Where do I start?

[jemma_charlie]

I've finally got myself an allotment after being on the waiting lists for years!!

My problem is where do i start? I was offered a choice of a ready ploughed half plot or a wild full plot so I obviously went for the full one.....

It has 10 trees in total, no idea what they are but i will post pics as i know how much some of you like to guess these things!

It has a shed!! and a large rhubarb patch.

The rest of the plot is weeds grass and hundreds of raspberry canes shooting up, someone has obviously rotivated and didn't know how easy raspberries are to propergate! parts of the plot have already been sprayed with weed killer and they are going to plough a third of it at the weekend.

Where do i start?

Pics to follow.......

[Glutton4...]

Congratulations!

What is in the area that is being ploughed? If there's any Couch Grass, Ground Elder, Marestail or similar, ploughing, like rotavating, will only make matters worse. If you can't dig it over and hand-weed, everyone on here will advise you to cover the area with cardboard, or weed-suppressant membrane, to exclude the light and weaken the weeds. Then it will be far more manageable when you come to work it.

Which weedkiller was used? You may have to wait a while before you can plant the sprayed area, to allow the chemicals to disperse.

Looking forward to the pictures!

[jemma_charlie]

view from the front end

[jemma_charlie]

view from the other side of some of the trees

[jemma_charlie]

and the bottom end of it

[jemma_charlie]

i'm not sure but i think the white blossom might be cherry and the pinks apple?
they all need a prune as some of the branches only have blossom and leaves at the very end. they are really out of shape
so when i have worked out what they are i can prune them appropriately... could take a while

[binley100]

As G4 says, cover it and work it bit at a time ........if you have it ploughed or rotivated at least go over it and try and get things like docks out first.

[jemma_charlie]

Thanks for the response Glutton4... they said the weedkiller was put on weeks ago and will been fine to plant in the soil. The main problem will be removing all of the raspberry canes as they are litterally all over the plot....

[binley100]

Don't prune the apples till next winter, cherries are stone fruit so they can be pruned from now . If the apples have got out of hand they may need pollarding .....We had raspberry canes like weeds on our plot , they came out quite easily (darn sight easier than docks anyway)

[jemma_charlie]

Thanks binley100 and G4 is cardboard the best thing to use, they sell thick black plastic quite cheap, didn't know if it was worth covering with that and then planting through it at a later date?

As for the raspberry canes what is the best way to deal with them?

[jemma_charlie]

so presuming the white blossom trees are cherry trees I'll give them a tidy tomorrow and build a temporary cold compost frame, I'll aim to get up as many raspberry canes as i can before the plough man gets them, then save cardboard to cover the rest of the plot.
Does this sound like a good action plan or does it have flaws?

Thanks