my first allotment plot

[nightowl]

Oh im so happy just got myself an allotment plot and its so big, over grown pewwwwwwwwww where do i start.
HELP

[paul]

My allotment was like yours and full of brambles. First i used a shovel to 'slice' off the top layer of grass. I then just dug the whole plot over, and removing the grass roots as I went along.
With the thicker brambles, I cut them down to the ground level first and dug up the roots. It does take time, but if you put a few good hours in a week, you will clear it no probs. Its bloody hard work but it is well worth it in the end.


Paul

[Durgan]

Originally Posted by nightowl

Oh im so happy just got myself an allotment plot and its so big, over grown pewwwwwwwwww where do i start.
HELP

At first look your task appears formidable, but with some concentrated work and some tools it is easy. With that mess, I would clear the above ground vegetation, then lift the first layer of soil with a mechancial turf cutter- about 2 hours work. Put the sod aside. Then get some friends and a few shovels and spade as deep as possible. Then rototill the mess as much as possible with a fairly stong tiller. Then put the sod through a chipper/shredder and blow back onto the garden area. Below is what I did basically to improve my vegetable area. Your situation is slightly different but the same principles apply.

30 April 2006.
Enlarging my vegetable garden by 8 feet. It is 36 feet long. First I removed the sod with a kick sod cutter, then spaded about a foot, then rototilled the lumps with the small Honda rototiller, then raked the chunks that wouldn't crumble. The larger slower turning rototiller simply throws the larger chunks aside, but the faster rotating little rottiller chews the clumps up.Today's effort took me about 8 hours.

I tore the sod by hand and put it through a shredding Yard Machine to shred the clumps and put it back onto the bed. This took about three hours. Not a bit of grass came up later in the season. The Yard Machine effectively killed the grass roots. This is the best method I have devised for destroying sod. No rototiller will break up sod sufficiently to prevent grass growth.


http://meuho.notlong.com/ 26 October 2007 Sod Busting. The method.

Ths sod was removed from around the Rose of Sharon bushes. The purpose is to improve the growing environment for the Rose of Sharon roots by removing the grass competition.

First the sod was cut using the kick type sod cutter. The sod was hand pulled apart and put through the chipper\shredder, and blown back onto the area from which it was removed. From past experience it was found that the grass roots are effectively destroyed, and no grass grows from the residue. The area was edged, lightly rototilled, raked smooth and covered with wood chip mulch.



Making a New Vegetable Garden Area.

Making a New Vegetable Garden Area.
http://xrl.us/nqb9 30 April 2006 Start. Notice the kick type sod cutter. There are power driven cutters that work very well.

http://xrl.us/nqca 4 May 2006 Adding Compost (half a yard shown). I pick up about half a yard per day from the City depot. Two fourty five gallon garbage cans. I have a wooden box in the back of the van that takes exactly one-half yard.

http://xrl.us/nqcd 5 May 2006 Completed bed before adding wood chips.

http://xrl.us/nqcb 7 May 2006 Adding Fibre, (composted wood chips). Two pictures of the bed with the fiber laying on top and then worked in.

http://xrl.us/ntyj 30 June 2006
Pictures of what is growing in the enlarged bed. Apparently the effort was not in vain. All plants are growing extremely well.



Durgan.

[nightowl]

Wow Durgan is that your garden its fantastic, will take me years to get the lottie looking anything near yours.
Think i will only beable to do a few good hours in a week and will take on your advice dig up the roots with loads of hard work ahead a patch at a time.
will keep you posted thankyou paul & Durgan.

[Diggory]

Hi nightowl,

yep...that could be my plot when I took it on just two years ago.It hadn't been worked for eighteen months,and the weeds were formidable (not to mention the vicious brambles!)

I was introduced to the Chillington hoe by a cheerful West Indian chap (it is also known as a Third World hoe) and it was a wonder at skimming off the top layer of impacted grass and weeds.I did a small section at at time and then used Glysophate systemic weed killer to tackle deep rooted weeds.I knew that in the first year I would spend most of my time and energy clearing the plot,but I did plant some potatoes to give me an incentive. By the way,you might have heard the saying that 'potatoes clear the ground.' Believe me,potatoes (delicious and versatile though they may be) have no magical ground-clearing properties.It is your hard work digging that clears the ground.I must have bought up Boots whole stock of Radox those first few months. But it is worth it.

Two years on,my plot (although I still have lots to do) is transformed.I am still at work,so only have weekends and evenings (summer) to work the plot,but it is the best hobby ever.And when you are filling your freezer with your own produce the sense of achievement is second to none.

Good Luck!

[glallotments]

Check out how we tamed our plot Plotters Clearing plot 41 well maybe taming isn't the right word as it takes lots of hard work to keep it from going back to the wild.