Tweet
^^ Likewise, if it was me I'd concentrate on a small area first, get that prepped and then planted. The rest, I'd clear the above ground rubbish, and then lay a black tarp over the whole area, edges pegged and / or weighed down with bricks. And then not think about it again until Sept/Oct time (or possibly even this time next year). It needs to be black to properly exclude the light. You could probably use old carpet or other materials but then that risks becoming another job in itself. One, two sheets of tarp, easy and quick. You can sit and have a cuppa and look out over the plot, knowing all the while the weeds in the main are being killed off or at least considerably weakened. The best bit is it's all hidden away from view. By the time you lift the sheet, the ground should be A LOT easier to dig.
-
-
One thing, make sure you leave pathways so you can drag stuff out. You don't want to be walking over newly prepared beds. (Voice of experience speaking there...)Comment
-
Hugs! Our plot was much like that when we started. For the first year or two I used to removed more nails and glass than annual weeds!
The other day I dug over a patch for the broad beans and there were no nails, no glass and only a couple of baby perennial weeds. It feels SO good to see that!
I've just taken on the other half of ours and have been digging up piles of buried scrap metal...
I just remind myself that every bit of glass or rubbish I remove is one less on our plot. Everything is progress.
Good luck!Last edited by 1Bee; 08-04-2018, 03:52 AM.Comment
-
We luckily have a path that runs along the edge of all our soon to be plots, we found a wooden pallet buried along it the other day.
We have an old bath tub that's been left there and I was thinking of planting a Logan berry bush and a blackberry bush in there, does anyone know if they will be good together or should I just plant one? I thought it might help keep it under control.
I'm gonna look into some weed matting, it will save us a lot of effort.
Our allotment is at the top of a hill and has the most amazing view of Sheffield, I'll have to get some pictures on here.
Thank you for all the advice
Comment
-
The Loganberry and a blackberry would be better just planted in the ground in my opinion. You can propagate them easily by layering ie weighting down the tips of the new season's growth with a stone. So if you do find they are in places where you don't subsequently want them, its very simple to raise your own new plants and put them somewhere else.
With the bath I'd either block the hole and use it as a water tank to fill my cans from, or turn it upside-down and have it for blanching things like rhubarb.Comment
-
Originally posted by nickdub View Post
Sadly we both don't like rhubarb, my other thought was strawberry plants to help keep them off the ground. I have some in a propagator and they have started but haven't progressed for a few weeks.Comment
-
The bath may be a good place to grow carrots as long as it has drainage holes! Fill it with stone free soil and sow some carrot seeds. Plenty of depth for some nice, long carrots!Comment
-
Maybe next year for the strawberries ? sounds like they have a lot of growing on to do before you get to the fruiting stage.
I'm sure there are other option - VC's suggestion of carrots sounds workable - or you could use the bath as a wormery, for making your own compost maybe /....Comment
-
Weed membrane I’d recommend the heavy duty stuff which is cheap from A**zon as you don’t have a car I’d suggest getting the 25 metre by one meter rolls as you will have to carry them, 50m are cheaper but heavy. 1m makes a good width for paths as a bonus, you can always fold over the edges a bit for paths between beds.
I’m trying to grow alpine strawberries this year and concur they grow very slowly I’m certainly not expecting fruit this year.
If you like blueberries you could fill the bath with ericaceous soil and use it for them.
If you are looking for some good value fruit bushes get yourself down to BQ they have a lot just in at the moment for £3 and £4, root wrapped they are quite small but if you haven’t got room in the ground yet that is a bonus as you could plant those in large buckets /pots or Morrison flower buckets (suitably cheap) until you have the space but they would be getting nicely established for better cropping next year and give you some berries this year which always helps with motivation.
Also they had some lovely bushy healthy looking strawberry plants 6 for the same money, that would fruit this year and you could take runners to get more for free next year. They had two different good varieties in ours (I was very tempted but already have too many strawberries).
Sounds like you are making progress though so keep going.Comment
-
I try and cover pretty much everything that isn't being grown in, and some beds I cover and then plant through... I use weed membrane for paths, usually a 1m width folded in half. Cardboard is excellent for covering ground to keep the weeds down or smother them completely. I sometimes break in new ground by covering with cardboard, covering that with manure, pinning it all down with weed membrane or black polythene and planting pumpkins etc through it. Even the bed which this year yielded all the scrap grew some fabulous pumpkins last season!
Comment
-
quick note about plastic of any kind, make sure you fix it down. It's also good to cover it to limit the UV exposure which breaks the plastic down. Woodchip is good for the latter if your allotment has any free. Also worth pulling out any sharp twigs/stones on the surface to limit the odds of it being punctured.
But yes, get something growing this year in a small bit. In my first year, I put a packet of spuds that had been kept to long in a scraped-back patch of earth amidst the weeds that was still waterlogged one spades-depth down. And they grew!
Re bath - freak people out, turn it the right way up and put a towel rail and a rubber duck next to it...Comment
Comment