Hi after some advice here
my husband and i have just got hold of an allotment half of which has been cultivated but left for a year or so so covered in tough grass which the council strimmed to the ground - i have managed to dig over a small section of this and got some plants in
the other section - 2/3rds looks to me as if it has never been cultivated brambles and nettles growing in some places about 8ft high - we have tried to dig out some of the brambles to the rear and it is near impossible by hand
in addition to this the site is full of rubbish - old carpet - plastic bollards - and worryingly 2 massive oil drums which have been sunk into the ground to collect water - these have rusted 3rd of the way down and are impossible to budge as they are full of water - but a real danger - one thing that worries me is that I have no idea what we might find in the unchartered undergrowth
I must say we feel very discouraged and cant see how we will ever get on top of any of it and really wanted to crack on with the plot
I just wondered what obligation the council have to clear the site of rubbish etc and how we could even begin to cultivate it
my husband seems to think that they will not do anything and we may as wel give up
It is easy to feel discouraged at first but just do as much as you can each visit without doing too much and you'll soon have it looking as you want it to.
yes but it doesnt seem like there is any equality in what you get - do we have to lump what weve got or should the council help with making it safe and clearing rubbish
Welcome to the world of allotments.
In theory the council should provide a useable plot, but attitudes vary.
Some councils are on the ball and others do not care.
I am afraid it is just hard work.
Get the easy bit done and you will be surprised how quicly the rest is sorted out.
http://www.allaboutallotments1_homepage.html
Welcome to the site Musikate
;D
hi, musikate, welcome to the site ;D
we cultivated what we could and covered the rest with thick card then carpet, black plastic or whatever we could get our hands on, until we had time,
all the weeds were cut down as far as we could before they were covered, hope this makes sense, good luck
talk to other plotholders and your commitee and find out what help the council has given.it might be worth the price of a few stamps to send out some snotty letters to local papers and the like..
we had a get together and all put into the hire of a skip last year to dump all broken glass and other rubbish.
Quote from: manicscousers on July 13, 2008, 21:57:30
hi, musikate, welcome to the site ;D
we cultivated what we could and covered the rest with thick card then carpet, black plastic or whatever we could get our hands on, until we had time,
all the weeds were cut down as far as we could before they were covered, hope this makes sense, good luck
we have 8ft high bramble growth over an area of about 100 sq metres - it is unpenetrable - dh took a sickle to make a path - i am not sure covering it would work - I dont think the area has ever been cultivated
Have you been waiting a long time for a plot? Is it the only one free? If it looks beyond you, could you wait a bit longer or try a different site?
If you go ahead, as others have said, do a bit at a time.This is the most disheartening time of the year for weeds, as they grow so fast, it will be easier to tacklein the winter months (and you'll get some blackberries in the meantime!)
I have spent 2 years digging a plot out of rough grassland slowly and patiently, covering most of it first with newspaper and cardboard and wooden boards.
New people starting plots here this year asked the council to mow then rotavate their plots and they did!
The point being you have to ask.
Much sympathy over the brambles. My second plot in the same area has some (not as bad as yours) tangled up with overgrown raspberries and torn plastic which the council mower avoided because it fouled their blades.
I am planning to wait until it all dies down in the autumn, then I will go for it with loppers and have a bonfire. It's easy for me to wait because I already have a cultivated and productive plot at last.
My daughter's allotment had an area smothered in brambles, and I promise that cutting away at it patiently with loppers clears away the painful stuff and lets you get at the roots bit by bit. I haven't used a mattock, but apparently you can gouge the roots out with it.
Welcome Musikate! Seems like you have got a tough plot. Ask your Committee/the Council what help they can provide, e.g. a skip for all the rubbish or maybe a rotovator once you have cleared more of the plot.
I had a plot much like yours and to be honest you cut it back and cover it up and gradually plant more areas as you are able.
Once the brambles are cut back they will be much less formidable. I know that's hard to believe but it's true.
Good luck! If it is really too much for you (hard to tell much about you from your profile) then give it back and go back on the waiting list.
BTW all the other advice you have been given here so far is sound!!
thanks for all the good advice - think i will phone th e council and see if they will come and cut anything down then try to cover and a mattock sounds like good advice
has any one had any advice about the two large oil drums buried, rusting and full of water bit worried as to the danger and my two small children
Sounds pretty much like an average plot to me! Get some thick gloves and loppers, cut the brambles down (after the fruit is finished - marvellous jam!) and cover. Then dig it out, little and often. You'll have it cleared in no time. Lots of what you think is rubbish might prove useful - carpets. glass, timber are never rubbish on an allotment. Many sites will pit a skip on a few times a year for dumping rubbish - find out from your committee what arrangements you have. For the oil drums, punch holes in the sides to let the water drain away then dig them out.
Seems I'm lucky. I have just taken over a plot that hasn't been used for 20 years. A month ago it was over 6 foot high with nettles and blackberry bushes. The council arranged for it to be cleared and the allotment committee arranged for a local farmer to plough the plot before I took over. There is a lot of weeding to do and a lot of roots to dig out but at least I'm starting at soil level.
If your council can't (or won't) help do you have a nearby farmer with heavy duty equipment that may help for a small fee?
Hi welcome to the site. :)
I took my first plot on over 4 years ago - it hadn't been cultivated for a long time and although not many brambles - someone had been dumping subsoil onto the site as you could access it by car/van. I shifted two estate car loads of assorted rusting metal/dumped cement and rubbish (The plot is only 50ft by 27 ft max!). To then dig the "soil" I used a pickaxe to get into it. If anyone remembers 2004 it was a hot and dry summer and I took the plot on at the end of May.
Four years later and with my beds in place the soil is dark loam, still a bit clayey in places but getting better all the time. I didn't get much of a crop the first summer and a just about reasonable one the second - but now bumper crops!
Persevere, it's all worth it, and as well as lots of really tasty fruit and veg you get the added advantage of good exercise without paying gym membership. I would take lots of piccys as well - you will want to be able to look back on how much you improved the plot.
A guy on our site took on a plot generally reckoned to be unassailable as it was completely covered with ten foot brambles. He started at one end lopping off the brambles at ground level and rolling it all up like a carpet as he went until he got to the middle, then he attacked from the other end till finally he had a massive heap in the centre of his plot. Then followed two weeks of trampling the pile down as it dried out and then he set fire to it. Half an hour of massive conflagration later he had something approaching a recognisable allotment,if slightly grey and smouldering. Now he's setting about the roots with a mattock. It was all done very safely and responsibly and no neighbouring veg was harmed. If your local council won't offer any assistance what else are you supposed to do - you can't put 12 cubic metres of spiky brambles in your car and take it to the tip!
definitely agree with the others - i certainly wouldn't tackle the bramble now ! but do pick the berries later in the summer! They will dry up over the autumn and you will be able to take an axe to them and do a lovely bonfire. Dig a pit if possible (or use your lovely oil drum area once it is drained!!!) and burn them in the ground to be perfectly safe. Once dry they will burn. After that, yes get a pickaxe and dig out the roots. Once they are out that will make a lovely potato patch in the spring!!
A pick sounds like a lot of trouble and hard work but in fact it is not, it digs things out at twice the rate of a shovel or fork, and really breaks up the ground. I am a wee girl (5 ft 2!) but I got stuck into the edges with a pick axe this spring and it really sorted out the edges that were full of grass, clover and dandelions.
yes it is hard work, do a bit at a time and if you can plant as you go, you will feel a greater sense of achievement.
Maybe you could hire or borrow something like a rotorvator that will make shorter work of the clear-ish parts?
good luck!