[sheridan]

And we have a LOT to do!
It has been strimmed, but unfortunately, whilst this has revealed the bare bones of a bed system and the ancient remains of a cold frame alongside a bundle of wood that was once a shed, the majority of the plot is thistles and dandelions. So today was all about the bonfire!

I know we will have to weed kill and wait before rotavating, but I reckon we can have at least half the plot ready to plant in 3- 4 weeks. But here is where I need advice: It's impossible to tell what once was grown there, although the bare bones of beds and paths remain. Can I safely disregard any crop rotational theories and plant whatever, or should I ask the regulars ( who all had a nice time staring at me!) if they can remember what went where?

And I really do need some advice as to what I can plant to get it all going and give me something to actually show for it, given that it's unlikely that i'll be planting before mid / end June.

2 lovely bonuses: strimming revealed a lovely clump of artichokes, and a big bunch of rhubarb, so that's something!

Any newbie advice welcome!

[Beetroot queen]

Can you start some stuff off at home. I disregarded crop rotation when we took it on, no-one takes that much notice of other people's plots to be able to give advice.

Good luck with it, take lots of pics it's lovely to look back at. It shows you how far you have come in a very small space of time.

[gavinjconway]

Well done on getting a plot and enjoy the benefits of GYO..

Before you go wild and rotavate .... STOP!!!

You will make it worse and cut up all the roots and you will have far more problems.. Do it properly and dig it by hand and remove the roots and weeds. Double dig if you have time. Dont rush it - do it properly and just get as much done this year as you can. You dont say how big it is so cant say how long you need to dig the whole plot over.

I found I can "Double dig" 1 mt of a 5 mt width of my plot (so 5 sq mt) in about 2-3 hours. But I did this really deep (2 and a bit spade depths) and had loads of weeds and roots to remove. I dug it over and bashed the clods to break them up.   

Search the main site on the top page tabs where John has some great information on starting off new plots etc.

[sheridan]

It's MaHOOsive! 250 foot long and about 30 foot wide. ( We are in Fenland, rural), and it's fen peat soil.

I don't think i'll ever be able to dig it by hand, I only have weekends and two afternoons off for a hour or so. I was thinking of blitzing it with weedkiller ( at least, the top two thirds) and leaving it to die off before rotavating and covering up to stop weeds, and doing the bottom third by hand this season, while we do tomatoes and so on in gro bags and pots, before planning a late Autumn planting. It's a big job! Almost overwhelming.

Eventually i'd like asparagus beds ( we are in asparagus land) and fruit bushes in the end third, then perennial veg and cut flowers in the middle third, and rotational seasonal veg in the bottom third.

I am pleased to note it's directly opposite the water tap, too!

[gavinjconway]

Thats like 2 1/2 plots... Still my advice - dont rotavate!!  Just do as much as you can and over a few years you can get it to your liking.. Seeing your time available the plot may be bit too big anyway.. But hey you can have a good fruit orchard as well and a big asparagus and strawberry patch!! (wish I had that much land)

[sheridan]

Yes, we're very lucky over here! And there are allotments standing empty! We got ours free for 6 months just to get it used.

I am definately thinking fruit trees. My kids eat a ton of pears and apples a week. And I love gooseberries. I think given our time limitations half of the plot will end up fruit and squash/ courgette type of thing.

If you know anyone over Fenland way, tell them there are allotments going spare!

[TheWhiteRabbit]

I'd break it up into sections and just attack one area and get that in good working order rather than trying to build Rome in a day (so to say).

We've had our plot since September - it's a 30 x 90 foot plot and that's taken me a long time to get into shape and it wasn't too bad to start with! So I think aiming to do the whole thing will probably just kill off your enthusiasm.

I'd probably be inclined to do 1 plots worth and black plastic the rest, that will kill off/weaken a lot of the weeds and set to that lot later in the year.

[sheridan]

I think you're right! It's so big! Does the plastic have to be heavy duty or can it be thick bin liners staked down?

It's quite sad there at the moment, it was evidently a much loved plot once. The Council says the lay-off rate has been huge the past few years due to natural wastage ( ie, death) and the poor weather.

I shall just aim for a few beds and a kids patch at first. I only wish I could keep my hens there, they'd clear the ground in no time!

[Yorkie]

Bin liners will be a nightmare to keep pinned down for any length of time.  Far better to invest in some heavy duty, wide fabric from ebay or similar.

[TheWhiteRabbit]

Invest in the heavy duty stuff - it will last and you'll be able to use it year after year over the winter to keep weeds down on out of action beds.

[Nikkithefoot]

My half plot has taken a few years to get it in good order. I am limited to weekends in the autumn / winter and evenings and weekends in the summer; weather permitting.

I invested in heavy duty weed membrane and covered some of the plot over and forgot it, of the remaining area I used glyphosate weedkiller on about half  then I got on with hand digging the rest. I had a good mix of couch grass, bindweed and ivy to get rid of.

By the time I had hand dug the first bit the weed killed area was full of dead weeds and far easier to dig than the first bit. I planted as I went to make sure I could see progress. Fairly good harvests in the first year considering I didn't have much in the way of manure / feed to add.

The covered area got dug over the winter. The weeds had died off and the ground was good to dig.

Every autumn now I cover unused bits with manure and the heavy duty membrane and the wormies pull most of the manure down, so come spring all it takes is a light forking over. I don't actually dig anymore unless it is to harvest.

Don't try and rush it and I would try and avoid rotovating if there are weeds around. Once it has been weedkilled and the weeds are really crispy dead then you could rotovate.

[sheridan]

Spent the morning down there and the sheer size of the place has really struck me!
Now we've strimmed properly, we can see there were once 20 beds and a big area of herbs and artichokes, with what were once, we think, fruit bushes, now dead. It took 4 hours to dig two beds!

Most weeds are thistles, dandelions, and what looks like to me fat hen seedlings, with a good dose of couch grass. The thistle roots were monsters! I've dug all the weeds out of 2 beds but doubtless the couch and thistles will pop up again. the compost heap is 80% couch grass, so will have to be removed. And rabbits have already made an investigative foray into the plot we started on yesterday! On the plus side, the soil is delicious, lovely Fenland peat, pure black and crumbly, and an old chap called Alan popped over to say hi and gave us a cauliflower!

I think your advice is great, I will carboot and invest in membrane to cover a huge swathe of plot, i'm really only aiaming for 3 beds this season, maybe just radishes and beans to get us going, with tomatoes in pots and so on, with a small bed for the kids.  Hopefully by Autumn it'll be more diggable.  It's just so big! I saw a chap down there today with an actual tractor. Some people have several plots and plogh it, apparently.