Hello on the day I got my allotment

[Bigmallly]

What! No fruit trees?...........................

[Bigmallly]

Your Raspberries may shade the Strawbs, I would put the Rasps at the back. (North Side)

[MadMackem]

Your Raspberries may shade the Strawbs, I would put the Rasps at the back. (North Side)

Hmm I had wondered about that myself. Might have to have a rethink.

[Bigmallly]

Rasperries at the back, then Goosegogs, then Rhubarb, then Strawbs at the front.

[piskieinboots]

Very late to the party - welcome

Sunderland(ish)?

[MadMackem]

Very late to the party - welcome

Sunderland(ish)?

I live on an island on the South coast. Hayling Island. My family are from Sunderland but I was among the first born down here. I was a Sunderland season ticket holder for some years and used to travel 700 miles round trip every two weeks to watch them - left home 5am and got back 1am next morning - hence the 'Mad' in MadMackem.

[piskieinboots]

Ah yes. Hubster is a Sunderland laddie

[Jay-ell]

Hi yah Mad Mackem, hmmm - never mind no ones perfect

Welcome to the vine, good news on your plot.

[MadMackem]

My arms ache, my legs ache and my back aches - I'd forgotten just how bloody HARD gardening can be. Especially when your plot hasn't been dug for nearly 5 years.

[Tripmeup]

Presume your plan is to scale then looks like a lot of gooseberries?? Maybe some blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes too??

[hamamelis]

Just thinking that too Tripmeup!

I got more googsegogs than I could manage off one plant last year (would have this year too if I didn't look at the amount I still had in the freezer and as jam and decide the birds could just help themselves this time).

Could make gallons of gooseberry wine I suppose, might have to try that myself next year, if the #2 plant starts producing!

[MadMackem]

Presume your plan is to scale then looks like a lot of gooseberries?? Maybe some blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes too??

3 early and 3 late. We like gooseberries no so keen on currants.

[MadMackem]

Right - that's IT. I've lost patience with my plot. hard as iron, compacted for 5 years and treated like the local tip. I've cleared the 'tip' and hired a 15hp rotator for a day. Against all advice, I'm going to rot ovate it to give myself a chance.

I know I'll probably chop up weed roots but, if i do it all by hand, I'lll still be trying to get on top of it in 3 years time. So I'm going to dig it in deep and cover it over. I'll plant the fruit direct through slits in the membrane and uncover the veg plot as I need it.

[Snadger]

Right - that's IT. I've lost patience with my plot. hard as iron, compacted for 5 years and treated like the local tip. I've cleared the 'tip' and hired a 15hp rotator for a day. Against all advice, I'm going to rot ovate it to give myself a chance.

I know I'll probably chop up weed roots but, if i do it all by hand, I'lll still be trying to get on top of it in 3 years time. So I'm going to dig it in deep and cover it over. I'll plant the fruit direct through slits in the membrane and uncover the veg plot as I need it.

You don't need to dig or rotovate it. Jusyt cover it with cardboard and plant through it.. If you can get some for nowt or cheap, add a bit of muck to keep the cardboard down.

[spamvindaloo]

Right - that's IT. I've lost patience with my plot. hard as iron, compacted for 5 years and treated like the local tip. I've cleared the 'tip' and hired a 15hp rotator for a day. Against all advice, I'm going to rot ovate it to give myself a chance.

I know I'll probably chop up weed roots but, if i do it all by hand, I'll still be trying to get on top of it in 3 years time. So I'm going to dig it in deep and cover it over. I'll plant the fruit direct through slits in the membrane and uncover the veg plot as I need it.

You'll probably find that if your ground is iron hard, the rotavator tines will bounce off too. There's not much weight in the smaller ones and even the big cultivators don't have the weight to dig into very hard ground. Unless you know a friendly farmer with a tractor and a plowshare then you're probably not going to have much success and end up getting more frustrated.

As Snadger says, covering the ground over will help soften the soil and if you can open up the ground up a little bit then any frost we get over winter will help to break it up too. You could cover most and just try to work on sections. Unfortunately there's no magic solution. I'm not against rotavators as such as I believe they have their uses but they're not the magic bullet some people think they are.