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Just thought i would write about me experience in getting an overgrown allotment last year.If you have just obtained an allotment thats overgrown dont despair.
I got my allotment end of june last year and 95% of it was covered in blackberry brambles, some of them up to 2 feet high. I covered what i could with 2 old carpets and began by just digging a little bit each time i went up there.
I just cut the brambles to within a couple of inches of the surface with sheers, and marked out a square area each day i visited the plot and dug it. I planned to have it all clear by christmas and achieved that even though i am overweight, unfit, bad back and had a torn ligament in my knee lol.
I still managed to grow some cabbages and a few carrots. i also got some garlic and onion sets in last september which are doing well.
As anyone else will tell you the secret is not to try and do everything at once a little often is the key. My allotment now has beds and pathways marked out and i have managed to plant all sorts of veg this year even though i recently had a knee operation.
Look up your local freecycle site on the internet, freecycle is where people advertise things they no longer need and you can also advertise for things you require and its all free.
So far from freecycle i have had a 6'x4' shed, timber to use on the allotment, goosberry bush cuttings, netting and a wheelbarrow all for free.
So dont be put off if the plot you have been given looks like too much hard work just do what you feel like doing on each visit and if you dont want to do as much as you planned to do, who cares ? just enjoy it.
I got my allotment end of june last year and 95% of it was covered in blackberry brambles, some of them up to 2 feet high. I covered what i could with 2 old carpets and began by just digging a little bit each time i went up there.
I just cut the brambles to within a couple of inches of the surface with sheers, and marked out a square area each day i visited the plot and dug it. I planned to have it all clear by christmas and achieved that even though i am overweight, unfit, bad back and had a torn ligament in my knee lol.
I still managed to grow some cabbages and a few carrots. i also got some garlic and onion sets in last september which are doing well.
As anyone else will tell you the secret is not to try and do everything at once a little often is the key. My allotment now has beds and pathways marked out and i have managed to plant all sorts of veg this year even though i recently had a knee operation.
Look up your local freecycle site on the internet, freecycle is where people advertise things they no longer need and you can also advertise for things you require and its all free.
So far from freecycle i have had a 6'x4' shed, timber to use on the allotment, goosberry bush cuttings, netting and a wheelbarrow all for free.
So dont be put off if the plot you have been given looks like too much hard work just do what you feel like doing on each visit and if you dont want to do as much as you planned to do, who cares ? just enjoy it.
And you're right - a little at a time is better than an all or nothing approach which can leave you injured and possibly fed up. 
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