[the_gherkin]

Hi all,

I'm a newbie to this forum and have only recently acquired my plot.

Half of it is ok but the rear half has been left to wrack and ruin for a number of years! I guess the soil is sour as it had docks, nettles and some mares tail. There is also lots of grass, moss and brambles.

The soil is very compacted and difficult to dig.

My questions/request for advice are as follows:

• How do I improve my soil? Should I put lime on it over the winter and compost it in the spring?
• How far down should I dig?
• How long will it take before it is fertile? I know I have to be patient but I am just curious
• Any other advice

I look forward to your replies.

Mark

[Yorkie]

Welcome to the site 

This article may help a little
http://www.allotment-garden.org/articles/Clearing_a_New_Allotment.php

I don't think you have any problems with soil fertility - those weeds are indicative of an acidic soil, not a sour one.

I would advise against trying to rotavate.  You will only chop the weeds up into lots of little pieces ... 

I would focus your attention onto getting the weeds out.  You could try using a glyphosate based weedkiller on them, although it will take a little longer to work than in summer (allow 3 weeks not 2) because the plant's growth is slowing down.

Double digging is best - but I've never done that myself. 

[DigIt]

Greetings.
I am in the process of clearing docks from a recently acquired plot and what I have done is chip off all the weeds, especially if they are going to seed over all the plot and then double digging section by section removing as much as possible of all the root.
So you are combining weed removal with tilling the soil and if the docks re-appear where you haven't dug just chip off the tops again.

But just do it in bite size chunks that you can manage, as they 'Rome wasn't built in a day'.

And ENJOY being out there.

[mumofstig]

Here
http://www.allotment-garden.org/fertilizer/garden-lime.php    is the advice on liming to reduce the acidity in sour soil.
You've got it at just the right time so that it can be ready for spring planting.

[Sue33]

i would try and concentrate on getting rid of the marestail, believe me it's not easy 

[stompy]

i would try and concentrate on getting rid of the marestail, believe me it's not easy 

I would sugest learning to live with mares tail rather than getting rid.
It's prety much imposible to remove it completely, just keep it to a minimum.

[brokenglass]

Mare's tail you have to learn to live with but as you improve the soil and remove as much Mare's Tail as you can it will become less of a problem