I now have an allotment yay!!

gazza975526570

Well done Sancho - great progress.

Try not to do too much too soon though - ive seen so many people make great progress and then underestimate the weeds when they come. Are you planting anything to keep the weeds down?

sancho

We are planning on covering the beds with various things we've been suggested (cardboard, plastic, newspaper, manure) - Anything else you can think of

We've pulled the roots and dug over to about a spades depth removing stuff again. Hopefully as they come back they will be much easier to pull/hoe

berries

Wow!!! Well done!!! Mine was in the same mess as your's!! I did start cutting by hand and digging out just too much for me!! As my plot is where I keep my horse my YO son scrap/grab it and then harrowd it for me which saved me loads of work!! Now I just need to figue out what I would like to plant etc. I would put photos up if I was allowed not sure when I will be able too???

I started to add horse manuare to it going to take a long time to sort it out but it will be worth it!!!

gazza975526570

sancho wrote: »

We are planning on covering the beds with various things we've been suggested (cardboard, plastic, newspaper, manure) - Anything else you can think of

We've pulled the roots and dug over to about a spades depth removing stuff again. Hopefully as they come back they will be much easier to pull/hoe

Yeah it will be easier - but they will come back. It does get easier over time.

Why not plant some things over winter? Spring greens, cauliflower. Get some over wintering onions and garlic in.

Perhaps some green manure?

sancho

Have some spring cabbage in the greenhouse which I'll be putting in soon.

Any recommendations for onion/garlic varieties over winter?

What sort of green manure is good? Will it supress the weeds?

gazza975526570

sancho wrote: »

Have some spring cabbage in the greenhouse which I'll be putting in soon.

Any recommendations for onion/garlic varieties over winter?

What sort of green manure is good? Will it supress the weeds?

Personally i find little difference in onions and just but them in nets from Wilkos. I like "Electric" for red onions but red are prone to bolting. You can plant shop bought normal garlic though it can grown smaller - as long as you get frosts on them they should split

Link here about which green manure - yeah it really helps to suppress the weeds plus adds great nutrients

http://herbgardens.about.com/od/fertilizer/a/greenmanure.htm

3v3

sancho - Wow!!!! :T:T:T Good job.

I've just been reading up on green manure and what you plant depends on which type of soil you are dealing with. Do research before you invest in seeds

peter999

sancho wrote: »

Me and a friend have had our allotment for about 4 weeks now, it was untouched for 3 years= 250 sq m of 4ft weeds. Didn't take a picture the very first day, but this is after a couple of days

With plenty of hard work we've finally got some sort of infrastructure laid out and are nearly ready to plant the first crop (raspberry canes donated by some people a couple down) just waiting for the netting to arrive to go onto the structure you can see in the picture

Don't lose heart op, I feel your pain!!

You did all that work in 4 weeks, blimey !! :eek: :T

blondy24

Hello All,

Thanks for the posts so far. Well it has been a while since we got our allotment last August and we have been constantly fighting with the weeds and grass.

I would add a photo of what it did look like but I deleted it by mistake a while back...opps.

We now have some rows set up on the allotment and have planted garlic (only thing that we can see growing ), spring onions, spinach, white onions and parsnip. We have been the last couple of weeks and dug two more rows and put in manure compost so will be planting early potatoes soon when they sprout. I have growing at home courgettes, two types of tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, leeks and various types of herbs which will all be going in the back garden in planters (apart from leeks).

Have a family member coming to help my OH this weekend to dig up some of the grass (too hard for me to do) whilst I go wedding dress shopping :j

Will keep you updated on rest of progress, enjoying seeing vegetables grow and already looking forward to enjoying the taste of them.