[Stratts]

I'd appreciate some help please and am likely to be asking a lot of questions, some of which may be pretty basic!!

Got our 1st allotment today and can start work on it straight away.  I'm a complete beginner to growing anything other than toms in a growbag and herbs and a bit of salad in pots in my garden!

It looks like this at the moment and is covered in a thin layer of some sort of weed that looks like duckweed that scrapes up quite easily.  It is good old fen soil and luckily is dead easy to dig!! 



There's a few areas of grass that'll need strimming and digging up too and I know I'm gonna need to do a floorplan.  Just a couple of basic q's 1st.

Shall I build a compost box 1st?
If so can I put the weeds and grass in it?
If not how can I get rid?  Is it a case of bagging up and taking to the tip?
I don't know what's been grown where before other than the obvious signs of spuds.  So will I need to feed the whole plot with something like fertiliser/compost before growing anything?

I don't expect to be growing much this year but I'd like to get things setup and in order ready for next year if possible,

Cheers

[Nige2Plots]

Good luck with your new plot!
This might be of interest................

http://www.allotment-garden.org/articles/Clearing_a_New_Allotment.php

[NorfolkVeg]

Stratts

Firstly, Congratulations on getting your allotment - I am also a newbie and only got an allotment early this year so I am no expert but this is what I did. 

I got 4 pallets, tied them together to make a compost bin for a start.
My plot is extremely hard to dig and was rock hard so I got it rotivated but with the weeds making a comeback, it now looks like yours does,  What I have done is clear, dig and plant small areas at a time, sometimes, maybe just a row or two a time.  As if I did all of it, it would be full of weed again by the time i had finished.

Good luck and hope you get lots of goodness growing soon. 

[Yorkie]

There's a few areas of grass that'll need strimming and digging up too and I know I'm gonna need to do a floorplan.  Just a couple of basic q's 1st.

1. Shall I build a compost box 1st?
2. If so can I put the weeds and grass in it?
3. If not how can I get rid?  Is it a case of bagging up and taking to the tip?
4. I don't know what's been grown where before other than the obvious signs of spuds.  So will I need to feed the whole plot with something like fertiliser/compost before growing anything?

I don't expect to be growing much this year but I'd like to get things setup and in order ready for next year if possible,

Cheers

1. Yes - or a dalek style plastic one depending on your DIY skills / availability of wood / location of somewhere to get the dalek.

2 / 3. Annual weeds can go into it if they haven't seeded or got flowers on.  Perennial weeds like couch grass (piano wire like roots rather than fibrous ones), docks, dandelions, bindweed, ground elder, marestail (don't think you've got all of those from the piccie, but thought I'd mention them just in case) do not go on the compost bin.

Don't rotavate or you will multiply the problem a lot.

Always shake the soil off the roots of the weeds as it makes them more manageable.  Some people drown them in a bucket for a few weeks before sticking them on the compost bin.  But it reeks summat awful, and I think you've got far too many weeds there for that technique.

I put mine in my home green wheelie bin or take them to the tip.

4. Don't worry too much about rotation.  Don't manure where you want carrots or parsnips to go next year.  Otherwise I wouldn't worry too much about manure at this time of year.  Just focus on getting enough cleared for you to get something into the ground.  

Depending on your type of soil (sandy, thick clay) there will be something to sow or plant.  You will probably still find some plants at car boot sales or garden centres - or even from fellow lotty holders who have a surplus if they see you making an effort.  I'd refuse brassicas (caulis, broccoli, cabbages, sprouts) unless they are in obviously clean compost (you run the risk of introducing bad disease called club root).

Good luck.

[Stratts]

Thanks guys i manage a construction company so materials and skills are not a problem.  We get loads of stuff that I'll be able to use instead of going in the skips and hopefully be able to help others out if they need bits of wood, etc.

I can't see what the weeds are online but there's only 1 type and some grasses so it should'nt be too bad to clear away!

The soil is light, black, peaty fen soil with no clay or sand.  One of the chaps there said I might be able to get some spuds in if I'm quick.  What type should I get?

Ta

[Yorkie]

You may struggle to find seed tubers (don't buy from supermarket, they won't be certified virus free and others won't thank you if you introduce disease).

But if you do find some, I'd avoid maincrop varieties as they will take too long to reach maturity.  I'd go for first or second earlies.  If you find any varieties and you're not sure what they are, make a note and post on here.

Once you clear the site of grass, I'd suggest doing a pH test to check the acidity / alkalinity of the soil.  Get a test tube kit and test soil from about 6" down on several spots round the plot.

Peat is usually quite acidic so it's best to know what you're dealing with from the start.

[Stratts]

Thanks again mate will do

[aqua]

my allotment looked very similar in March - bit by bit it will change,

I got two dalek compost bins for 15 quid of the council today. check if your council are doing a scheme like that.

get some weed blocking fabric and cover most of it until you get there. helps psychologically as well as not letting the weeds get worse.

good luck and enjoy your allotment.

[Christine]

If you've grown salad in pots then you could put salad (lettuce, radish, salad leaves, baby turnips) in the spaces that you clear. You could also start off one or two different sorts of beans in pots on the window sill at home and get those in after the salad. June is a good month to start off beans. Just make sure you put plenty of fertiliser in the area before you set beans in the soil. That will fill spaces as you clear. So much more rewarding than just clearing.

And lucky you having fen soil - you start from a really good place.

[potatogrower]

Nice to hear about your 1st plot.

judging by the photo, you could use a spade and cut a sqaure/rectangle piece, dig a fork at one end and roll it up and bin it? any weeds that are left over you can dig out afterwards. rotivator is good but you need to make sure you got rid of all the weeds but since you say your soil is good and soft then all you need to do is use a fork and just loosen it.

[Stratts]

Thanks guys some great tips for starters, good idea about rolling the weed up, I reckon that'll work easily!!

I can get some mulch matting from work would that be good to lay down once I've cleared the weed bed, or even before?

[broken glass]

Take your time it's not a race!       Everything you do is an experiment and you will learn much more by doing/trying than reading as the experiments will all be on your own soil.    Make a note of the successes/failures and what you did but above all else enjoy it.      Wish I had your soil!!!!

[Stratts]

Thanks mate I'm trying to reign meself in coz I can't wait to get stuck in!!

[gillian62]

I got my allotment last year, and sectioned my plot into 6 squares.  Each of those squares I split into 9 sections, 3 x 3, and then I worked in each little square at at time.  Whenever I finished some work at the plot I could see that I had accomplished something.  It really is doing it a little at a time.

I also plot what I have sown on an excel spreadsheet.  I did one last year, so I can check that I am not sowing same crops on the same bits this year.  It's a bit basic but it works for me.

[Stratts]

Would you mind sending me your spreadsheet if I PM'd my email address? I want to do the same but don't know how to set it out,

Thanks