[Harrietcardiff]

Hello everybody
I would so appreciate advice!
After 3 years in the waiting list I finally have an allotment ( 3 perches!)
It has been forgotten  for 2 years and covered in thistles! - I am paying someone to strim .... Then after that, I have been told a lot of different things ;
Lift what's left and compost thatand cover what remains with tarpaulin until now year???
Also
 I must cultivate a third in three months (allotment rules) - garlic cabbage anything else!

Any advice so much appreciated
Thank you in anticipation
Overwhelmed Hattie

[LottyLouis]

Hi Hattie and welcome to this amazing website. I am a bit of a newbie here and certainly an allotment newbie, having acquired my oh-so-precious plot on June 1st this year.
It hadn't been worked for two years and was an absolute jungle. I can post before and after pictures if anyone's interested.
I am too much of a gardening beginner to assume to offer advice - I can only tell you what we did.
The grass and old neglected stuff was taller than me and when we strimmed it back, we found a stunning jostaberry. We had no idea it was there - that's how overgrown it was.
We strimmed (and strimmed and strimmed!) and then started digging off the 'turf'. This we bundled into piles, wrapped it in black polythene and it will sit and stew until next year.
We decided to do it in ten foot chunks. As we cleared each ten foot section, we threw in some veggies that we had started off on a friend's plot.
We worked our socks off and after four weeks we'd cleared the whole lot (48 feet) and planted runner beans, broad beans, broccoli, brussels, parsnips and mange tout. I've just put in some late spuds and will be putting in peas and french beans this week (seedlings). If they produce - fine - if not, I'll dig them in. Win/win. Any gaps I'm left with, I'll sow green manure so that all is hunky-dory for next season.
As I say - I can't advise - but that's what we did and this evening we're having carrots and broad beans that we grew on our new plot. A success? I should say so!
Good Luck with your new venture - it will become addictive. You have been warned.   

[Yorkie]

Congrats on your plot.  Are you actually in Cardiff?

Here's some articles on what you can do each month:
http://www.allotment-garden.org/garden-month-help/index.php

And an article on clearing the plot:
http://www.allotment-garden.org/allotment/clearing-new-allotment-plot.php

Don't compost anything that is a permanent type weed (e.g. dandelion, dock, couch grass, bindweed) or has seeds on it, as they are unlikely to be killed in a domestic compost heap.

Do cover up what you're not working on, in order to prevent it from getting on top of you - but I'd try to make steady progress towards clearance nevertheless.

[cadalot]

Don't rush it enjoy it and resist a rotavator of you will just be making more work for yourself in the long run- Take photographs of your progress to look back on and give you renewed energy when you "hit the wall" as runners say. Think about a diary on here and in the winter read peoples diaries to get ideas for your own plot.

My first diary which records from taking over my plot can be found at  http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=100234.0

It's taken me 3 years to get in an infrastructure of beds and paths that I'm happy with, but I have enjoyed the journey.

[snow white]

My tuppence worth...

Strim so you know what you are dealing with.  You may have a few fruiting bushes in there!  Plan your plot on paper.  I like the bed system.  My beds are 5 metres long and 1 metre wide with hard wearing woven matting down as paths inbetween.  I broke up some free pallets and further divided the beds into four main beds for crop rotation.  Each area surrounded by a wooden divide and containing five long beds.  If you do the bed system rather than a straightforward dig it all plot, it is easier to keep up with.  Then you can just get one bed ready at a time and cover the other beds up with black polythene to make weeding easier when it comes to digging it.  As it is new, I would dig rather than rotivate.  Add animal matter or compost to improve the soil.  There are plenty of veggies that can go in now, cabbage, carrots, japanese onion, spring onion, lettuce and winter lettuce, to  name a few.  Remember to invest in good netting to protect from birds and insects.  With the main deviding paths you can either just leave the woven matting down or cover it with woodchips.