Hi I’m just getting started

[Bluemike]

I’ve recently started with a third of an allotment plot previously vacated by someone everyone says was a good gardener. However I suspect his latter years were less successful as I’m finding lots of annual and perennial weeds as I dig. Having turned some areas over this dry weather is turning clods of earth into stone, which doesn’t bode well. Any suggestions? Water is a long way from my plot and a water catcher is only in the planning stage.

[Containergardener]

Just wanted to say welcome aboard and I'm sure someone with more experience than me will be along with their expert advice soon.
Your soil sounds like my clay soil.

[Mr Bones]

Hi Bluemike, welcome to the Vine and congratulations on getting your allotment.
As your plot is so far from the water supply you might just have to wait until it rains before the ground is soft enough to dig. Meanwhile you could pull out any annual weeds and chop the tops off the perennials.
I've rough-cleared a few overgrown allotments in dry weather using a long handled azada (sometimes called a Chillington hoe). Using one puts less strain on the lower back than using a spade.
Good luck with it and take before and after photos if you can.

Edit: Just an afterthought if your plot is suitable and if you're that way inclined, have you considered the (Charles Dowding) no-dig approach. Our plot's no dig, under mulch. In the beds not yet planted up (so not been watered this season), despite the recent lack of rain an inch below the surface is still moist. Might be useful with your water situation

[Snoop Puss]

Hello and welcome, Bluemike. Not sure where you are, but for years I've struggled with the exact same problem you describe. I'm moving over to no-dig in the hope it will at least improve the situation.

If the guy before you was described as a good gardener, your top soil should be in reasonable nick. And as you'll discover, unless you have endless hours to spare for your plot, perennial weeds are nigh-on a fact of life. Supposedly the no-dig method of burying them under compost eventually does for them. I've yet to see if that's true, but you can weaken them simply taking the top off repeatedly so that there's no leaf matter to sustain the roots.

If you want to dig, my experience suggests don't dig too deep and certainly try to avoid turning the soil over too much. Contrary to the whole double digging thing, I found that if I dug deeply, I was just bringing up rock hard subsoil that had had no benefit of any organic matter I'd added. And like you say, it just baked hard in the sun. Plus, all I was doing was making life easier for weed seeds below the surface.

If you feel the need to loosen the soil, just take off the surface weeds with a really good hoe (I use a short-handled one that requires a lot of bending down but really does the job - it's a najiri kama or najiri gama hoe recommended by someone on here), remove as much root of perennial weeds as you can (I'm pretty sure some of mine go all the way downto Australia) and then prod the soil with a fork and wiggle it about rather than actually turning it over.

Anyway, whatever choice you make, hope you have a great growing year and lots of fun.

[Plot70]

Clay soil is tough but there are times when needs must.
I allowed winter squashed to vine over a bed that was badly contaminated with bind weed. I pulled hand full after hand full of the stuff out all summer.
I chased the roots down and they did not stop until they got to rock.
I now have gladiator parsnips with there first true leaves in the bed and a mass of sun dried bind weed roots with all those nutrients that bottled feed does not have in them.
Clay forms a crust and once the plants are established it helps to keep the moisture below.