[pete]

Hi guys,

I am new here and have just atken on a new plot. It has not been used for a long time and is covered with tall grass and very established brambles.

Question 1: What is the best way to get rid of brambles and keep them away?
Question 2: Is a mulch applied over the top of the grass with black weed supresant over the top of that going to kill off the grass and allow me to grow some veg whilst I deal with the brembles?
Thanks in advance.

[Jake]

Hi pete

I am new to this too but me and another guy got an allotment around end of July last year. We decided that it was too late to get anything going (this wasn’t true but hey) so we rotavated all the weeds into the ground on a hot day. We did this again another 2 times last year. We did get some cabbages in but we lost them due to lack of care.

We have probably got an emerging problem with couch grass now because of just basically cutting up all the roots. The other guys on the allotments said they didn’t know what else we should have done but after a couple of years of heavy weeding things should start to improve.

I may be wrong but if the mulch you use is organic I think the weeds might just lie dormant until you remove the plastic, and then they’ll have loads of nutrients to feed off. I’d just lay the plastic and start digging out small plots putting all the grasses and brambles on the compost. I’m sure using a bit of weed killer before you lay the plastic would be a good idea, others may disagree and it might be against your ethos.

Not too sure about keeping brambles away, you probably have to dig out the roots. We don’t seem to have a problem with that though, so maybe smashing them with a rotavator kills them. I don’t really know.

I like the way the allotments come to life in spring, not just the plants but all the people in good spirits.

[GrannieAnnie]

Sometimes I wish I had a lottie instead of a big garden.  It owuld be nice to have other folk to talk to about things.  OH isn't interested, unless he's telling me what I should be doing, but his gets more interested when the sutff's on his plate!!!!  That's why I like this site, I can ask questions and no ne thinks I'm an idiot!!!!  (At least I hope they don't!!!) lol

There I was out there this afternon in the greenhouse all on my own, just the dog and Virgin radio for company!!!!

[John]

I would handle the two things differently, for the weedy grass, take up the top like turf, stack it upside down under a sheet and in six months you will have some good quality loam.

Brambles.. much hard work and digging to get the roots out or use amicide or a brushwood killer which contains ammonium sulphamate. I think this is approved for use as a brushwood killer under organic regs .

And there is no magic answer  - just start at one end and dig to the other. Two or three two hour sessions a day will clear your plot by end May

[Gwiz]

i had a real problem with couch grass last september, so i sprayed the area with glysophate ( round up ), it killed the grass, or so it seems. ive just started digging the last patch, dead grass roots, but strewth it did`nt touch the dandylions, ive never seen so many thick and healthy roots in my life!

[pete]

Thanks for the responses. Dandelions amaze me. The size of the roots is amazing. I pulled one out that was nearly 5 1/2 foot long.

I will try the plastic over the top without the mulch then and see how it goes.

Once again thanks.

Pete

[Sandy]

Hi Pete - my allotment sounds very similar to yours - brambles up to my waist and thousands of dandelions!  

I was strongly advised by my fellow allotmenteers that I should not rotorvate but dig up all the brambles which over the past two years I've been doing (and rather slowly at that!)

I have found that the brambles are still coming up even two years later where I missed a root or two, however I dig them up as soon as I spot them and am hoping that they will be erradicated given time.

So far I have managed to dig over half my allotment and am working my way down the plot. Every now and then my partner feels sorry for me and will cut down the brambles which I have been told weakens them - until I am ready to dig them out in a few years time! I have found that this has served me well as I wouldn't know what to do with a whole plot of land and the smaller space has given me time to learn a few tricks as I go along!

good luck  

[Dean]

My first post - what a great forum!

Earlier this year and my wife I got an allotment. The plot had not been used in at least 2 years and sounds like Pete's.

We tried glyphosate first and this really cleared all the grass - untill the sun arrived in March and now it's back with a vengence  

We can see no other way than to dig it - no shortcuts. Unfortunately, we have a really clay soil, so it's difficult to dig wet and impossible to get into the ground when dry. As such, we've dig about half of it so far. (I don't know about rods, poles and perch - but our allotment is 95tf long and 20ft wide).

So, as we resign ourselves to some more back-breaking work, I look forward to any further advice for Pete - which we can use too!  

Cheers,

Dean

[pete]

 
Dean, Lovely to have you on board!!