Allotments 4 All

hi folks.
I'm new to allotments and have just taken on a med size plot. it was about 4 ft high and have cut it dow with a hired petrol strimmer.
I'm very busy this year and want to keep it flat until I get a chance to rotavate and am wondering what's the best way without spending an arm and a leg. It's far too uneven to mow and is already growing again, weeds, stinging nettles, grass etc. Is there a relativley cheap and easy solution to keep it nice and low before I throw myself in at the deep end??
Thanks in advance,
christian.             

Several people here would say: cover it with very thick wet newspaper (stamp all the weeds flat first) then with heavy thick cardboard. Over the next few months the weeds will be smothered, the newspaper and card will rot, and the ground will become soft and receptive to seeds in the spring. Even better if on top of the cardboard you can put compost, manure, anything you can think of.

I am in Germany at the moment and starting this off for daughter and family who want to grow veg but have not the time to weed
and dig. In England I have 2 allotments, and the newest is being done this way. I scavenge for newspaper throughout my village, and a local industrial centre suplies a skipful of free cardboard. Good results so far. Took over new allotment in May, a meadow, and it is now producing corn, cucumbers, squashes, tomatoes, kale, leeks etc etc.

Thanks for your help guys.  I should hve made clear that i'm planning on rotovating in oct/nov so just wish to keep it down in the time being. What about using something like Roundup. Excuse my ignorance....  christian. 

Quote from: artichoke on August 06, 2006, 20:21:51
Several people here would say: cover it with very thick wet newspaper (stamp all the weeds flat first) then with heavy thick cardboard. Over the next few months the weeds will be smothered, the newspaper and card will rot, and the ground will become soft and receptive to seeds in the spring. Even better if on top of the cardboard you can put compost, manure, anything you can think of.

Perfect recipe!

If you don't mind being non organic Amcide is available even from Chase organics... used by the forestry commission on tough guys like Brambles and Bracken... but you can't replant for three months...

The paper/card/muck is an excellent method but some deep rooters like couch/bindweed will grow through it....
???

Quote from: christian on August 06, 2006, 21:23:51
Thanks for your help guys.  I should hve made clear that i'm planning on rotovating in oct/nov so just wish to keep it down in the time being. What about using something like Roundup. Excuse my ignorance....  christian. 

Lots of people on here don't really see the point of rotivating. It spreads roots around and chops up the worms but that's about it! (weedkiller first isn't much help either - very few weedkillers will kill all of the weeds so you end up spreading the really hard *fatherless children* around).

The method outlined above would be a much better way to clean up a new plot & really not be more effort in the long term.

A short note on weedkiller - a very clever person I was taliking to recently told me that Glyphosphate interferes with exactly the same pathway in humans as in plants. Crikey, I thought, I'll only be using it as a last resort in future, certainly not as a first one!.

Ramble over.

Ollie

What I've noticed is that weedkiller will get rid of the weaker weeds altogether, with the result that the toughies fill the gaps. I've seen plots end up worse than they started, with, for instance, grass removed and Japanese Knotweed stands suddenly increasing in all directions.

Mm, the only tricky thing is finding a non-windy day to put the newspaper down. But it does work really well.

This is great advice folks, thanks.
The thing is..... this plot is far too big for me, maybe 80x40ft and I thought it would be managable and also look tidy if I rotovated it flat, seeded it,mowed it as lawn and chopped out mini-plots as I need them/have time to manage them.
You see, I've just bought this house and the allotments are thru a gate in my garden (yes, lucky me) and I've loads to do on the house but wanted to secure the plot as they are in such high demand.   
So, it's unlikely I'll be into the plot for a year or two properly but am keen to get it looking tidy and be able to experiment with the idea of chopping a bit out and having a go.   This seems fairly popular around the allotment here, quite a few people have half lawn/ half plot.
Again, thanks in advance...
Christian.     

It doesn't look pretty, but I have been known to cover with tarps until I can get digging!  (and I wouldn't rotivate either) A nighbour of mine took on a s*d of a plot, covered it in heavy thick cardboard (your local electrical store is good for this, washing machines etc. come in HUGE boxes!) then put down a layer of straw, then a layer of manure, covered the whole thing with old carpet for the winter, from the local installer, (I know a lot of peeps disagree with carpet) and he has one of the best plots on the site now!
Good luck with whichever method you choose! ;D

In Winter most of the weeds will die back!

I'll post some pictures of my plot later today... but basically i started clearing from the front and have gradually raked back which has flattened the ground and removed weeds by hand.

If you do it bit by bit it soon gets done, work on one patch at a time and you will really see the difference!  My plot is 50m x 10m - so quite a big plot too!

Quote from: fluffygrue on August 08, 2006, 11:29:54
Mm, the only tricky thing is finding a non-windy day to put the newspaper down. But it does work really well.

I keep a watering can handy and thoroughly wet the newspaper as I go, that helps keep it down!