[kelzy]

hello to all, I have just got myself a plot, the council have chopped the weeds, which had grown so high,and now I have a plot i need to sort out, I have been told to clear it like moving turf, is this right to do first?
I know nothing about allotments, but keen to start out on the right footing.
can anyone advise me on how to start please. all i can think of doing is taking the top off, and pulling up the rest of the weeds and digging it through.
any advise appreciated.

many thanks.

[spy]

I cant belive I am answering questions, I am about a week further on than you!  I asked a similar question last week!  

The answer seems to be, dont dig the turf in now, you will get loads of grass.  Set youself a small patch to dig now, dig the turf off it and throw it upside down on the rest of the plot. Cover anything you arent digging yet with black plastic or similar to kill the grass / weeds.  If you wait another month or 2 it will be much easier to dig.

Mine is a tiny patch in the garden so I just got digging and gug most of it off.  

Good luck, I am sure someone else will be along soon (hopefuly someone who knows what they are on about! ) Seems to be a very helpful bunch on here.

[lucywil]

we got our over grown plot in may and the council came and rotivated it. we thought brilliant all we need to do now is get the weed out. then it rained for 2 weeks and we couldn't do any thing and the weed came back with avengance!! so we set to and cleared a small patch and planted in it, then moved on to the next patch etc, etc. we are about a third of the way there now but it's really good to see things growing. that would be my advice, take a little bit at a time.

[mrsparsnip]

yay!  a question I can kinda answer!  I normally ask the questions!  only had my lpot a few months too.

I'd say what Spy said............put plastic down over what you won't use this year  and sort out what you want to do with the rest.  I got some books too which helped me decide what to do first.  The Allotment Book by Andi Cleverly and Allotment gardening by Susan Berger are two good ones to get you started and then the Vegetable Expert is a must.

think about what you want to grow so you can plan long term how you want the plot to look. the organic gardening catalogue is good for deciding what you want to grow.

I tackled small bits at a time to stop it feeling so overwhelming (sp)!  there are picrures in my profile thingy.

good luck!  

oh, anda compst bin.  get building one of those!

[lucywil]

we used old carpet instead of black plastic. advertised on a web site called freecycle.org where you get rid of things you don't want (has to be free to a good home) and got loads of old carpet.

[kelzy]

Many Thanks for all the advice folks, I took up on what you said about certain books, So i went and joined up at the local library and got some books out. I found Pauline foley books interesting with a lot of good advice in their to help start off with a allotment, even down to planning out garden beds, which would be a nice thing to start with. Do any of you have garden beds on your allotment sites? and if so....are these easier to work with rather then using a whole plot,? as this would be the sort of thing i would like to do. I also looked up about the gardening catologue, that was mentioned, and signed up to have one of those sent to me.

as I said, Many Thanks  for all your good advice.  I've also ordered some thick black plastic sheeting to block out the weeds from growing. any other advice would be welcomed.

[milkman]

please have a look at my personal gallery kelzy - my plots are divided up into beds and though I have had them for a number of years now I really did start out digging the plot over bed by bed - it made it much more manageable and I felt as though I was making real progress with each bed dug.

[noshed]

I've gone for the 4' bed option and it has worked well. I don't think I'll use wood edging or anything I'm just pondering whether to use straw or gravel for the paths. Anyone got any views? I'm worried about the gravel going everywhere, but, for reasons I won't go into, I've got lots of 10mm gravel free.

[GrannieAnnie]

Lucywil said:  (we used old carpet instead of black plastic. advertised on a web site called freecycle.org where you get rid of things you don't want (has to be free to a good home) and got loads of old carpet)

(has to be free to a good home) and you've put it on your allotment?   LOL

[James]

I'm just pondering whether to use straw or gravel for the paths. Anyone got any views?

Gravel will get among your carrots and give you entries for the National Trust's ugly vegetables competition.  Straw will get everywhere - and if you're on an allotment that'll make you *really* popular with your neighbours!  Use bark/chips.  When they've rotted down nicely for a few years, you can then take to growing in the paths and give the beds a rest.  Conifer bark is the best as the acidity will prevent the weeds from growing.

[Oliver]

carpet ... and you've put it on your allotment?   LOL

Hello all, she has been a bit busy over the last few days with the annual horticultural show (held on Saturday), apart from doing something DRASTIC to the computer thing which she still has to sort out. Email is still up the creek, or on the plot ...  :roll:

Anyway - carpet - some people hold that you should not put carpet on your allotment as it 'poisons' the soil - most carpets have a lot of synthetic stuff in them (formaldehyde is one). They do do the job, but at a cost. Black plastic, or impermeable membrane is better in the long term and allotment are a long term job - its hard enough wrestling with bugs and muck as it is without making problems for later! Sorry - :?  O

[milkman]

I use black permeable membrane stuff on my paths - it makes them much easier to keep weed free and I find that slugs and snails tend to congregate underneath in the day time so are much easier to locate and dispatch.  Did try bark chippings once upon a time on top of the membrane but found that weeds were taking root far to easily.  If I didn't use the membrane I think I would just have grass paths and keep them mown with my handmower.

[Oliver]

If I didn't use the membrane I think I would just have grass paths and keep them mown with my handmower.

Thats what they do - they have paths but they are grass (or mown weeds!)

[GrannieAnnie]

OH is a builder, and we got some 2nd hand 2ft square slabs from Tesco for free, and he made me slab paths all through my plot, cemented down too, so they aren't going anywhere.  In the polytunnel, he just laid them on the soil, but during the winter, I'll probably put plastic underneath them.

[supersprout]

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I was afraid my straw would get everywhere on me windy plot but it's fine. I used bark chips on the long paths up the allotment, over weed suppressing membrane, and straw over thickly laid newspaper on the cross-paths between the beds. Voila!