Got my first allotment!

PeteW

...and it's a bit of state!

Anyone any suggestions on how best to start tackling this beast??

gazza975526570

Depends if you want to be organic or not.

If you are - you will spend months digging and digging out every single root (dont rotavate it - you will make the work sooooo much harder). Then id cover it with old carpets or black polythene if you can and leave it as long as you can, ideally a full growing season.

If not - spray with weedkiller and a month or so later after clearing the site you should be ok to start sowing.

Either way id try where possible to use plug plants (sow the seeds at home in cell trays). Then when they start coming through you will know which is the weed and which is the plant

Good luck,

Ps - either way get some ibulieve for your back!!!

WestonDave

Industrial dose of Glyphosate and see what's left. You'll be a lifetime digging all that lot out, and whilst I wouldn't use chemicals unless I absolutely had to, there is a time and a place. Glyphosate doesn't get into the soil so I'd give it a treatment of that to kill most of it and give yourself a fighting chance. Buying it as Roundup is the expensive route - look for the generic stuff.

Its either that or set up in industrial production of blackberry jam, blackberry wine, blackberry and apple crumble....

Poppycat

A friend of mine had one like that he got industry strength weed killer from framers wholesaler. Killed weeds then used a Rotavator

Lucky you getting one I have about a 10 year wait

tomsolomon

We dug all our blackberry's out, then put some more in.....

Thornless ones that is.....:D

I would most definately get an incinerator though.....

zarazara

Hoe Exciting! and Congratulations.
I would rotavate it or dig it by hand ---I know its hard work, been there and got the t-shirt.
Then ,wait a week or two and hoe and hoe and hoe. Let the weeds germinate then exterminate! Maybe doing a quarter of the allotment at a time . Do it in little bites and baby steps. Most of all enjoy it. Try not to be too ambitious in the first year. Potatoes are good for breaking the ground. Rhubarb is easy to grow. Get plenty of muck in the ground and fork it in. Do keep us updated with photos as the weeks pass.

zarazara

zarazara wrote: »

Hoe Exciting! and Congratulations.

Freudian slip I think!:rotfl:

schumie

how exciting, i am on our local list - number 11!!!!!

PeteW

Thanks for the suggestions so far. To be honest I'd rather go organic, and have been scared off using a rotovator as apparently you get a whole load more weeds from the millions of tiny bits of roots it leaves. So what are my best options for digging it all out. Should I use a strummer or something to gett it all to ground level first?

oliveoyl

A regular strimmer would just keep snapping with all those brambles.

A scythe would be an option to hack it all back, or to go through it all with loppers to chop the woody stuff out, then strim.

Then it's dig, dig, dig.... have fun!

PeteW

A friend has a chainsaw I might borrow - should make a good start!