Need a crystal ball!

Having sorted out my seeds today I have an idea of what I'd like to grow. However - since November I've managed to dig over 1/4 of the plot, luckily 1/4 had been left covered, so i have 1/2 the plot ready to go. The weather hasn't helped, but what I'm wondering is once I start planting out & sowing, how much more of the plot I'm likely to have time to continue to dig as well. I can probably bung in sweetcorn after i've cropped my early spuds and that will leave room for some other crops, but what I'm worried about is starting off squash, courgettes & mangetoute and then not having room for them. Plot is 4.5m x 23 m, very thick grass - well bog really for the last 6 foot!!
I have strawbs in a small bed at one end, and a double row of raspberries 10m down the plot. Have about 48 seed pots to go in, and 3 large clumps of dahlias, 6 asparagus heelde in at home.
Thanks for any help,
JMW!!

How about planting through a mulch? Dig planting holes and fill them with compost for the cucurbits, and cover the ground with black polythene, or cardboard (my favourite). If you cover the ground now it will weaken the weeds even before planting out time. Cardboard breaks down after a couple of months, so you will probably have to renew it at planting time, but it's easy to get for free, and provides organic matter for the soil.

Potatoes can be planted into well rotted manure over cardboard, using straw and ultimately a layer of grass clippings, for 'earthing' up. Unfortunately the manure does need to be well rotted, and pyralid free.
Growing potatoes the normal way involves a lot of disturbance of the earth around them, so is a good crop to start a bed with, as any weeds that are missed when clearing the ground will be dealt with later as a matter of course.

Thanks both!  To clarify Woodburner's suggestion then - what you are saying is get down the bottom end all covered in grass, dig out 6 or so holes through the grass so the squash & courgettes can take root in June, cover up everything else and let the courgettes etc trail over the top of the Poly or cardboard? Then dig em up in october and get on with digging over what's left.  My only concern is would the roots from the grass choke the veggies? I suppose it's what i do with the strawbs - they're planted through membrane. Thankyou - you've given me hope!

You've got it. Don't forget to fill the holes with compost. Cucurbits do like lots of moisture round their roots, just like beans.

I did no dig potatoes straight over grass last year, and although some did get through the softened cardboard, it was easy to pull up as the roots had run along just under the cardboard. If you make too much of a mess of the cardboard, you can just put some more over the tears. Plastic shouldn't let anything through, but it won't give anything to the soil either.

Oh another tip, especially if you use plastic to mulch, is to cut the bottom off a 2l bottle of fizz, to make an elongated funnel, sink this almost up to the rim by the side of the planting hole, and fill it with water every time you water them. It helps get the water straight to the roots.

How often do you visit your plot? 

I would urge you to get a small square patch dug each visit, if not more, and it will soon add up.  The satisfaction will be great!

2 or 3 times a week, for about 1 - 2 hours - I get too tired if I try to dig for longer. I was more concerned that at the mo all I do is dig , but soon I wil;l need to focus on other stuff asd well - however, hopefully with the longer days I could start going after work too.