Hiya all

[Sweatpea]

Me and my friend have just taken on a large plot of overgrown weeds... and with much enthusiasm, hoping to turn it all around, upside down to grow some lovely veg next year.
Any advise in where to start and what to grow to see a little visual progress at the start whilst clearing the rest slowly will be much appreciated.
We did want to go for covering and clearing...but have been advised by many at our allotment to strim and spray with Rose something or other weed killer?? Is this really ok if we want to eat veg grown in the soil.

Sophia

[Jay-ell]

Hello Sweatpea and welcome to the vine.

Have a good rummage round the weeds to see if there's anything else there - you may find fruit bushes, rhubarb, asparagus, small indigenous tribes, tools.

For no dig you're going to need loads of cardboard to cover the ground and compost to pile on top of the cardboard.

Strim the weeds down then cover with damp cardboard. Cover the cardboard with the compost and plant into that as you go so that the weeds don't have a chance to grow back.

Lettuce, carrot, mustards, kohl rabi, radish, peas, Callalloo could all be sown now. You may also be able to get transplants after leeks and other veg that it's too late to sow seed for.

Where abouts are you? Advice may vary based on location.

Certain weeds such as dock, nettles, bindweed will need digging out first as they'll come back through the cardboard.

Don't worry too much about the layout right now as you can play with that next year and I wouldn't go for wood edging straight away until you're sure that style would be for you - some Grapes prefer the big bed style of growing, some the edged raised bed. It's really down to personal preference as each has its own positive and negative points.

Take photos - lots of photos. These are really useful in those down days to look back and see all y9have achieved. They're also essential on the vine as we love having a good nose around and you won't get any rest till you've posted them

Browse around the site and have a good look at the threads.

[lottie dolly]

Welcome to the forum sweet pea,good advice already given,if you take some pics before you start,then at various stages,it will show how your progressing,plus we love pics,strimming is a good idea,as it gets ride of the seed heads for now,would also be a benefit to know just what sort of weeds you have,as they will need to be delt with differently,good luck.

[Lumpy]

Hello and welcome to the Vine.

I am sure you will find answers to your questions plus much much more on here.

[Small pumpkin]

Welcome to the vine

[Sweatpea]

Pic

Hi all,

I have tried to upload a pic to show you all...but says failed?
The weeds vary from very tall (5ft)grass that looks petite soft weed like and tough but easier to rake up? Some rapeseed, cabbage or caulie stems, little red potatoes, normal potatoes....the little ones firm and the odd big one blown. The soil seems nice. So....that's what we have.
Just read it back to myself and see that I think 5ft is very tall.lol
Thanks for all your advice so far.
Sophia

[Mr Bones]

Hi Sweatpea and welcome to the Vine.
Only personal choice but I'd rather not use weedkiller where food will be grown. Hack it down, dig out any perrenials and cover with cardboard etc as Jay-ell says.

Whatever you choose to do good luck with it and keep us posted. And take plenty of photos to look back on, at the point where you feel you're not getting anywhere fast enough you'll be amazed how far you you've already got.

[Cadalot]

Hi Sweatpea Deffo do the recording your progress, as it keeps you going when you hit the wall which most people do when they take on a plot. I recorded my first plots progress and the decision I made and then re made and have it on my diary. Slow and steady wins the race, little and often and above all else enjoy it !

[Jay-ell]

You have to reduce the size of the image file to less than 2mb either by resizing it or saving at a lower jpeg quality

[Bren In Pots]

I can't help with your weedkiller question Sweatpea because I don't use it so instead I'll say hello and welcome to the vine

[Chestnut]

Hello, and welcome to the vine.

We also preferred not to use weedkiller, so strimmed the lot (we didn't have anything that wasn't a weed), then put down cardboard covered with weed resistant membrane temporarily. We had a lot of perennial weeds, so over the winter dug over and weeded, doing just a small patch each weekend.
We haven't quite got it all done yet (10 months after we got our plot), but have been able to grow plenty in the bits we have dug.

If you have patches without perennial weeds, then cardboard with compost/manure on top is much easier on your digging muscles, and you can get some crops started straight away. If not, then do a bit at a time and get some nice bubble bath just in case

Most importantly, take your time and enjoy your plot!

[Baldy]

Welcome along...

Some good advice here already

[Ms-T]

Hiya and welcome lovely people on here

[Jungle Jane]

Hello & welcome! Congratulations on having a plot you must be so happy!! You could start some runner beans in pots now,then plant them out in a couple of weeks with some bamboo teepees when you're ready? There is photo uploading difficulties but if you're on a laptop Microsoft picture manager resize to 800x600 small document size will work. On an iPad (phone might be similar) I cut loads off the photo,its too high resolution or something

[nickdub]

I'd agree with much of the advice you have had already.

In addition to all the jobs mentioned if you have a small part of the plot where the weeds are easily cleared you could try sowing a few salad things like spring onions, lettuce, radish etc . It'll give you something to look forward to checking to see what is growing and may be make the hard work seem less daunting. You can sometimes pick up a multi-packet of mixed salad types from a pound shop - can be a cheap way to start having a go.

Also if money is tight, try the local car boot, and see if anyone is selling tools - very often the old steel in spades is much better quality then new ones and even ones with broken handles can be redone by putting a new handle on them.