My new allotment and previous tenants

[bazzaboy]

My new allotment and previous tenants.... this area used to be allotments, then became sheep pasture when there was no demand, now returning to allotments (still to be divided. fenced etc - no water, lots of rabbits...). The railway line that runs along the rear edge is the main London to Leeds/Edinburgh/Glasgow line (WH Auden's poem, This Is The Night Mail...) so please give a wave if passing.

I haven't had an allotment for some years (previously had one in Nottingham but that was well ordered from the outset, this one is a bit more challenging...). Am following the useful tips on Allotment Advice threads and now feel inclined to start small and expand rather than plough the whole patch (which is an option on offer, any advice on that one?)

The soil is fairly heavy clay (should keep fit digging that lot!) and has the benefit (so I tell myself) of 10 years of sheep droppings, bless 'em. Rabbits in the railway banking are a challenge, but, looking on the bright side, there's no deer, elephants or as far as I'm aware tigers or poisonous snakes - so could be worse...

If I survive the initial shock I'll post updates and meantime gratefully receive any tips, advice, encouragement, medical insurance etc you care to give. Many thanks. bb.

[winstonwobble]

Good luck BB enjoy your digging

[lainey lou]

Hey Baz, that's good news! Congratulations.
Mine was very over grown when I took it on and like yours is heavy clay.
I would advise you to take loads of photos so you can see the progress you are making.
Tackle it little and often and as you clear a spot cover it or plant it up asap.
Keep adding the organic matter to improve the drainage and quality of the soil.
And most of all have fun and enjoy it!
Good luck, can't wait to here how you get on.

[jaykay]

Am following the useful tips on Allotment Advice threads and now feel inclined to start small and expand rather than plough the whole patch (which is an option on offer, any advice on that one?)

The soil is fairly heavy clay (should keep fit digging that lot!)

Definitely start small: I'd divide the plot into beds (flat to begin with) dig over one bed at a time and improve soil as you go along with well rotted manure or compost as it becomes available. Try to plant each bed as you finish digging it - better to grow veg/fruit/flowers than weeds in the cleared space.

Enjoy your new plot.

[Dane End Dolly]

Definitely start small: I'd divide the plot into beds (flat to begin with) dig over one bed at a time and improve soil as you go along with well rotted manure or compost as it becomes available. Try to plant each bed as you finish digging it - better to grow veg/fruit/flowers than weeds in the cleared space.

Enjoy your new plot.

Good advice jaykay

[snohare]

If you can't get manure to do it with, get a bale of straw, strew it around the bit you are not dealing with yet, and put cardboard weighted down on top. The worms can be working away on this fallow ground, incorporating the straw as the weeds rot, while you dig over elsewhere. That is something you can do usefully now, even in midwinter.

[Jeanied]

Jaykay I like your next door neighbours! I think sheep's wool is a good compost ingredient or was I dreaming that? (Just looking at the barbed wire there!)
I can endorse the cover it over bit, I always top off the cardboard and manure with a sheet of black plastic: mine has gone the rounds, clearning my deep beds on the plots, before becoming defunct!

[bubblewrap]

At least you have electricity to run the strimmer/lawn mower!

[carlseawolf]

At least it's flat.

[binley100]

We've put chicken wire round our beds and pegged it down at regular intervals. Also edged the beds with boards. So far seems to be keeping the rabbits at bay.

[bazzaboy]

awwww, thanks for tips and advice, I've delayed responding until "the paperwork" has been completed which it was half-an-hour ago.... "The paperwork" consisted of a visit by Allotment Boss armed with very ancient map of how the allotments once were, trying to work out which bit goes where and local regs re paths, access, fence, rabbits etc (evidently rabbits come FREE, so many advantages!) So tomorrow, armed with my trusty spade, I will attempt to cut the first divot and decide best course of action (such as open a golf course, let the sheep back in etc). I'll take LL's advice to document progress to cheer myself up that I'm making some, intend to start small and smother areas as suggested by many. Allotment Boss suggested getting it ploughed before putting up fences etc but I'm thinking in no time it will become half-an-acre of mud with grass re-establishing itself.... is it a good idea to get whole area ploughed d'you think? May be able to plan better once that first divot inspected! Hey ho... bb.

[Jeanied]

Bazza once you inspect your divot you will know what the weeds / roots are. Then you can decide if any mechanical clearance (ploughing or rotavating) will spread an existing problem or be a help. I had my No2 plot cleared / rotavated by the council before I took it over. Big mistake - it just spread couch grass everywhere. Still dealing with the consequences 5 years later.

[bazzaboy]

Thanks Jeanied, that's exactly my concern. Allotment Boss gets his patches mechanically turned over every year but it's ground that's been worked for many years.... I'll take a very careful look! Thanks. bb.

[Jeanied]

It also sounds like Allotment Boss may be one of the old school - on our site the no-dig method (only applicable once the plot is cleared of perennial weeds, mind) is beginning to gain favour as the best way to grow stuff. It's a case of building up the 'heart' of the soil and encouraging good micronutrients etc. My neighbour on the plots claims that mechanical methods makes the soil go all 'fluffy' and sterile.

[snohare]

I'd be very careful about getting it ploughed if I were you. That was the enormous error I made with my current garden, which was to all be vegetables, early this summer.
It was bare level grass nibbled right to the ground by rabbits, surrounded by a picket fence. My father recommended I take down a side of fencing and get it ploughed ready for planting; the only piece of really bad advice he has given me in forty years ! Boy, did he pick the wrong occasion....
Turned out it had knotgrass seeds, groundsel, creeping buttercup and couchgrass, all of which were being kept in check by the bunnies. (In your case, the sheep will be doing a grand job.) Once the turf had been ploughed, half of it was dug deep into the soil in great long chunks too heavy and deep to lift out. This meant all the rhizomes were suddenly eighteen inches deep and virtually impossible to ever eradicate by digging - and as I seem to be sensitised to pesticide residues, spraying was not an option.
In addition, all the stones that lay just a foot or so below the surface were all taken to the top, which given that the subsoil is an old river bed is not good news. The whole area looked like Flanders, with great dips and mounds covered with boulders and weeds. It has been an absolute nightmare, and only when I finally got enough mulch matting and cardboard to cover the soil did it finally begin to look better. I am literally sorry to see it again as the snow begins to disappear. To add insult to injury, it is lovely soil to grow in if only it wasn't such a state.
I would suggest cardboard as a mulch mat, and a rotovator if you want to avoid the heavy digging. Otherwise you will just be removing the competition that all the local weeds have from grazing grasses, with dire results !