introducing...our new plot!

[gan heather]

A while ago I posted that we were going to see an allotment plot that might be available. We were warned that it was pretty overgrown, but we weren't entirely prepared for what we saw! Brambles, trees, etc but we still decided to take it and see what we can do with it. We're now debating whether it would be more cost-effective to rent equipment and clear it ourselves or hire someone to do it for us. Any advice?

[zazen999]

Burn it?

What a plot!

[Jeanied]

Looks great GH - just the right kind of winter project to keep you fit! I would not advise bringing in the machinery - unless you get a brush cutter to cut it down to size - then you will be able to see what you have got. If you get it rotivated it will just spread any perennial weed roots around. Do have a look on the allotment forum as there is lots in there about clearing overgrown plots. Do a little at a time and it is surprising how quickly it all gets sorted. (Mind you, I had to get help in!)

[Snadger]

...................................... or hire someone to do it for us. Any advice?

Where's the fun in that?

Either strim it down first or just start digging at one end, little and often, pulling out the vegetation as you go, and have a big bonfire.

Or you could do as Zazen says and 'Nuke the sucker' with a paraffin sheen gun first!

[SarzWix]

I'd hire a brushcutter, buy a good bow-saw, a few pairs of long gauntlet gloves and a crate of beers. Invite everyone you know to a Bonfire & Barbecue (Bonfire Night?!) in return for some help chopping and stacking all the wood and brambles. Once you can see the ground, you can decide if you want to do the digging yourself, or get some help in.

At least you know you've got a good 4 - 6 months before the main planting season starts. Your first couple of prepared beds will do for onions & garlic, then peas and beans, then spuds can go in roughly prepared ground through cardboard or weed control fabric.

Good luck with it, you've taken on a huge job, but the satisfaction will be equally huge when you look back on what you've conquered

[bubblewrap]

I agree with Snadger strim it down to ground level first then dig.
At least you have all winter to do that.
This way you rid yourself of the roots.
My allotment was nearly as bad as yours when I took it on four years ago.
It took me 18 months to get it fully up & running.
My allotment is over 300sq yards.

[bluemoon]

I agree with all the above. definitely do it yourself. I seem to say every week that I once took on an immaculate allotment, weed-free, planted up, two greenhouses and a huge shed full of tools. I hated it, it simply wasn't mine. After a few years I swapped it for a larger one which was very similar to yours. It took 3 years to get it exactly how I wanted it, but 20 years later I'm still there. The old one I just always felt still belonged to the previous tenant, and I also grew a bit sick of everyone telling me that 'Old Tom wouldn't do it like that' if I tried to make changes, and looking on in disapproval if I even grew 'outlandish' veggies (outlandish back then was sweet peppers and courgettes). Besides, Old Tom may have been a brilliant gardener, but his crop rotation seemed completely irrational to me and I was always struggling to follow it. On the new plot the rotation is my own, the fruit bushes are the varieties which I have chosen and the soil is fertile because of the work I have put in. I took on that first plot at a time when very few women had lotties (young women didn't have them at all) and I doubt that the old boys would ever have accepted me as a gardener if I'd kept that particular one on. I also doubt I'd have still been there all these years later. Once I had the new plot and I was able to feel that I'd achieved something I really increased in confidence, I don't think I'd have reached that point if I had continued to be considered someone who had merely been lucky enough to get Good Old Tom's plot. So, as I've said before (but doubt that anyone actually believes me) an overgrown nightmare is sometimes a blessing in disguise.
I wish you every luck and as many years of happiness there as I've had with mine.

[gan heather]

Thanks for all the encouragement! I'm really not afraid of doing the work myself, it was more of a cost issue. As I'll have to rent the tools to clear it, and this will probably take a few days just to chop the brambles down, I was just wondering if it would be better cost-wise to hire someone to chop down the trees and brambles all at once. Just a thought - still haven't decided what I'm going to do, but I am excited about it.

[zazen999]

What trees are they - it really annoys me when people put trees on allotments.

[Nicos]

That looks like hours of fun!!!

...at least you should be able to ID the trees by their leaves. If they've dropped off check the floor before you cut them down. Any you're not sure of post piccies on here- we'll be more than happy to help with tree/shrub ID- it'd be really sad to chop down a fruit/nut bush/tree

odds on bet....you'll find a bit of old carpet, some bricks, plastic pots and something very,very rusty!!!

[gan heather]

What trees are they - it really annoys me when people put trees on allotments.

I think hawthorn and oak. I don't think anyone put them there, but this plot has been untenanted for a *long* time and they must have just sprung up on their own.

[snakeshack]

hire or buy a petrol brushcutter and get it down to ground level.
you are where I was last year.
have a big fire or two then cover and dig in stages,set small goals for a days work.
work out where beds are going and possibly lay out .(then you won't have to dig that bit)
decide what to plant and order your seed spuds early.

[Two_Sheds]

will probably take a few days just to chop the brambles down

I had brambles on my entire plot: the worst bit was a 10 foot deep x 20 foot wide (and 6 foot high) patch at the far end. It was so dense I couldn't see the boundary fence at all for several weeks.
All I had was secateurs (and no cash). I cleared a bit every day, patiently snipping each bramble into 24 inch bits* which I stacked under tarpaulin to dry, and then burned.

You don't have to do it all at once.

* a chap "helped" me at one point, and was chopping the brambles off at the ground, leaving me with great big lengths of bramble which were simply too long to handle safely: they'd whip round and tangle in my hair and on my clothes, lacerating my face on the way.

[Bigmallly]

I don't envy you TS but I do think the bonfire idea with friends is a great idea.

[Scottishnewbie]

dont lose all brambles though as they will be great for next years 'free' food!