Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi,

I am looking for some advice, please. I am about to turn a piece of waste ground into a small garden/allotment and I am unsure the best way to prepare the ground.

The land is well drained and about 30 meters above a canal, currently brambles and trees cover the area.

I had planed to cut back the area and rotovate the soil. I am unsure when to start this project and how best to treat the soil.

Any advise would be welcomed.

Thanks,

M

This sounds okay until you say rotivate the soil, you must make sure all those bramble roots are out or you'll just cut them up and have twice the problem. You may have to it by hand when it comes to brambles and then rotivate, make sure that the biggest roots of the trees are out or it will destroy the rotivator blades. What kind of trees are they? If any are fruit, try and keep them.

You need to also address what direction the plot faces, how you're going to get water to it, and where your greenhouse is going - just sit down with a pencil and paper, and decide how you are going to do it. Are you going for raised beds (everyone on here will tell you I harp on about these) or normal beds. If you have to get manure in, can you get it there easily?

Good luck digging at this time of year!

Andrewo

The best way really is to take your time and dig. Sort out any roots and put these in the bin. If you rotovate you chop up the roots from the weeds into small pieces and every piece will re root and grow again. Brambles definately need digging out.

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good for you! Don't be put off by the digging. Once you have done the area thoroughly, it won't take much to keep ontop of it. You can work at your own pace-ie only do part of it for now, or go at it tooth and nail.A spade would be better.
Most of us who have had allotments for years can tell you all about just doing 1/2 hr at a time until your back muscles get stronger, and then when it comes to our own plots,in the spring (after 3-4 months of inactivity) go and do 3 or 4 hrs of constant digging on a Sat and Sun and take all week to recover.
I suppose it depends on how organic you want to be?

Hi Mandy
Depending on how thick you bramble cover is, it might be worthwhile hiring a brushcutter ( strimmer with strong blade) to remove the top growth so you can see what you're doing when it comes to digging them out. As everyone else will tell you, take your time -don't rush in or you'll end up knackered.
More advice will, I'm sure be forthcoming on how to plan your plot and grow your veggies etc - all you gotta do is ask.
It would assist if you could, as Andrewo points out, you give us as much info as you can on what direction your plot runs, what type of soil it has etc.
Good Luck and let us know how you're getting on.
Rat

Welcome to the vine Mandy,

If you have a look at some of the other threads this will give you enough info th try and put you off Spuds are always a good crop to stat withm so if you haven't got any, go and get some quick and then you could do the no dig method, this will take care of a bit of it and like the others have said clear the top growth off then get hold of some old carpets or black plastic and cover the rest. This will help kill of some of the rest. Then all you need to do is pull the plastic back and go at a small bit at a time.

When it comes to seed sowing, I'd get everything ready about two weeks before you want to sow and this will giv e the weed time to come thru, hoe them off and then sow your seeds otherwise they will get swamped with the weeds.

Don't be put off and come the end of the year yuo'll have loads of veg & home grown spuds that will tase far better then the ones that have travelled half way round the world to your local supermarket.

ntg

Hi All,

Thanks for all your feedback, I can't wait to get out and get started!

The plot faces North and has never been a garden, it is a flat piece of land at the top of a canal embankment. It has been overgrown with brambles for 50+ years according to neighbours!!!! As this is my first garden I am probably in for a shock, but will do it with your help.

Rat, I am not sure what the soil type is. It is not clay or peat but feels fairly loose where the moles have been digging.

I hope to start this weekend if the ground is not too frozen so will keep you posted.

Thanks again,

Mandy

If you've got moles it must be fertile mandy as they only go where there's a food source (don't think theyeat bramble root though )

you'll have to watch them in your seed beds though as youre beans may disappear !

I have been digging for three years now on a plot 10feet by 24. I still have 4 of the 10 to go. If you can cover half your plot, (old carpets, tarpaulins or black plastic) and start on the other half you will find the next years work much easier. Clear a small square, just a few feet each way, and plant something. That gives you incentive. Just keep digging and it will happen

Spot on fred,

I've had my lottie for about 4 years now and have only done 2/3 of it so far. Hopefully it will look as good as the rest this year, but as I have to work as well, I can't sit around waiting for the weeds to come up like some of the old boys do at our site

Hi Mandy

I've just started a new allotment and allthough I have had a garden for 5yrs, this is my first go at gardening. It is a steep learning curve, but it is easy to get carried away. As others have said, do it a little at a time and don't be dishartened if you don't get it all cultivated in year one. The work is hard, but very rewarding!

I wish you all the luck!

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Fred welcome to the forum. Be careful when covering your ground to kill off the weeds. Carpets can contain chemicals that get washed into the ground with the rain.

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Yes...one of the guys on our old site put down foam backed carpet and when he pulled it up 2 or 3 yrs later, the foam had broken up and made a mess of the ground. goodness knows what chemicals it was releasing as it degenerated

Hi,

I started to clear an area 20' by 20' this weekend. Cleared all the brambles, eventuatly! I have cleared roots from about 20' by 6' so far and covered the ground with ploythene.

I am trying to get all the roots out but I am still left with tiny little pieces scattered around. How much do I need to collect, are little pieces ok?

I hope to fully clear the rest of it next weekend as it is dark when I finish work mid week. Do I need to treat the ground with anything before I start planting? The soil seems really fertile, not to dry or wet.

Thanks,

Mandy

Unfortunately, you will have to get all the pieces of root or even the tiny pieces will take root (it's a pain but do it now or else you will just be fighting it...if any come up in the summer, dig them out too). You can treat the ground with manure (dried or farm) and give it a good feed of blood, fish and bone (then decide which area you want to plant your comfrey in because it spreads!).

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Best wishes
Andrewo
Harbinger of Rhubarb tales

If you've dug it over the little ones will come out easy if they start to grow Mandy, As to the Comfrey, It's like Andrew say decide where you want it the roots go down to australia !!

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Thanks for that, I will make sure I get all the little bits. Not sure about comfry, is there a good reason for growing it? I will just be glad to get rid of all the brambles.

Comfrey is a beautiful flower and cures most ailments, you can use on twisted ankles and bruises but if you put the leaves into a barrel of water or a comfrey pipe (drain pipe with a drip end, see other threads), you have a free feed for your veg plot, it promotes healthy growth and wards off fungul diseases. It can also be cut back in autumn and the leaves dug in to the plot. No veg plot should be with out them!

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Best wishes
Andrewo
Harbinger of Rhubarb tales

Thanks Andrewo,

Sounds like it is a must have, hopefully I will be able to think about planting soon.

Cheers,

Mandy

Good luck with the new plot Mandy, I suggest you throw a digging party with lots of beer and wine. Tell the men it is a race and they'll beat the heads off each other with shovels to finish first!! Put some tomatoes lettuce and onions in growbags, this will give you a quick crop - very satisfying. I would love to grow comfrey but have been unable to source it near by.

I'm clearing a large area of wasteland as well at the moment but the long grass and brambles are what are making it most difficult!
Any tips on clearing this sort of ground?
Thanks

Hi Ilex,

I have done this in Feburary, not sure if it is the best way but after a lot of sore backs it seems to have worked.

My main problem was brambles too, I cut them done to about 1 foot from the ground so that I could see where they started and started digging them out.

I had to dig about 2 foot down as the brambles had been there for 70+ years.

The roots seem to go in all directions so you will need to keep going and get every last bits or they will start to grow again.

It took 2 of us 3 weekends to clear a 30x30 area and was hard work but worth it. We now have a garden and a veg plot and things are looking and tasting great.

I would suggest clearing half of your area now rather than go for the full thing as it can be soul destroying but addictive

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Mandy

Hi everyone!
Some more useful advice on clearing a plot is in new shoots, newbie seeking help. dexterdog

I dug my first veg patch - well rotivated it first,as it was very very heavy clay...then dug it over about a half dozen times removing roots etc as I did and digging in masses upon masses of compost & manure as I went....and tday when I went out to dig it over again after harvesting my caulis/peas etc I am proud to announce that my nasty clay has become a very manageable, quite airy soil - still a few heavy patcheds, but in general it is unrecognisable as the solid mass I began with....I am a very happy girl!! Many thanks to all who replied to my cry for help back in April!!!

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