I picked up the key and signed the tenancy agreement today, so I'm now an official allotmenteer - which I celebrated, of course, with some hard graft.
This is the new allotment (the mowed bit at the front!)
And the progress after an hour spent digging
At that point, I decided that, while my aim of being chemical free is all very well, I'm never going to get anywhere without calling in the big guns, so I've doused the whole lot in glyphosate. I know I'll still have to dig it, but at least some of it won't be trying to start growing again at the same time.
Well, I could do with the exercise