Another help I'm a newbie post! Prepping an overgrown bed for sowing

Don't try to do all of it in one go, cover most of it with something to cut out the light to the ground, black plastic or something similar. Then continue with what you are doing, breaking it up into small easier to work sub plots should help. You might have club root, so don't go over board with brassicas until you know more about the plot. Make a plan so you can do some crop rotation, keep a record of what you grew where. Oh and enjoy yourself, maybe start with some easier to grow crops first, so you don't get disheartened if something fails, which it will, happens to us all.

You might be a bit more certain of positive results if you start some of your seeds first in pots and/or trays inside, then plant them out in your new beds later on. The reason I suggest this is mainly because in addition to all the good stuff in your soil, there will also be a host of things like slugs which now they no longer have the wild vegetation to munch on will zero in an any seedlings you germinate successfully. Larger plants are more able to withstand having bits munched off them and so can sometimes carry on.

BTW you don't mention what sort of seeds you are planning on sowing - that will make quite a bit of difference to what the best approach might be :-)

Managed to sort out some images this is the plot before and after strimming and a tidy up



And this is what I started digging this evening


I'm keeping an eye out for anything that looks like a thick root but how fastidious do I need to be about the grass?

Planning on trying courgette, sugar snap peas, beets, perpetual spinach, spring onions, raddish and black kale. Definitely won't be disheartened if things done grow as plenty of time to get it right.

My main stumbling block is how "clean" should the soil be from the remnants of it being overgrown and how much will just compost into it

Looks like a nice plot! If it’s couch grass you have (looks like it could be from the photo - has long spreading underground rhizomes) you will need to get all of it out. Certainly don’t plant anything permanent, like fruit, until you’re sure you’re rid of it.

Hi Blackmore and welcome.
You've done a lot with your plot in a short time!
I can't tell from the photos whether its couch grass (with long white roots) of not. Couch regrows from any leftover roots so you won't remove all of it in one go. Best to get rid of as much as possible and plant something like potatoes which are robust enough to cope.
If you clear a small area thoroughly, you could put some of the smaller veg there.

OK - got a clearer understanding of what you have and where you a trying to get to, from the photos and from your plant list.

Firstly well done - looks like a lovely open piece of ground, and you've definitely made a brilliant start.

Now for the details, and please forgive me if I seem to be stating the bleeding obvious, but its always hard to tell how much basic information is enough and how much is too much.

1) None of your ground as it stands at the moment is ready for sowing seeds in. Seeds are small generally and they need an area which is more or less both free from all weeds (including roots) and also a very fine soil surface, say a bit like very fine soft sand - what is referred to as a tilth. ( I know some seeds are large, but I'm generalizing here) :-)

2) you have a few options :- a) you could absolutely clear a small bit of soil 1 m square and probably by dint of using some bought compost to form a line ie make a small depression in the surface and put bought MPC in that, then sow seeds like radish, spring onion beetroot etc in that compost. b) you cold going on working at a larger area say 10 square meters meanwhile sow some seeds in trays eg onions, kale , and some in pots eg courgettes with a view to planting stuff out in say 4 weeks time c) you could roughly clear a bit by forking out the worst of the grass over a larger area and plant a few things directly which have a chance of looking after themselves a bit eg potatoes, runner beans etc intending to clear the ground more by hoeing around these crops as the season goes on.

3) what to opt for ? - well given that there is no limit to the time available (and energy required ) I'd say go for all 3 approaches in differing amounts and areas depending on how you feel about them.


I feel like I'm rambling on too much here, so one other thing - you can put a " hold" on some of your plot by covering an area in layers of cardboard - its not a magic weed remover, but as long as you can exclude all light that means that weeds underneath will weaken with time, and certainly won't get any worse.

MPC = Multipurpose compost.

All good advice above. If it was mine I'd cover two of them with cardboard to suppress the weeds, and start seeds in pots while working on one of them to give you a head start when it's ready.

I was in the same position this time last year. I had best success with things started in pots/seedtrays/modules, then planted out a few weeks later.
That way, the plants you want to keep are big enough to see clearly, so you can hoe between them - unlike with seeds sown into the ground where I had to let the weeds get big enough to be able to tell their leaves from the veg seedlings.... I found google and seed packet pictures v helpful for recognising what various veg seedlings should look like, so I didn’t pull up the ones I should have kept ;-)

Oh my days, thank you so much for all the advice! It's really blown me away

@nickdub it's really not too much information, I could be buried in it at the moment and still come up smiling. The suggestions sound great and I'll start getting some seeds going in pots first and transplant them when they're going!

It's really good having the reassurance how clean the soil should be, I'll cover up the rest of the plot and concentrate on getting one bed in real good shape.

I'm not planning on planting anything properly permenant this year so it's not the worst if anything goes wrong, can concentrate on getting everything ship shape for next season.

Im sure I'll be hounding the forums for advice in no time but thank you again for all the advice and the kind words it means a lot.

Any questions, never mind how daft they seem, we're always happy to help.
Some of the answers will be a bit daft too.

Sounds like you have already had great advice so I’ll just reiterate what has been said about the couch grass. You can easily tell as has long whitish root with tiny root joints ever cm or so. I think I spy some in the bottom left of your dug photo.

I had the joy of trying to clear my first ever plot of it last year but the more you can get out at the start the easier it is. Aside from that cover the remainder to suppress the annual weeds. If you cover for a year the majority but not all of the couch grass and roots will die and rot down.

Last question on this thread (hopefully!) With starting stuff off in trays or pots, is it possible to do this outside i.e. at the allotment as we don't have tons of room in the flat

If not I'm sure we can stick them somewhere!

Depending on the weather, yes. The seed packets will give the optimum germination temp to work to. Some things like squash, courgette and pumpkin may need a window sill.

If you get some of the trays with the clear plastic lids that will help to keep them warmer.