Overgrown wasteland of allotment - worth it?!

rach2403

Hi All,

I'm sorry but once again I am going to ask for your trusted advice and guidance!

I have been very inspired by the whole growing own veg plight and have been ringing round all the local parish councils to find out about an allotment. They are in VERY short supply round here - our council doesn't have any and the closest won't add "outsiders" to their lists.

I have been really fortunate and been offered one by a council 10 mins away but having seen it yesterday I now know the reason!

I couldn't really even identify the allotment patch as it was completely overgrown with grass and brambles etc - basically looking like a wasteland! The lady said we could have it free for the first year to clear it up.

Myself and hubby are really not ones to shy away from hard work but I just wanted to know if anyone has any idea if it's likely to be worth it? I mean how long do you think it would take to irradicate the brambles etc and actually get growing?

I'm of the opinion that free is free and nothing ventured nothing gained etc but don't want to take on more than we can handle!

If anyone has any advice at all I'd be most grateful!
Many thanks,
Rachel

Lorian

Sounds like hard work, but if its the only one you are being offered....

Be a MSE though, try and negotiate two years free!

mossstar

ooh! ooh! me! me!

We bought a house a few years ago (our last in the UK actually) with a garden just like that. Once loved but sadly completely gone to brambles, nettles and the like.

Get it! it'll be the best thing you'll ever do - you'll have free, fresh veg and fruit, you'll feel proud and brilliant, and the BEST thing is that you'll be fitter, thiner and healthier! Honestly, it's like going to the gym, only much more fun! (and free).

I cleared our bramble patch when I was 8.5 months pregnant (with frequent loo breaks!). Here's how - first, hack down the growth and pile it somewhere - either by hand with clippers, with a slasher, or with some fancy machinery depending on your budget (I had to use an old pair of pruners! and our garden was 75 foot by about 45 foot). That'll take a couple of days (or one if there's two of you). Cut the necks off old plastic bottles to wear on your forearms (i'm not kidding!).

Then - DIG. Just methodically go over the earth digging and bending down and removing the roots. After a few hours you'll know every type of weed root and be dreaming about them too!. If that's too much to fit in with real life, get some old carpet, or plastic, or heavy cardboard and cover the areas you can't do and leave them for next year - anything to stop the weeds growing back up again.

Then you're all set! Treat yourself (or get from the library) one REALLY good book (i like grow your own vegetables by Joy Larkcom) and get dreaming/sewing/growing...

:beer:

rach2403

I'm so excited now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Was basically hoping that due to the positive allotment attitude i've seen on this forum everyone would say to go for it and so they have!!!!!!

We have 2young children and I just think it would be so nice for them to come and help me during summer hols etc (if hubbie and I can get it sorted by then!) we have a back garden but are on an estate - the allotments are out in the county - lovely fresh air!

If we follow mossstar's advice and cut down, dig etc when do you realistically think we could start planting things? Will it be more like autumn/winter?

I don't think there's any chance of another allotment - I mean everyone else refused to even put me on a waiting list - it's this or nothing I think! I guess once we've got it they can't take it away!

P.S Being a bit stupid - when I cut down all this stuff etc - what do I do with it? Do I have to bring it home/take to tip?

Thank you!
Rach

mossstar

Rach, i've never had an allotment, so i can't advise you about the removal/composting of your weeds...

... but in terms of planting, there's no reason you can't be planting in a few weeks time. Ok, you may 'only' be planting up one bed, but you'll be astonished at how much one bed can produce. Don't get too bogged down in all the feeding/improving/preparing your soil stuff, is my advice. Yes, that's all good, and in a year or twos time no doubt you WILL have a great store of compost and comfrey teas and all the rest of it... but believe me, if your soil can produce a great crop of docks, brambles and couch grass, it can produce a greap crop of whatever veg you throw at it without too much trouble (except maybe carrots, or parsnips, but even they would be edible, just not very beautiful!!).

I know people who just chuck down a whole tomato a cover it with straw and still harvest enough tomatos for themselves....

good luck!

John Yeoman is another author to check out, if you can. His imaginative, cost-cutting, irreverent way with veggies is quite an inspiration!!

xx

Lusignan

We took on a half-plot allotment last year (June-ish) chin-high in brambles and weeds and got it free for the first year. We razed the lot with a petrol strimmer to start with, then dug it out a bed at a time, covered the beds with tarp, planted up and was getting produce off small parts of it in August/September; the lower half is all dug and planted up now and we're concentrating on the other half-plot we acquired. Well worth it once you've put in the backbreaking work.

paddy's_mum

In your shoes, I'd be getting in a man and digger, just to get a head start. Sometimes it's worth finding that little bit of money so that you can start growing more/earlier.

Once cleared of the horrors, roughly dig over part of the ground and cover with old carpet or thick black plastic. This will hold the weeds at bay until you have more time to deal with it thoroughly. You can plant such things as pumpkins or courgettes through little slits in the plastic so that you would still get some food from it this year. A trio of hens in a very portable ark and run will clear an amazing amount of weeds, weed seed and bugs plus adding manure to the ground, before going on with the carpet technique.

It is very easy to become 'overfaced' with a huge amount of garden clearance and lose heart. An osteopath's bill will wipe out any moneysaving on growing your own food! Perhaps try to cultivate only a quarter or a half of your plot this year.

Do it thoroughly and grow only what you know your family will eat or what is not easily or cheaply available locally. (For example, we are in the heart of the fens where cabbage and potatoes are a major crop so I never grow those things.)

You may want to have a couple of large tubs for such things as strawberries, leaf salads or herbs. Next year, when more of the land has been brought into cultivation, they can have their own bed but at least this year, you need not be without them.

I personally like the books of Bob Flowerdew as for me, he talks sense and usually advises the 'least work/most results' options.
Happy digging.

showtunesgirl

Absolutely definitely take the plot. I am an allotment convert too. I started last Jan and haven't looked back. We have just taken a new bit of land next to our existing allotment which sounds quite a lot like your bit of land. We are currently hacking and digging out the brambles which is hard work but will be worth it.

What we will be doing on that bit of land is digging it over and getting the soil ready for later in the seaon and then putting things like squashes etc on it as it will give us more time to get the soil ready.

If you get it ready in the next few weeks, you can put some potatoes in to help break up the soil. But make sure you get virus free seed potatoes and chit them properly first.

Do go for it, it will be one of the best things you'll ever do!

rach2403

Wow thanks for all the amazing advice - now off to phone the lady!!!

Paddy's Mum - can you really keep chickens on an allotment?! (I don't mean regulation wise as fairly sure our allotment has no restrictions but practically?) Are they expensive/do you have to let them roam free/do they actually produce eggs!!

I have a huge order of books to place with amazon now - am so excited!!!!

Rachel

P.S Mossstar - excellent advice about the whole if the ground can grow a great crop of weeds it must be good soil - great way to turn a negative into a positive!!!!!!

rach2403

Thanks showtunesgirl for your advise - sorry to ask a stupid question but chiting potatoes? Can you tell I'm new at this!!!!!!!!

Rachel x

showtunesgirl

This forum is indispensible for all your allotment needs: http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/index.php

And here's a thread about it: http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=91&?PHPSESSID=cbc955885f103788c3085fdbebb7baaf&topic=29393.msg291483;topicseen#new

Basically chitting is where you make it grow some eyes before you put it in the ground, it makes your plants stronger.

A few books I would recommend would be: The Allotment Handbook by Caroline Foley Buy this one and none of the others that she has written as she just rehashes the same stuff over and over again!

The Great Vegetable Plot by Sarah Raven The great thing about this book is that she is not interested in growing things for show but for good eating! One of the best things about having an allotment is that you can grow veg that you can't get a hold of in the supermarket and taste amazing. Sarah will point you in the right direction.

The Vegetable and Herb Expert by Dr DG Hessayon This is a great book for finding out what things might be wrong with your plants but it is not an organic book. He uses so many chemicals to get nice looking veg it's ridiculous! But as I said, it is good to have to identify what's going wrong if anything does.

These three are our holy trinity of alloment books! Happy reading!