As you know i got a new allotment two weeks ago........well i say allotment, its a bit of uncultivated ground thats been use dto graze horses on, so it full of horse poo and nutrients.
Having made up my mind to carefully dig it into beds , i set about it with fork and spade. It took me 1 hour to dig two square yards
The problem is the top 4 inches is totally compressed and knitted together with grass. Its extremely hard to tear it apart. At that rate ill be ready to put plants in this time next year - ive also worked out the area, its not 8 poles as I thought, its 15 poles - twice as much !!!
So ive had to resort to Plan B - getting the Irishman on the plot at the back to plough and rotovate it. Hes done it, and its a very good job, all the grass has been chopped up and ploughed in (along with all the weed tap roots), before i plant anything, ill level it and then wait for the weeds to pop there heads up again. then i can hoe them down.
So the plan now is to level it and mark it into raised beds on friday, and trample the paths down. then I can start planting stuff. I dont think i can plant it all out this year (because if i do ill have like 2o tonnes of winter brassicas to eat ) but ill keep hoeing and roundup-ing the unused beds, and smother as much as i can.
Ive got Cos lettuce, Beetroot, Red Cabbage, Spinach going in seed trays.
Anything else i need to do ? Anything else i can get going ?