New garden/ field start

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neiwgardner

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New garden/ field start
« on: September 21, 2018, 20:37 »
I have acquired a field at new home. Northern UK.  Its roughly 400sq meters in size. I have very limited time available to prepare it max maybe 5 hrs of working time between now and march 2019. Its very overgrown full weeds and grass 3 feet tall. I can proberly scythe it down by hand.  and allow grass/weeds to absorb back into the organic structure overtime. But no digging as no time available. I cant employ any one either.
 I intend to plant potatoe field.  How would planting chitted Sarpro Mira potatoes direct into ground  7 inches deep  fair come March/ Apr. No hilling or earthing up hence the deep planting.  Ive read they will overwhelm weeds anything in there path. Very vigorous growth.  Anyone tried that method before.

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snowdrops

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Re: New garden/ field start
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2018, 21:38 »
Sorry but knowing how much time I put into my allotment I cannot think that the approach you suggest will be successful to be honest. Did you want the field? If so what was the reasoning behind it? You might just be better to hire a petrol strimmer & cover it over with membrane or black plastic until the weeds are dead.
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Yorkie

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Re: New garden/ field start
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2018, 21:47 »
I agree that this is unlikely to be that successful.  I think you are unduly optimistic about what you scythe off being reabsorbed into the ground - the weeds will simply regrow (sorry).

You also risk the new growth from the potatoes being swamped by the grass and weeds which get a head start on it above ground.

And, finally, prepare yourself for the potatoes to have quite a lot of damage for the first few years; wireworm is often found in ground where grass was formerly grown.

Good luck, but be prepared for challenges! 
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mumofstig

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Re: New garden/ field start
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2018, 22:03 »
The traditional way of planting into an unploughed field was by making 'lazy beds'. Still involves a bit of digging, but much less work than clearing the whole field, I think.

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John

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Re: New garden/ field start
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2018, 00:45 »
Just a few thoughts:
Sarpo Mira are very vigorous but I'd  give them 50/50 in those circumstances at best. If you could get it ploughed beforehand it could work out well with Mira. Another option might be to plant through weed membrane. The membrane will stop the weed pressure and so the Mira will get going.
Another option would be to spray it off. In view of the reports over the last year I don't feel comfortable suggesting glyphosate but Neudorff do a translocating weedkiller that is made from pelargoniums that you can plant after the next day. I'm trialling it at the moment and it seems fairly effective.
With Mira you can give a wider row and spacing than most maincrops. I'd go 60cm apart in rows 90cm. Mira is very dense and resists slugs so it may be a good one to plant if there is a lot of wireworm.
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John

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Re: New garden/ field start
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2018, 15:49 »
Perhaps check out Charles Dowding's no dig.
Who suggests covering new ground and planting through the covering as has been suggested.

There is a market gardening method where you cover with 10 cm of compost and broadfork the soil but to do that over 400M2 would need 40 M3 of compost. If you don't have that lying about ready then you need to buy it in (which is fine for a commercial grower) but if you can afford to do that then you can pay someone to work it if only have 5 hours! :)

Lazy beds - whose name is derived from laissez faire rather than lazy because they're pretty hard work - would take a man-day to build. That's a tough Irish labourer's dawn to dusk man-day btw. Planting the potatoes using a stiveen (iron tipped pole) or a dibber to make holes and drop them in would most likely take 4 days.

I've thought hard about this and the only way I can realistically see to bring it into cultivation in the 5 hours available is using a tractor and plough.



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neiwgardner

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Re: New garden/ field start
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2018, 16:23 »
thanks for the replies / advice.  Don't want use any chemicals or use machinery fuel or paid labour. Soil looks good though grass and weeds are thriving. I think under estimated size its 400 big strides long by 400 or so side big strides wide.   will have to get It sorted for 2nd year here. First year will be a bonus what I can get out of it.

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John

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Re: New garden/ field start
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2018, 16:57 »
thanks for the replies / advice.  Don't want use any chemicals or use machinery fuel or paid labour. Soil looks good though grass and weeds are thriving. I think under estimated size its 400 big strides long by 400 or so side big strides wide.   will have to get It sorted for 2nd year here. First year will be a bonus what I can get out of it.
Assuming you pace at 0.9 metres, you're saying you have 30 acres? i.e. 400 x 0.9 = 360 metres. 360 x 360 = 129,600 M2 or 32 acres! That's like 500 full size allotments. By hand? Good luck with that! :)

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Plot 1 Problems

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Re: New garden/ field start
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2018, 20:03 »
Little and often as they say!

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DHM

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Re: New garden/ field start
« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2018, 07:28 »
I'd have said in your situation to plough and spray, but you mention not wanting to use chemicals, machinery or labour. Are you just looking to plant the spuds and hope they kill off all the weeds with their canopies? If only weeds were that feeble...

Growing takes a lot of work and tending, if you don't want any of that, maybe you should use the field as a karting track, stables or install a herd or cows or something.

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mumofstig

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Re: New garden/ field start
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2018, 07:40 »
Pigs would do a good job of clearing it, a strip at a time  :D

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rowlandwells

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Re: New garden/ field start
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2018, 11:39 »
when I took over an allotment that had been run down for a number of years I used my tractor and scuffle pulled all the grass weeds etc off the plot and stacked them in a heap intending to burn them at a later date but I was told by a fellow gardener to let them rot down and when rotted put the soil back on the allotment that's what I did following on from that I planted a crop of potatoes and what a crop in that half an acre produced  that year

the next piece of allotment I took on was covered in twich grass and many other weeds including bindweed so I sprayed that with roundup all over the plot then after three weeks I ploughed the plot and it done the trick apart from the usual annual weeds the ground has stayed clean for several years now


good luck with your no chemical no machinery no labour all you need really is a good sharp spade a fork and plenty of good weather  :D :D :D



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