Hey folks,
I'll start by apologising, I know these kind of threads are probably common by newbies like me, so if I've missed something obvious please kindly post a link to alert me to it.
I've aquired a new garden. It's my grandad's allotment but he's getting on so is struggling to get up. I'm collecting the keys off him tonight. It already has some advantages and disadvantages such as:
Disadvantages:1) Garden was used for pigeons, not for veg so nothing is ready for veg gardening (except one thing, see advantages)
2) Allotment is a double plot - lot of work involved in getting it up to scratch
3) Allotment has structures which I will not need/want, so need to get rid of (caravan used for grain storage)
Advantages1) Garden was used for pigeons, and has a fairly new loft on site - I would imagine this can be easily converted to allow for livestock of my own
2) Allotment is a double plot - a lot to take on, but plenty of room to achieve what I want
3) The wooden pigeon lofts (the older ones) I don't want, so I can reuse the wood to create compost bins and raised beds etc
4) The cabin (where my grandad used to watch the birds drop) is pretty new, and a fair size. It has glass on 3 sides so I imagine with a few screws and a little wood I can turn this into a potting shed/toolstore/cabin for a cuppa.
Anyhow, that's the background. I get the keys tonight, but I'm trying to figure out a plan. I orginally wanted to go organic, but after reading
THIS I think I have decided to do this the chemical way to get started, and then as soon as the plot is up to scratch start transferring my ways to that of the organic gardener. Here's my plan (taken from the above article):
1) Petrol strimmer to get rid of tall weeds, get as low as possible, burn cuttings on fire
2) Spray the plot with weedkiller, and leave for a month
3) Hire a rotovator and dig the garden over after weeds are dead
4) Put compost on the plots and rotovate again
5) While waiting for weedkiller to work, dismantle the buildings I don't want and start work building the compost area. Burn left overs on fire
I'm not green fingered at all yet (only started on a cold frame a month ago), so can people help me buy answering the following questions:
1) Does my plan look ok? If not, what am I missing/doing wrong?
2) Should I be okay spraying weeds with weedkiller? Do I need to check this with allotment association?
3) How do I go about disposing of the rotten old caravan on the plot?
4) Anything else I might need to consider?
Many MANY thanks!