Just got an allotment (Merged)

clairefun

Um, but apart from being completely distracted I just wanted to say that I'm in the process of buying a house that has it's own allotment at the end of the garden, it's the same size & shape of the garden (about 50-60' long or so), The sellers have even said that the next door neighbour 'offered' them her space if they could do anything with it so I might be able to get two - though that will wait. Unfortunately we're not there yet so it might be too late once we get in, plan beds, lay out paths & do all our digging (we've got a two year old so don't have all day free to work) to start planting out as well - i want to make sure the site is properly prepared first - it'll be about May before it's all ready I expect - but I will be watching this thread with interest. :T

tenuissent

I have an old allotment and a new one, the new one needing to be dug out of a meadow full of perennial weeds.

I would NOT put permanent things into your allotment the first year because however well you dig (unless you spray very thoroughly with Roundup in the spring) perennial weeds are bound to keep coming back and your raspberries/rhubarb will become a haven for them. I've seen it happen over and over again on other allotments.

I would dig a small area very thoroughly and quickly put in garlic and shallots and broad beans (plus bonemeal, rotted manure, whatever you have, not too much for the broad beans, though). Then carry on digging so that you can put seeds in when the earth has warmed up - or carry on adding broad beans, for a rolling crop (chit them first in a damp cloth inside a plastic bag in a warm place - it discourages mice etc from eating them). It is most encouraging to see these strong seedlings coming up as you struggle with the digging.

I would echo the advice to cover as much of the rest as you can with free thick newspaper layers and cardboard. This slows down the weeds, protects the ground from too much rain, and makes it easier to dig as you get round to it.

I would not start a compost heap yet, because all the perennial weeds you are digging out will simply grow again. I put them into plastic sacks, tie the neck, and weigh down the cardboard/newspaper with them. After a year or so, they will have died and rotted, and you can dig them back in again as nutritious compost. You can start the compost heap when you have annual weeds and vegetable waste to contend with!

I agree that you need a few pernanent paths, but unless these are kept weedfree, they will become a reservoir for weeds. Line them with the newspaper/cardboard mixture and find something to put on top: where I live I can get unlimited free woodchips.

At the new allotment it is clear that the meadow creeps back into everyone's allotment at a discouragingly fast rate, so I have surrounded my perimeter with the newspaper/cardboard mixture, covered that with Mypex (not free, sadly) pinned down with ground staples, and I strim a strip beyond the Mypex. I am determined that the meadow will not creep back into my hard won beds.

I am also gradually collecting large grobags (for use in the summer, as my tomatoes got blight last season) and leaning them over the edges of my dug beds as the final death knell for any weeds trying to creep in from under the Mypex.

Sorry this is so long. I enjoy "Allotments for All": put A4A into Google. It's good.

tenuissent

Another thing you could do, if it appeals, is try a lasagna bed. You put down a bedsized shape of thick newspaper and cardboard, then cover it thickly with peat/manure/compost/dead leaves/topsoil/whatever you can lay your hands on, and you have an instant bed.

My first bed at the new allotment was made like this last May, when I got the allotment, so that I could almost immediately plant tomatoes and squashes in it, and I got good crops (leeks at the moment, and healthy broad bean plants).

The drawback is having to buy all this stuff and drag it to the allotment, unless you can get hold of everything free. The newspaper/cardboard layer rots down over time, and in my 8 month experience, no perennial weeds have yet made it through this layer. But worms find their way in - and wherever I remove newspaper/cardboard to actually dig, there are 100s of worms - they seem to love newspaper/cardboard.

Whatever you do, sticks and string are good for planning a practical layout. It helps to see where you are going, especially if, like mine, your allotment initially looks like a dump for old carboard boxes and plastic bags....

Two local firms (tents, mowing machines, other large goods) share a huge recycling skip near me, and allow me to help myself to vast quatities of big cardboard boxes. Neighbours give me their newspapers. A local factory lets me help myself to their vast pile of waste wood, woodchips, sawdust etc. If you look around and don't mind seeming eccentric, there is a lot of free stuff around.

albacore1854

tenuissent wrote:

I have an old allotment and a new one, the new one needing to be dug out of a meadow full of perennial weeds.

I would NOT put permanent things into your allotment the first year because however well you dig (unless you spray very thoroughly with Roundup in the spring) perennial weeds are bound to keep coming back and your raspberries/rhubarb will become a haven for them. I've seen it happen over and over again on other allotments.

Sorry this is so long. I enjoy "Allotments for All": put A4A into Google. It's good.

Well I have 40 rods, have done for three years, I planted 10 rods to fruit in the first year, despite perennial weeds reappearing, heavy mulching does eradicate them over time.

I built a wooden frame around each row, 42' long, by 2' wide, each year I replenish this with muck, and I don't get weeds around the roots.

I have a 4' gap between the frames,and I mow/strim tight to the wood.

Last year I had 300lb in weight of Rasps, and 250lb strawbs,plus oodles of Asparagus, rhubarb, currants, grapes, loganberries, etc appreciate higher yields are possible but for the little maintenence that plot takes, its nod bad, and it means I can concentrate on producing all my veg on the other 3 plots.

albacore1854

Forgot to add, when mulching with cardboard, carpet etc, have to take a bit of care, rats love it.

full-time-mum

I've found the people over on the BBC forums very helpful.

charlies_mum

albacore1854 wrote:

Forgot to add, when mulching with cardboard, carpet etc, have to take a bit of care, rats love it.

That's the one thing that worries me, I am absolutely terrified of rats. If the cardboard attracts them, then I probably won't use it - is there anything else that will attract them ?

tenuissent

Sorry, albacore, I forgot to say I was going on my own experience - your allotment sounds absolutely wonderful. My OH was in charge of the raspberries on my first plot for 2 years, and they got so overgrown that when he gave up, I had to dig them up, tear out all the creeping buttercup, couch, bindweed, and replant them in a new area, which set them back a lot. For that reason I am not starting another row in the new place, or strawberries. The wood plus heavy mulching (and strimming) sounds very successful.

charlies-mum, I have never heard of cardboard attracting rats...maybe I've been lucky. I'm not even seeing slugs, another warning. Just 100s of worms.

charlies_mum

Thanks for that, the thought of rats YUUUK. Worms are fine, if I was being really moneysaving, I could collect them and sell to fishermen as bait

katskorner

I use carpet to keep my paths weed-free and then add chippings on top but I never thought of mulching with cardboard. Was about to throw a load out from christmas but now it goes down the 'lompment' (to quote my 3 year old)!!! Cheers.