[Elmarto]

I have just acquired a half allotment, I am quite pleased with it as it isn't in too bad condition. The edges of the beds need replacing but it has been covered in a few places.

In the near bed there are some raspberries, not sure what type, that seem to be smothered by weeds. Can they be salvaged?

I was thinking of putting on a heavy mulch of manure to keep the weeds down.

The rest of the plot will have to be dug over and weeded!

Can't wait to get started now!

[Elmarto]

Pics added here

[Baldy]

Not too shaby - at least you have got some area that you can get going with fairly quickly.
The raspberries can probably be saved - they are shallow rooted, though the roots can will spread out a long way unless you have some sort of barrier in the ground. Being shallow rooted it can be a bit tricky to weed them - I tend to mulch them instead for the most part using cardboard and grass cuttings to suppress the weeds. If they are an Autumn fruiting variety you could expect a decent crop from them this year - if summer fruiting then there is more chance that they'll need some attention and might only crop for you next year but you might be lucky anyway.

Good luck with it and enjoy.

Pip pip,
Balders

[Goosegirl]

Great! Rasps like a good mulching to conserve water as well as keeping weeds down. I would make sure that you don't have any nasty perennial weeds like dandelions, bindweed, ground elder and couch grass because they will just grow through it.