[Aunt Sally]

If you stack it, green side ddown, and cover with black polythene and leave for two years you will have the most wonderful compost ever.

[foxydan]

maybe chemicals are the way forward.....i suppose everything i do after can be organic....just worry about the soil

[Annie]

You could always go halfway,spray half with glyophosphate and get it planted then you can see what you`re  aiming at as you hand dig the rest.T he risk if you try to hand dig it all is that you may get discouraged and give up,goodluck.

[slow_worm]

Hi, we have our new allotment and we have been working on it foor the last three days. We are exhausted as the ground is in pretty back condition and we have cleared a small part, only thing is is that it is 35m in length by 8 m in width.

We would really like to get growing and was wondering if there are any machines which could strip the top soil/turf off making our life easy and this clearance job quicker.  I'm not sure what machine could do it. I wouldn't want a rotovator as this would chop all weeds up.

Any ideas?

I took control of my 126m sq plot in Feb... still haven't dug it all yet.
Little and often ids my motto, the stuff I hav edug i have now planted up with easy stuff like potoatoes and beans.  As any weeds come through I am pulling them out... luckily the dry weather here is not encouaging them to grow as fast as normal.

[Oscar Too]

I second slow compost's remarks - decide what you can handle and black plastic the rest.  You can use the plastic more than once - next year you could plant spuds or garlic through it for instance.  

It's an expensive initial cost but worth it in weeding time and heartache.

[wellingtons]

... I'm the only one who hand weeds the entire plot.  And I did when I took it on, it had been left for a few months so wasn't quite a jungle.

Everyone else rotivates, but it's interesting because my soil is everybit as good, and actually less stony than the one immediately next door ... cos I flick those out too ... and last year people were commenting on the lack of weeds, and this year it's really noticeable that I just don't have the same amount of weeds at the others.

Backbreaking it may be, but better in the long run.  And once you've got it under control, hoe, hoe and hoe some more!

[lucywil]

it all takes time, my advice would be to get something planted in the bit you have cleared and keep on top of that, then slowly work your way through the rest. we got our plot last may and the weeds were 4 foot high but we cleared enough to get stuff growing last year and covered the rest with old carpet (from freecycle) and have steadily been hand digging the rest and we are nearly there so hopefully this season the whole plot wil be planted

[beansticks]

Black polythene on a roll,available in 4mt x25mt from any builders merchant is the answer.It is actually the stuff they use for damp proof course on new build housing estates.Cost roughly about £30 a roll.May be cheaper to buy 2 rolls than hiring a machine.If you use this method,cover what you dont intend digging and roll it back bit by bit,if left for a few months everything underneath will be killed.We use it on our site whenever somebody finishes or is long term ill.

[foxydan]

Well I went and did it - bought some roundup and will spray the lot tonight. The sooner the better, I'm very impatient and want to get growing.

[Kabby]

I sympathise - we had to dig over a lottie that hadn't been touched in years and was just one big expanse of grass.  I started to strip the turf off and stack it but after reading a few posts on here we trench dug it, turning the grass over into the trench and adding a lot of manure....it was however back breaking work.  I've covered the remainder with black polythene and it will have to wait another day- Good luck!

[Bigbadfrankie]

Spry it with deadly stuff. Strim it and burn the dead stuff, then rotovate deep, or plough it if you can, then shallow rotovate. Then go for a well earned BEER

[4 Candles]

I'm very interested in going down Shaun's mini-digger route on my two grassy plots. I suggested a while ago to a couple of others on our site that we chip in and hire one for a weekend but had no takers.

Anyone else any experience of using one of these on an allotment?

The truth is I just fancy a go on one!

Duncan

[Sadgit]

Spry it with deadly stuff. Strim it and burn the dead stuff, then rotovate deep, or plough it if you can, then shallow rotovate. Then go for a well earned BEER

damn right...

I have the similar sized plot 35mx7m I have hand dug/weeded about a 3rd of the plot to give me a place to plant at the moment. The old gaffs were all amazed at how much we had done to a plot that hadn't been touched in ages, the called me the human rotorvator and Mr Rotorvator

but now for the rest of it I am with Frankie, this week I will spray the roundup I got from ebay wait 3-4 weeks then burn of the dead stuff then might rotorvate it or just do it via the 1 man 1 spade method, which is great for keeping fit

[diggerjoe]

Good to hear I'm not the only one with a new plot that has been left grow rampant. I stripped 3 beds 20ft x 4 ( in old money)  worth of grass but the mound grew so big i had to stop as plot is 25x150ft i reckon i could have built a turf stack shed - now infact that sounds quite good very organic - i wonder if comittee will approve - anyways i have given up with the rest and a helpful fellow plotter has applied round up to the rest of the plot - it will save me a fortune on radox!. Foxydan I know how you feel but keep at it

[shaun]

Anyone else any experience of using one of these on an allotment?

yes I used one on mine when I 1st got my plot,it was waist high in weeds started it saturday morning and by sunday afternoon I planted spuds.(just wish i had a digital camera back then)
but we do have our own at work so hiring one wasnt a problem,do you get the buy and sell near you if so theres a few lads in there that hire them with or without a driver,
if you decide to hire one i can give you a few phone numbers