New to allotments.. Completely overgrown.. what now?

Hello all!

Ok, this is my first ever post so treat me gently..

My husband and I have just aquired an allotment after being on the waiting list for about a year.
The problem is, it doesn't look like its been touched for years.. it's got about 3 foot of grass and weeds and it very very lumpy and bumpy!

We don't know where to start but really want to start growing our veg!

So can anyone offer any advice? What's the best way to tackle this?

Thanks

Bex

 

Hi BexAnn and welcome. If it was me, I would tackle it in two ways. Firstly, by doing it the hard way and clearing it by digging, removing the weeds/grass as you go. That way you can get stuff planted fairly quickly. Secondly, by using a good weedkiller, something that has glyphosate as it's active ingredient. Wilkos do their own for a very good price. It's basically the same as Roundup, but much cheaper. I think it's called Systemic Weedkiller or something like that. I used it myself last year, and found it to be very effective. Hope this helps. Cheers...freddy.

 

Hi Freddy!

Thanks for the reply!
I can see this is going to take months and months to sort.. luckily our allotment is huge, unluckily it is going to take a long time to clear and we'd need a lorry load of weed killer!

Some people have suggested burning it.. although I am not sure if this is possible or even allowed..
Others suggested hiring a culltivator..

We are really looking forward to get going with it.. as it's going to save a fortune.. not just the actual veg we are going to get from it, but the time spent up there is going to stop us spending it else where that costs!! :yho:

If anyone has any other suggestions keep them coming!

Thanks

Bex

 

I agree with Freddy, you want to use a weed killer, and once it's all gone brown, I would then suggest to rotovate it as that would be the easiest way to get a large area readier for planting.

I would also perhaps suggest that you start with a small part of the allotment, and tackle that first, and get something easy planted, which you can use over the year and not loose heart when all the weeds start coming back at once!

The thing that I find is start small and see what you can manage and cope with, and then progress to a larger patch within the plot. If you do just use a small part of the plot, make sure that you don't let the fallow area go to seed, as this will not only make your job harder, it will annoy the other plot holders!

I hope that helps!

 

I will try find some extrememly cheap weed killer then..
After reading through some of the other posts on here this allotment seems larger than most.! It's about 30 feet long and 10 foot wide! It's seriously huge!

 

Some thoughts:

Roundup / Glyphosphate works best on relatively young growth. Don't cut / burn the growth first!

It will take 2 or 3 weeks to work. Then apply a second application on anything you missed, or that did not "kill" the first time.

Apply it at the strength in the bottle - I know that is obvious, but putting it on double strength won't make it kill any better! and half-strength won't work.

It will kill anything it touches. You need to use a sprayer, but don't set it to a fine spray - something more like "droplets" is what you need - then it won't carry on the wind - but do it on a very still day, early evening is usually best, and when there is no rain forecast for a while. If you spray and it starts to run down the plant you've put too much on! - stop just short of where it runs off. Careful where you walk afterwards, otherwise there will be dead-footprints in the grass in two weeks time!

Check if you have any nasty weeds - Mares tails (you won't be able to see them for another month or two) won't be touched by Glyphosphate :( Bindweed, Couch grass and Ground elder will but you will need repeat sprayings (I don't think any of those will be "up" for another few weeks).

After getting a good "kill" personally I would hire a self propelled Rotavator and cultivate the lot. Do not use a Tiller type - they have the tines in the front and usually wheels that you take off to "dig", you want the type with the tines behind the wheels and the wheels are driven by the motor. That will cultivate everything. It will also chop up all the weed roots, and each little bit will grow ... so best to get a good kill first :thumb:

Rotavators tend to get bunged up with all the weed growth wrapping round their tines, so after a good weed killing borrowing a flame thrower to burn it all off will save you some time untangling the Rotavator

The alternative is that you dig it. That's the better way, but up to you !!

You need manure or compost (well rotted manure, mushroom compost or spent hops, something like that; your allotment may have a bulk-buy arrangement for that, some even have deliveries of council composted waste that are free, or free-ish!, you just have to be there on the day it is delivered )

If you are digging the compost goes in the bottom - dig a trench one spade width, one spade depth, across the site, take the soil to the far end. Put some manure in the bottom. Scrape the top inch or so of "turf" off the next bit, put that in the trench. That will bury the weed seeds on the surface, and the grass roots etc. will rot down to form nice loam. Then dig the next spade width and chuck it into the trench you just made. You then have a new trench, a bit nearer your finishing line!! and so you keep going.

You can also double dig - same sort of thing, but two spade depths. Keep the soil from the Top and Bottom spade depths separate - i.e. don't mix the bottom sub-soil with the top soil. Depth of a spade is referred to as a "spit"

IMHO the best possible way to grow vegetables is in raised beds. Ideally double dig, construct raised beds not more than 4 feet wide (so you can reach the middle from either side) and then you will NEVER have to dig them again! Lots of compost on top, NEVER walk on them (put a plank if you need to, but you should be able to reach from the sides).

Buy Dr Hessayon's "Vegetable & Herb Expert" book - probably the only Veg book you will ever need, certainly the best / most useful.

Decide on a crop rotation:

"It's about 30 feet long and 10 foot wide! It's seriously huge!"

Standard allotment size. Divide into 3 zones 10' square. Roots (Carrot, Parsnip), Brassicas (Sprouts, Cauli, Cabbage) and Beans. Make a fourth zone if you want Spuds. Rotate them round each year - so you only grow Roots in the same place once every 3 to 4 years. That prevents the bugs they have living on from year-to-year and decimating your crops.

Spuds is an excellent first crop to clear the ground - but you won't really be ready in time, they need to be planted by end April latest, and the Early varieties in the next week or two, really.

Ask around here if folk have some half-used seed packets, or seeds to share. There are 500-ish seeds in a packet of Lettuce seed. I can't eat that many in a year!

For an idea of what to plant when you might find the chart in my blog useful. Click on the little picture to get a full sized version. Its divided into the zones for crop rotation, and will give you an idea what you could sow and when.

Enjoy! and come back with any questions.

 

Hi BexAnn. The weedkiller I mentioned isn't all that expensive. Last year I paid around £7.50p for a bottle, which is a concentrate. I reckon one bottle will do your plot easy. One thing, if you do use it, you'll need a sprayer dedicated to weedkiller alone, do NOT use it for anything else. Again, I got my sprayer from Wilko's, only a £iver and plenty big enough to put on a decent amount. Cheers...freddy.

 

Or a friend may have a weedkiller-only sprayer?

 

Hi BexAnn at the risk of being abused by my fellow G.C. buddies I would like to differ from their advice.

I wouldn't suggest spending a great deal of money (which includes weed killers too) to begin with when you first start allotmenting I mean who knows if you're going to enjoy all the hard work Lol!:hehe:

Just clear one area at a time, hack the nettles, weeds etc. back to the ground and dig out the roots. Mark off a bed area a small one about 20ft x 10ft would be an ideal starter and dig out as many of the big roots as you can. Work this one bed and when you are happy with it start another one.

It is possible to do things this way because Bob and I did it ourselves only last year our allotment hadn't been touched in 35 years, but we cleared 3/4 of it in the first week and even managed to do the first dig in a bed 25ft x 15ft all with the aid of just a spade!

We are now the lucky tenants of yet another plot which is joined on to the first but I have to add we have brought some machinery to help us with that.

Good luck with your adventures and don't forget to enjoy yourself after all the rewards are many.:wink: Hel.xxx.

 

Hi Helen. It may have escaped your attention, but BexAnn's plot is only 30ft x 10ft, so to treat it with weedkiller wouldn't cost much at all, around £7.50 by my reckoning to do it completely. Oh, and fear ye not, I wouldn't DARE hurl any abuse :D Cheers...freddy.

 

"but I have to add we have brought some machinery to help us with that"

I'm probably missing the devil in the detail, but aren't you therefore advocating Machinery to tackle it rather than Elbow-grease?

 

I had an allotment once - it was the size of a football pitch! (so it felt when I started digging it manually) I never really got on top of it for the 3 years I had it. The little spare time I had which was at weekends I spent digging, digging and digging, being a keen sea angler I was quite used to bait digging so I thought I would have it done in no time at all - but the weeds would start growing back as quickly as I could dig it!. In the end I found keeping areas covered with old carpet kept the weeds at bay. When I finally gave it up and moved to a house with a large garden, I spent weeks/months clearing it. I made loads of bonfires all over the place to burn off top growth then dosed the whole lot with roundup a couple of times when the weeds started growing back. I hired a rotovator for a day and turned the whole lot over in a matter of hours. Then raked it level, divded it up to lawn/beds/veg plot and chicken run. I certainly would recommend a rotovator & roundup if you want quick results without being put off the whole idea of having an allotment!

 

As you say Kristen the book " Dr Hessayon's "Vegetable & Herb Expert" is very useful - I have got it
:-)

 

Hey Freddy I know people that can't even tackle a lowly terrace front garden so 30ft x 10ft can seem HUGE to some people more so if surrounding them the other plots are well tended.....goodness knows we all have been there!:D

Kristen believe me having machinery doesn't make light work of things try using a non-belt driven rotavator on a first dig plot and you will know what I mean I'm getting to look like Popeye with muscular arms minus the tattoos of course!:hehe:

No having machinery just make things happen quicker I'm not afraid of digging by any means in our first plot I dug over the beds 8 times and still couldn't get the soil to look half as good as ones that had been roatvated if you have poor, heavy soil and you know you are going to enjoy this allotment lack then help yourself out and get some machinery.:wink:Hel.xxx.

 

"Kristen believe me having machinery doesn't make light work of things try using a non-belt driven rotavator on a first dig plot and you will know what I mean I'm getting to look like Popeye with muscular arms minus the tattoos of course"

Indeed, and my recommendation is always to use a self-propelled Rotavator for initial cultivation, rather than the Merry Tiller type.

So this: http://www.hss.com/g/62526/Cultivator-8hp-Petrol.html

(which drives the wheels)

rather than this: http://www.hss.com/g/62516/Power-Digger-Petrol.html

(which just powers the tines)

No surprises that the top one is twice as much to hire, per day :(