What should I do with allotment this winter?

pinkie_pie

I've only used half my allotment this summer and one half is a jungle that I'm planning on covering with tarp for the winter (should I weed first as they've gone mad?)

The half I've used has gone somewhat weedy but I'm happy to weed it and replant - however I'm not sure what I still have time to plant over the winter, if anything, and I'm not entirely sure about regularly tending it over the winter, I'm a bit of a fair weather gardening and not driving complicates it too.

Any ideas please?

alleycat`

If your not going to use that half for quite a while the quick and dirty way is to strim it and spray it.

Clear up all the strimmed bits before spraying it.

Bear in mind that the ground would be "contaminated" for about 6 months afterwards.

After doing the above:-
If it is a heavy clay soil rough dig it over and let the frost get into it.

I tarp'd a small piece of my plot 2 months ago (as i was clearing it slowly / methodically) and when i lifted the tarp (last w/e) everything was still alive/green underneath it.

My personal feeling for tarp is that it is good to keep the weeds down on bare ground but it takes a long time to kill stuff off.

There are more experienced lottie owners out there and they'll probably disagree with everything i said

redsam

you can get some weed killers that you can plant within days.

however, trim and then get loads of carboard, lay all over the plot (it acts as weed supressant and rots down) and cut little holes to put your plants through...winter stuff..eg..lots of different kale, if not growing from seed get down the carden centre and get cabbages, sprouts etc..

OR

get some 'green manure sees' scatter and grow then when ready, trim it all and either dig in or put in compost bin.

Out of interest, do you have permanent stuff, like gooseburys, raspberries, tayberry, logan berry, fruit trees and herbs?

a few thoughts, hope they help.

redsam

broadbeans!...plant now and get some for winter you can plant these all year round

jeferey

Apart from the spraying (I don't use chemicals!), I would make sure you have got rid of any weeds that would still thrive under your tarp like bindweed, mares tail, couch grass, etc.
When I got my allotment 3 years ago I covered the parts I wasn't cultivating straight away (it was September) with old carpet but tarp should work just as well as long as it's blocking out the light. I dug up any dandelions I could see (sometimes the roots went down to Australia) and sifted the couch grass out.
When I took the carpet off the next spring the ground was almost weed free (but not weed seed free - you'll be weeding these out for 7 years so they say) - as alleycat says it will take more than a couple of months to kill off the weeds.
Good luck

jeferey

You could put some onion sets in later this month or next month to overwinter.

pinkie_pie

No permanent things so far.

On the half I've done, I did potatoes, sweetcorn, carrots, courgettes, cucumbers and peas. Peas didn't survive sadly, the carrots are all eaten (by us!), the sweetcorn is still doing well, the courgettes have taken over and grown into giant marrows and there's still two crops of potatoes in the ground.

redsam

what do you like eating and then maybe decide what you can or want to grow.

Are you growing to save money? eat seasonal? organic etc?

pinkie_pie

I wasn't entirely keen on using any spray or such.. but this is quite a bad problem it's very jungle like. It just sprung up!

I've got two tarps to use, so I'll go monday and start trying to clear one area to cover. I don't know whether to use any weedkiller or not. I plan on leaving this area covered till perhaps march.

redsam

most allotments rewuire you have 75% cultivated is that not the case with yous?

When we first took on our plot it needed digging over, the OH got it all done ready for the frost, the frost and snow broke up all the big clots.

To me it seems a waste to cover up for so long when this is the time you need to be doing the work, otherwise you will miss out on planting next year. Its a little lazy, the tarp wont kill off all the weeds and my opinion is my opinion..but i think the only time to over up for that length of time is when its covering loads of manure.

At this time of year we all have weeds that spring up! We are trimming our plot every week its just the way it is, you will never ever get rid of all th weeds but regualr hoeing is a good idea too. The more stuff you get planted to eat will act as weed supresant too.

MMMIaRMW

Do you know anyone that could share your allotment with you? There are normally lots of people on the waiting list, and if you feel like you might not need a whole plot I'm sure others might be grateful to have a chance. Just a suggestion!

Otherwise I agree with some of the other comments - try planting fruit bushes maybe and then you can deep mulch around them - would require more infrequent maintance.