[fallen angel]

Hi guys ok as you know my friend and i have finally got a plot and we have decided we would benefit more if we clear the whole lot and re-establish beds so my question is how? How is best to do it do we just dig untill our backs break or do we rotivate (sorry if thats spelt wrong  :oops: ) and then rake out what is churned up? Bearing in mind we want to get planting as soon as we can and we have lots of seeds started in our houses! Sorry to be a pain but we cant see the wood for the trees at the moment!

Many thanks Nicky

[naturesparadise]

dont rotivate as this will chop the roots of the weeds up and just make your job harder

sorry to say but the best way is to dig them out

or weed kill the plot with say round up and then dig it out

[littlelisa]

Hi Nicky
I'm in exactly the same boat as you and your friend - just acquired plot and need to give it a once-over and wanna get planting fast!!

The best advice I've had so far, from friends with allotments and others on this forum, is to do it bit by bit. If you can get some heavy plastic or old carpets or tarpaulins, cover up the weedy ground, and uncover a bed-sized area at a time. Clear it up and build each bed as you go so that you can start planting one bed at a time.

That's my plan for this week, anyway: to clear at least the first two beds :-) Keep us posted on your progress!!

L

[Clampit]

I have just taken on a new plot, It was basically virgin ground, covered in weeds. I had a lot of docks, dandelions, not to mention couch grass, creeping thistle and bramble. I cut the tall stuff back and dug the plot over, I didn't pull any weeds out at this time because the ground was still in big, hard lumps. I then rotavated it, yes, it does chop weeds up, but the roots would have only snapped anyway had I tried to pull them from the hard lumps. I then raked off the weeds that were laying on the surface.
Any weeds that come up now (and they have started) I can just pull them out very easily.
I am expecting a lot of weeds anyway due to the amount of seeds that must have dropped over the years, so what difference is a few roots going to make eh.
I just have to make sure I keep on top of them. :roll:

Good luck with your new plot.

EDIT: Oh, and if I could have rotavated the plot without digging it first then I would have.

[fallen angel]

I thought you would say that i think we will have to round up a section at a time leave it then dig it out our plot seems to just be a mass of nettles and dock leaves we are going to have to remove all turf aswell as we want the beds in a different way round! Its so frustrating as we have started planting seeds so we dont fall behind but it seems now that we are too far ahead of ourselves!

 The other thing we have decided to do is grow stuff at  home as we are sharing the plot and it has got to feed 2 families so we need quite alot of stuff also there are things that i want and my friend doesnt and vice verca so we are trying to keep the plot shared and our stuff at home. Are you with me so far? So i need to construct some raised beds as my garden is not suitable for anything else. I dont want these to be perminent as i do want to move at some point so can i use bricks on their own just stack them into walls or will the soil push them out and over? Sorry for all the questions but my head is swimming with it all now!

Many thanks Nicky

[fallen angel]

I have just taken on a new plot, It was basically virgin ground, covered in weeds. I had a lot of docks, dandelions, not to mention couch grass, creeping thistle and bramble. I cut the tall stuff back and dug the plot over, I didn't pull any weeds out at this time because the ground was still in big, hard lumps. I then rotavated it, yes, it does chop weeds up, but the roots would have only snapped anyway had I tried to pull them from the hard lumps. I then raked off the weeds that were laying on the surface.
Any weeds that come up now (and they have started) I can just pull them out very easily.
I am expecting a lot of weeds anyway due to the amount of seeds that must have dropped over the years, so what difference is a few roots going to make eh.
I just have to make sure I keep on top of them. :roll:

Good luck with your new plot.

EDIT: Oh, and if I could have rotavated the plot without digging it first then I would have.

 See we are in two minds as to what to do and there are 2 of us to keep control over the weeds so maybe we will just rotavate it all as i think this will be quicker and less expensive as we will need alot of round up!

Oh im so confused lol i cant wait till next year as then it will be how we want it and we wont have such a head ache (in theory any way)

Nicky