Plot Clearance

[fwuffydragon]

I tried a battery powered strimmer - it didn't touch the stuff and went flat really fast - DON'T get a cheap one!!! If you can afford a petrol one, that would be the way to go - check with your allotment society if anyone has one you can borrow.

With the landscape fabric, you can use cardboard / old carpet / anything porous that doesn't let light through, but to be honest, the actual landscape fabric is the best. I had a 5 rod plot (half plot) and managed to get enough 15ft wide heavy duty landscape fabric to cover it for about £50. Unlike the "cheap" landscape fabric you can get from homebase / wickes etc, this one hasn't biodegraded, and I'm still using bits of it 4 years later - I've cut it up to grow courgettes and broccoli through to keep the weeds down.

[bubblewrap]

Another problem with battery strimmers is the time they work before recharging(20 mins or so)
also as mentioned above they are not powerful enough to deal with larger weeds, mine deals with all but the thickest brambles.

[Two_Sheds]

Last year I used a petrol strimmer (like this:Gardening Tools Direct: Kawasaki KBL23-A Brush Cutter for UK delivery)

It did the business on tough brambles, nettles, everything ... but was very heavy & hard for a short-@rse to use ... it's a constant back-and-forth or up-and-down movement, very hard on the shoulders and arm muscles.
You also MUST use goggles & gauntlets, because bits of sharp stem fly around everywhere

[Alison]

Last year I used a petrol strimmer (like this:Gardening Tools Direct: Kawasaki KBL23-A Brush Cutter for UK delivery)

It did the business on tough brambles, nettles, everything ... but was very heavy & hard for a short-@rse to use ... it's a constant back-and-forth or up-and-down movement, very hard on the shoulders and arm muscles.
You also MUST use goggles & gauntlets, because bits of sharp stem fly around everywhere

Looks a bit of a beast and it's sadly too expensive for me to buy. Am considering hiring a heavy duty one for a weekend to clear the worst of it and then possibly buying something cheaper to keep on top of things - am just glad that the plot hire is cheap as this could begin to scale out of control if I'm not careful! Have asked around and nobody I know seems to have anything more meaty that a lawn mower so sadly that's no use.

[Farmer_Gyles]

our allotment society has a petrol strimmer / mower / shredder etc for hire, only about £5 per hour i think - but was wet when i was up there ripping the weeds out so didn't bother - bit of hard graft did me some good

glycowotsit weedkiller won't kill off everything, esp mares tail (which we've got) and bindweed, but it will severely suppress it - repeated use will help big time - eventually it should all get dug out

my mate is an upholsterer - the weed control fabric you get in garden centres etc is exactly the same material as used by upholsterers on the underside of some furniture so he's ordering me a 100m roll costing about £30 .....

[Alison]

Sadly, it's only a small site with only 10 plots (a couple of which are very overgrown and one is used as a big chicken run) and there is no allotment society to ask! Will see what the weather is like over the Bank Holiday weekend and decide then what to do.

Hadn't realised that the weed control stuff was the same stuff as used in furniture - sounds like a bargain and I think I'm going to need quite a few of those!

[Becca]

my little battery one is strictly for chopping down the new growth before it gets out of hand but has the bonus of being cheap enough to leave in the shed and I take the powerpack with me when i go so useless to a thief anyway, I seem to get about an hour of battery life ouut of it by which time I'm fed up with strimming anyway.. For the big stuff i hired a petrol brushcutter and bribed my dad and brother to operate it.. heavy vicious thing, but it cleared the entire plot of brambles in an afternoon so well worth a 1 off investment..

[Mikey]

Ask your neighbouring plot holders, you'll probably find someone already has a strimmer they well be happy to lend you.

[percy charlie]

i can definately recommend mccullock petrol strimmers ive had one for years and its fantastic. ive just been given an overgrown plot but not quite as bad as yours, ive started clearing from the back to the front otherwise id never get round to the back i plan to put my fruit bushes in the back the cover with membrane to prevent weeds growing round them, im donating 1/3 plot to fruit and 2/3 to veg

[SarzWix]

You can buy weed suppressant on a 100m roll from LBS Garden Warehouse; Phormisol 100g/m2 Ground Cover
and also on eBay.
Can I suggest that if you're going to invest in it, order the width which will be most useful to cover paths or beds later on, so that it will continue to be useful once the plot is cleared - if your paths will be 1m wide, then get 1m It's a right pain trying to cut it down/fold it up later on, & you won't want to chuck it out!

When I first got mine last year (Feb), it was the wrong time of year for glysophate, so I just got stuck in. We cut down everything with a petrol strimmer, then measured it all and drew up a rough plan. Then we levelled the ground where the shed was going, put some hardcore down, and got a shed put up. [Really important - we felt like we owned it then, had somewhere to make a brew (& have a wee ) and didn't rush home at the first shower! Can you have a shed?] Then I marked out where a couple of beds would be & covered as much as I could afford with weed suppressant. Over a month or so I double dug the first bed (bearing in mind it's Feb, and the ground too frozen to work some days) getting out as much root as possible, then planted it with garlic, onion sets & shallots. The second bed I really struggled with, it seemed to take forever, the horsetail roots were never-ending & planting time was getting closer! So I had a rethink, and copied something I saw on The Allotment DVD; I marked out 2 more beds with string, roughly turned the soil over & took out the biggest roots, covered the whole bed with cardboard, then manure, then weed suppressant. Cut holes in the black fabric & heigh presto! it's ready to plant in! I planted my potatoes, and my corn & squash in those 2 beds and they did great! Plus, when I came to dig them over this year most of the weeds came out quite easily, and there was tons of worms too. So I'd recommend that method
But really, the best thing you can do to begin with is cut down the weeds and then draw a plan. Good luck!

Oh, and if you want a nosy, I have pics on my profile of my allotments - before & after!

[Alison]

Well, I've said that I'll definitely have it and a friend of mine has said that she's keen to help out also so, assuming that we can agree on what to grow, then we're in business. Also good news is that OH has said that we should buy a petrol strimmer / brush cutter type thing so will be trawling the internet later for good bargains. He seems surprisingly keen actually and has already been thinking of things in the garage which can be put to good use including some car tyres that can be used as planters, some wicker fencing which could be useful on the public path side and an old tarpauline. Oh and my mum was telling me that she's going to throw out a lot of old plastic pots (she wants posher looking ones for outside her house) at the end of the summer so I've laid claim to them too.

[Kristen]

"Also good news is that OH has said that we should buy a petrol strimmer / brush cutter type thing so will be trawling the internet later for good bargains"

Do you need one long term, or would hiring one do? If it was me I would be more likely to hire a beefier model, than to want to afford one

[Alison]

We may end up hiring one for the intial push but there is an overgrown public path to one side and a bit of a bank behind which will need quite regular cutting back so I think we're going to buy one for that. Will probably then use it on the areas of the plot that I can clear with it therefore minimising the amount of time I need to rent the big brute model for - it's the plan anyway!

[Kayt]

I took my plot on last year and it was 8ft high in brambles. I started clearing one end and in April this year the council agreed to strim the rest. I then sprayed and am clearing it bit by bit then covering with manure and cardboard. So far so good. It's hard work but fun!! I've had some broad beans, salad bits and now have cabbages and turnips in. Don't think my rotation system is going to kick in for a couple of years but at least I have a plan now.

[Stacey Steve]

Always worth asking a neighbouring plot holder, I've cut down the brush and weeds for two of my new neighbours so far this year and go back over the fence lines for them every few weeks.