[Smudgeboy]

Art'noon all, long time no post.

You may recall I took possession of a plot back in about February with all the grand plans etc - only to find out that it was totally overgrown with brambles and fruit on one half, while the other half was almost exclusively nasty grasses (couch grass and others) and deep-rooted rhubarb plants.

I used Round-Up and dug up a small part of the grass and harvested some lovely rhubarb in the early (dry but not sunny) part of summer.

I was getting ready for an all-out pre-summer assualt when . . . my knee went 'pop' (not on the allotment, walking down a mountain actually).

Cue a minor operation, three months of physio and no visits to the allotment, as managing house and garden have been difficult enough.

Now, I know that when I do go back, it will be totally overgrown again and I'll probably have to start from scratch.

My question is . . . what is the best time of year to attack a totally grassed-over and overgrown allotment?

Summer or Autumn?

When it's wet or dry?

When it's cold or warm?

Heeeeelp!  :shock:

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi Smudgy, nice to see you back, hope the knee gets better soon!  Well, if you will go trudging up and down mountains!!!!!

I'll let the experts tell you what to do about the plot,  but I wold say autumn, early winter is best, as summer (if its dry) can be a bother with digging up the hard ground, but you don't want it too wet or too cold either, especially with a recovering knee!!!

Get better soon.      

[Smudgeboy]

Thank grannieannie - knee (sans floating cartilage) is fine now.

[WG.]

My question is . . . what is the best time of year to attack a totally grassed-over and overgrown allotment?

Now - if you are planning to use roundup.  Apply it while everything is nice and green.

Bad luck with the knee.  How high are the mountains in Kent?  

[Smudgeboy]

Not very WG - I had to go all the way to Slovenia to do it!

[shaun]

nice to see yer smudge hope your fighting fit realy soon.
strange how most accidents happen on the way back down the mountain,this was pointed out by griff jones on that mountain programme the other night

[Smudgeboy]

All too true Shaun - mine was wear and tear kicking in rather than anything traumatic, so fortunately I was able to limp down.

Not sure what Slovenian mountain rescue consists of, but judging by the number of paragliders, it would probably involve strapping me to a big wing and chucking me off the side like a dart!

Flight home with a knee the size of a grapefruit was, errr, interesting*

*As in "ouch!"