An allotment - Joy! So many weeds - disheartening!

So I'm new here and also new to allotment gardening.

My partner and I recently moved house and have a much smaller (but very beautiful) garden so I put my name on a waiting list for an allotment and today is the day!

Deep joy! but I've never seen so many weeds! 301 square meters of 5ft high nettles thistles with a fair distribution of bind weed :-(

I'll be looking for lots of advice on how to clear the plot bit by bit and ideas of what to use to cover areas with until I'm ready to plant it. If you could point me in the right direction of the relevant forum that would be super :-)

Hi,

I am also new to both and it seems we are both in a similar position.

Mine was around 5-6ft high in weeds and is around 31mx11m, almost perfectly rectangular at around 350m squared. I am on about week 3 of tackling it now!

When I first stepped in there I felt the same. It is a bit soul destroying to begin with but the first steps seem to get a lot done!

Firstly I would consider how you want it to finish! For me I would like the whole area more or less covered in 8ftx4ft beds, with gravel or similar in between the beds! The area is greater than I imagined having so I considered the lowest maintenance option I could. Also with it being beds then I can set myself weeding goals by what beds I will attack daily! I am a way off the beds being done at present!

First step for me was to hire a petrol strimmer, a decent sized one. I ended up with a Stihl FS400 which made pretty short work of trimming the entire area. I raked most of it up and made a pile in a spare compost (pallets) heap. Most of it is probably seeding so I will need to deal with it later.

I then bought some Rosate 36 which is a Glyphosate based killer! I wanted to be organic and I will be from now on. But I agreed to cheat initially because it was such an uphill challenge. A few weeks later and it is all looking more achievable. I am now trying to level out the land a bit and then I will cover the entire area in membrane! Too late this year for us to grow really so just aim to be ready for next year and then it seems like you have plenty of time!

Hi and welcome 

mine is growing weeds as fast (if not faster) than the crops, I have missed a weekend with being on holiday, so am dreading what I will see this weekend.
keep plugging away and you will get there.
Once you get a couple of beds cleared start planting - anything really as it really helps you see you are getting there.

You've had some good advice there but I do need to point out that Rosate should not be bought or used by amateurs.  It is only licensed for professional use because of its strength and the health risks of using it incorrectly.  This forum cannot condone or encourage unlawful use of chemicals.

Yeah I did actually read this AFTER using it! On eBay with sellers they don't mention such thing!

Stuff works though

The depressing thing is when you dig out the weeds and then find various buried treasure - pavings, corrugated iron,  the plastic compost bags, glass, assorted metal. Get to know a good scrap man just incase.

We always tell the newbies on our allotment site the tale of a previous allotment association treasurer who found a complete buried Ford Prefect when he started to dig over his new plot! A good legend that stops much complaining.