Grow Your Own Magazine

my new plot is very overgrown but i've managed to clear part of it and the soil was full of crap, metal, glass and weeds and ted on the allotment next to me said to get some horse manure dug in but i've been taking down my own compost out of the bins at home .should i carry on doing this as i clear it or put manure on it ? i hope to plant fruit trees on it soon so whats best?

Carry on clearing and use your own compost. Plant up any cleared areas asap to give you a bit of encouragement. If you don't plant or sow crops, then they will just grow more weeds. The manure can wait. Clearing your plot is the most important thing at the mo. Good luck!

If you're digging the plot and come across a lot of worms it's a good sign you will probably get away without manure until next year!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

I would put a nice thick layer of something on it as you clear it - compost, manure, cardboard held down with bricks, whatever. That way you will keep the weeds from coming straight back, which is always disheartening. A layer of homemade compost would be best where you plan to plant or sow straight away, though.

When I took over my little plot it was thick with couch grass and annual weeds, so after I had decided where my six beds would go, I covered three of them with cardboard or permealay, dug two thoroughly and planted them up, and just strimmed the sixth. Kept the whole thing vaguely neat and tidy despite a wet year and not much time to work on the plot. This winter we forked over the dug beds and mulched them with manure, and I'm just starting on digging the two beds formerly covered in permealay. Makes it much easier if you can take things in stages

BTW, if you put the manure on areas you are not ready to use, and just leave it for a few months, the worms will do the digging-in for you. Ignore the good ol' boys who tell you you have to dig every year - that's only necessary if you have unmarked beds and walk on the soil between rows. I have fixed paths made from old fence planks, and the soil in the beds is lovely and workable despite us being on clay!

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Small Plot? No Problem! - my blog about growing organic veg

Hi

When you are ready to start planting, start your seeds off in pots first.
Otherwise you wont know which are the seedlings you planted and which ones are weeds coming back up.
The growth that was on the ground before would have quite a number of slugs and the like, so be ready.

T