Plot clearance for a beginner

[noheadphones@mac.com]

Hi All

Firstly let me hello

I have recently moved into a new house with a 100ft garden and am planning to to the back half in to a play area and veg/fruit patch. the area for the veg patch is about 4m x 15m. When we moved in (dec 07) the garden was completely overgrown brambles nettles and a load of stuff i just dont know.

I started by clearing to ground level and where possible pulling up roots, had a big bonfire. Now everyting is goring back again (i know i left most of the roots in) faster than I can clear it.

Clearing with a fork is proving very hard as all i seem to be pulling up is big clumps of roots/soil, and half the time the fork wont lift because of thick roots under the soil, and to make things worse speaking to the neighbors, that half of the garden hasn't been touched in 15yrs so as im going im finding everything from ruble to calor gas bottles and bits of bikes.

I guess what im asking is there any advise/encouragement you can offer me. I know once it is cleared it will be worth it but at the moment a feel like im fighting a losing battle.

Thanks in advance

Mark

[peanut]

Hi Mark,

Firstly welcome to The Vine, you'll get loads of support and encouragement on here, it's really friendly.

If I was you I would divide the area up into small manageable sized plots/beds.
Decide which one you're going to tackle first and cover the rest over with cardboard/weed supressing fabric/black plastic. This will slow down the b**gers!
Start weeding the remaining section.
You can have lots of fruit and veg in containers until the beds are ready, why not stand them on the covered areas and move around accordingly?

If you do it bit by bit, little and often you'll get there sooner than you think

Good luck and have fun

[janeyo]

Hi sounds a similar tale to me. we moved in early jan and the bottom half of the garden was just weed bramble and old lumps of half burned wood and metal hinges. I knew which bit I wanted for my veggies so just dug out one raised bed size at a time while OH made it and did it bit my bit. I now have 6 beds all up and running! And the childrens bit coming alone nicely and the greenhouse base down. It just needs you to go a bit at a time and then see what you have achieved rather than what you still have to do.

Rome wasn't built in a day!

Good luck, sounds like it will be fab when complete

janeyo - will have a looksie for some before and now pics to show you have far we have come.

[noheadphones@mac.com]

Thank you for the welcome and the advice.

I think I will divide the area into smaller bits, can i leave the larger roots in and just pull out anything that shoots, or am i better to clear the lot.

Mark

[Novice Gardener]

Wow, lucky you at having all that space. If I were you, like the others have said, divide it into managable chunks, but make sure you clear each bit properly, getting out all the roots before you go onto the next bit. Oh and don't forget we'd like some piccies of the work in progress