[Filament]

I have a new allotment that is full of perenial weeds including dandelion buttercup dock nettles couch grass etc. I have decided to skim the top two inches off and pile it up at one end of the allotment before hand digging and sifting out the roots.

It is one big pile of soil and weeds. My question is what do I do with it now? How long do I keep it before the weeds and roots all die off and it returns to being a good top soil again? any tips on speeding up the whole process so I can add it back to the beds?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Oscar Too]

Cover it with thick black plastic for six months.

[Filament]

Cover it with thick black plastic for six months.

Will that kill all the roots within the pile?

[Aunt Sally]

Cover it with thick black plastic for six months.

Or longer !  We did that to our allotment in Oct 2006 and have just started to use the wonderful resulting dark soil now - we are earthing up the potatoes with some of it.  

But deep within the huge pile of soil is lurking some marestail root which is starting to sprout and a little couch grass root. So we take these out as we break down the heap.  It's black magic  

[Dominic]

I was getting ready to shout no dont!!!

Surely thats just stripping away the very best of the soil?

[lindseykim13]

i done the same thing 2 months ago and looked good for ages planted pots, onions and carrots. came back from 2 weeks hols to a weed hell! i guess the skimming was only temporary. I have another half to do so i'm assesing my options now lol good luck

[love-my-plot]

I reckon you would be taking all the goodness that's been put in over the years?
Might be better just getting to work digging it a bit at a time.

[Rampant_Weasel]

2 inches isnt enough...when i first dug my lawn up to make the veg plot some of the dandelions and others were nearly a spade deep!

[Aunt Sally]

2 inches isnt enough...when i first dug my lawn up to make the veg plot some of the dandelions and others were nearly a spade deep!

That's only to get the growth off the top and the shallow rooted weeds. You still have to dig over and remove the deeper roots.

[Filament]

Thanks for all your replies. I did mention in my post that I would be hand digging and sifting out the roots after I had skimmed the top off. I might even dig it over a couple of times.

The weeds are so bad that it would take weeks to go through the lot without skimming off the top. There are couch grass weeds in every cm2 of the allotment.

I realise that all the goodness is in the top soil, but if you could only see the state it's in, I think anyone would do the same.

I think anyone who gives up an allotment in a state like that should have to prepare it for the next person. (as long as they are in good health).

I'll leave it for at least a year and then put it back on the plot whilst looking for roots as I put it back on.

Thanks again.

[Aunt Sally]

We had a excellent crop from our plot the season after skimming the top off.  If the land has not been cultivated for a while you will find the fertility will be quite good and will indeed compensate for the loss of the top couple of inches.  

Add in any well rotted manure or compost if you can source any and feed your crops as they grow.  You'll be suprised how good they'll be  

[Oscar Too]

If all your fertility is in the top two inches, you need to get some manure into your allotment quickly!