Start up advice please

[Briar and Bramble]

Greetings to you all

I've recently taken on a plot that hasn't been cultivated for several years. I aspire to join the no dig brigade, and have already made a start in that vein.
The grass is currently 'up to here', and i have a significant amount of strimming to get through in the coming days. In places the ground undulates somewhat, with sudden rises and drops. My query is this: when i have finished strimming, would it be advisable to remove the cut down grass before i lay my thick cardboard, or could i distribute the grass in such a way as to assist in levelling the ground? I imagine any levelling effect would be rather short-lived, with the weight of manure / compost sinking in. But specifically in relation to the excess tall grass, am i likely to experience any negative effects from leaving this in situ under thick cardboard and compost, or will it in time just decompose into the soil?

Best

Briar and Bramble

[veggiechicken]

Hi and welcome
I can't offer any real advice just a feeling! That the cutdown grass will make very little difference to the up and downy bits. You'd need bales of hay to do that!
Is it all grass or are there weeds in it - especially perennial weeds with long tap roots like dock? If so, I'd dig them out before you go "no-dig". They're almost impossible to kill with cardboard mulch.

[Jay-ell]

Hello B&B and welcome to the vine.

Have you noticed any pattern to the up and down bits of the plot , e.g. could they represent old paths and raised beds (these don't need to have edging to be raised)?

I second the advice in getting rid of the docks, nettles, etc first as these are persistent blighters and will only come back to haunt and taunt late on.

When strimming keep an eye out what's growing where - you may find some crops lurking in the overgrown jungle such as fruit bushes. Also if you see an area with particularly lush nettles then that's probably better soil as nettles like nitrogen rich soil.

It may be worth removing the cut grass and starting a compost area before laying the cardboard to give yourself a view of what the cleared area looks like without piles of grass altering the layout. Then you'll also have the start of the compost bin and be on the way down that route as well.

[Briar and Bramble]

Thank you both for your advice. I think in places a bed / path system is evident, but there also seem to be quite random sudden rises and falls that appear to be independent of beds / paths. There does seem to be considerable bindweed. I think i need to curb my enthusiasm a little, for my own good, and put in the preparation work. Rather that treat the cardboard mulch as wood chip wallpaper, and just assume that it will hide a multitude of sins...

Best

[Nicos]

Hi there, and welcome to the Vine
Have you met your plot neighbour's yet?
Might be worth asking them what they can recall about the plot befire it became overgrown?
We all like a nosey at what other perps are up to!
They may be able to recall what some of the mounds are?....hidden carpet....bits of netting....on the negative side...at least then you'll be forewarned. Could be something exciting though ...

[burnie]

In the past I have had a bonfire and burnt the stuff off, that is if you are allowed fires these days, then put the cardboard down after it's cooled down.

[Mikey]

Bindweed is nigh on impossible to dig out, but worth trying to reduce it. If you leave it under a good mulch you'll have to constantly keep pulling at it all year it's far more prolific than your veg and sneaky. You'll look at your climbing beans and think they look healthy then a profusion of white trumpets arrive and you realise it's all bindweed, what a let down....

[Briar and Bramble]

Hi there, and welcome to the Vine
Have you met your plot neighbour's yet?
Might be worth asking them what they can recall about the plot befire it became overgrown?
We all like a nosey at what other perps are up to!
They may be able to recall what some of the mounds are?....hidden carpet....bits of netting....on the negative side...at least then you'll be forewarned. Could be something exciting though ...

Hi Nicos

The neighbour's are also relative newbies. The thought had crossed my mind that i may unearth a trove of shiny roman artefacts in one of these mounds, and that by some unlikely oversight the previous plot holder had failed to notice. Failing that, some magic beans would be an acceptable alternative.
I see you're in Normandy. We recently spent a year in Morbihan, Brittany, with a vast plot, orchard etc. Beautiful.

Briar and Bramble

[Jay-ell]

I found cordless electric drill in my mounds.

And a couple of dolphins.
.
.
Some make up remover.
.
.
8 track tapes.
.
.
Christmas Decorations.
.
.
A Budgerigar (plastic)



And on my first allotment carpets and shopping trollies

[Briar and Bramble]

I found cordless electric drill in my mounds.

And a couple of dolphins.
.
.
Some make up remover.
.
.
8 track tapes.
.
.
Christmas Decorations.
.
.
A Budgerigar (plastic)



And on my first allotment carpets and shopping trollies

Sounds like a subterranean branch of pound stretcher ...