sticking to your boots or worse still your spade, then it is too wet.
Yeah but .... ;D
If it's sticking to your boots then that's ok! I've been digging this week and judge it by the following:
1. If you can dig a spade's length down & turn it over easily then that's ok (frosts this week at night should be ideal for breaking down the soil)
2. If you find a dandelion/dock root dig it out COMPLETELY
3. If you carry on digging despite Tee-Gee's advice, put a plank of wood on the part where you stand to dig so the soil doesn't become too compacted
4. Never take ONE gardener's advice - always do a survey ;D
Alternatively I'm renting Ruby the super digging springer spaniel for large garden digging. Only problem is she's not very selective! ;D ;D ;D
Concentrate on digging a small area, and get all the perennial weeds out of that. Then move on to the next section. If you've got a really nasty bit, get all the weeds out that you can, let the rest grow through, dig it again later, and then use it for tender veg, which go in fairly late.
HI YA, whoops caps, i too have only just started digging my plot been at it for about 3 wk on and off, just doing a little each time i go, the soil is like yours very wet and clumpy, i turned over as much as i could got as much weed or cooch as i saw moved along again, now im just going bk over the section i have done re digging,by time i got to other end was about a wk, so was alot btr when i came to re digging it. i was really covered in mud but it was great lol ;D
QuoteNever take ONE gardener's advice - always do a survey
I agree entirely!!
Gardening is not an exact science advice may be good for one but is not always good for another.
Then you have the other variables of where the adviser / questioner gardens and what type of soil they have.
This is what made answering your question quite difficult.
Totally agree with the 'plank' idea but failed to mention it as I never have to use one as my soil is quite light and free draining, plus I dig in the autumn before the soil has got a chance to get really wet.
Although I do use one when planting out as seen here;http://tinyurl.com/yt7y7e
Same applied with my reply on 'A' frames against tepees I prefer the 'A frame hence my bias, plus I grow my sweet peas up one side and beans up the others.
The sweet peas attract pollinators so I win two ways I get some lovely cut flowers and my beans are pollinated.
I was always taught if you find a way that suits you stick to it, hence my answers.
So as Trix said shop around for info.
my little men love playing at the allotment with all the mud, trying to stop them walking on were I have just dug is the hard part. My husband did con me to buy him a new spade and fork today for valentines day, so now he has no excuse lol
Our allotment was 'weed-city' when we first took it on (mostly horsetail, thistles, brambles etc) and we've gradually over 4 years worked a bit more each year. Each time we dig a 'new' strip we dig it over twice (to try and remove as many weeds as poss) and then for the first year of use we make sure we grow something tall/vigorous, like potatoes. These tend to shade out the worst of the weeds so giving you a fighting chance! The following year the weeds have generally eased off enough to grow other crops.
We've only got one more strip to go on plot no1 (phew!taken us 4 years so far!) - now we've got 2 thirds of plot 2 to go as well - all couch grass and horsetail!
If you can get hold of some decent weed suppressant (the thick stuff, not cheap stuff that breaks down) or black plastic this is handy to cover areas that you can't manage to dig. It's not a cure-all, but it helps, especially if you can keep the weeds covered for 6-12months.
only by chance did we try something, we had a pool cover that we were coing to chuck away cause it was ripped, so we used that and it killed all the weeds, but I am still finding a few, my biggest thing is that we have tons of blackberries at the back, so I want to cut them back a bit