Day two on my allotment... and not a good one lol

[mr tiler]

Wow! Lol. Reffering back to the folk on me plot, I have met a few and a lot who have came over to me are Asians whos english isn't the best so its a bit hard to grasp the advise given, but no worries I'll keep plodding on the more time I speak to them the more I'll be able to understand hopefully lol. Everyone seems really nice though

[Noosner]

Whereabouts are you Mr T?

Glad you are feeling more optimistic now. Even if you only cultivate a tiny bit of your plot this year, you will still have a fantastic time, especially when all those potato plants start showing their lovely dark green leaves against the soil!

[Vince G]

Dig a bit and plant it up, dig another bit and plant it up....before you know it you'll have a clear plot.

Yes the grass might come back a bit, but you're going to have all winter to sort that out..months...and come spring, you'll have a totally clear plot ready to use.

(PS: Stick your location on your profile bud, easier to give adice according to your locality then).

[mr tiler]

Oh I will do I'm in Wolverhampton cheers

[Bill HH]

You have had all the right advice on here, card board is brilliant at supressing weeds, it also rots down and worms love it. but don't use cardboard with glossy picture of print, this often has a plastic layer which doesn't rot or absorb water, just regular box cardboard. Also add card and paper to your compost, cut it up small and your compost will make sooner and be better. Add newspaper and all your kitchen peelings (but not potato skins as they grow again and may be carrying blight) to the compost. When winter comes you can dig it into your plot or just spread it on top to improve the soil, the worms will pull it down into the soil and a top mulch of compost is a very good weed suppressor.
Weeds need light, exclude that and they mostly die. Your compost may be overflowing but you will look one day and it will have sunk by half! if you have too much just pile it up somewhere don't burn it, it is a very valuable resource.
The plant in the pic is not a pea.

[Nicos]

^^^^as everyone else says!

..oh ...and STOP WORRYING!!

tis your first year, just do your best( without overdoing things physically) and next year will be easier.
You can see now though why soil prep is best done in the Autumn and Spring so it's ready and waiting for planting out

[alldigging]

Mine started overflowing months ago...

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...7-weedheap.jpg

I love that pic!

[alldigging]

Its your plot so do it your way. Nod smile and listen to everything people say cos some of it might be useful and it's nice to be nice.

[roitelet]

Get those spuds in! The earthing up will help destroy annual weeds and as someone said the roots of the others will come out easily. Don't get disheartened and don't try to do too much at once. A small area well dug and cleared will be better than a large area not so well done. There is all winter for the rest and next year it will be fabulous!!!!!!

[DannyRam]

My usual advice is - It's like eating an elephant. Just one bite at a time!!

[mr tiler]

lol thanks people just got in from work nice cuppa then off to the allotment

[Greenleaves]

Good for you....enjoy it and remember mistakes are accepted on here

[Mumbles]

The best advice I ever had (incidentally it was from a fellow grape) was listen to everyone's advice then ignore it and do whatever you want to do.

[Jakejakeyjakejake]

hi guys, went down to the allotment late afternoon and got started again.. whilst I was putting down my potatoes someone came along and told me I hadn't gotten enough weeds out of the soil so started to take out the grass and more weed roots... really struggled and basically didn't really get anywhere with it. then someone told me because I strimmed it all down I am going to have a nightmare getting all the weeds out etc??? what do you think? does this soild look good enough to start planting?

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also I had a little dig around the plot to see what I could find and while digging I came across this plant now to me it looks like a pea plant if that's what they are called lol... but unfortunately they already came out of the ground so I have put them into some of the fresh soil I dug over what do you think they are and will they survive?

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and lastly I am generally just a bit down because I ended up standing around looking at my plot in the end I just came home because I felt I had no idea what I was doing lol... on the plus side my lettuce seedlings are coming through that will be nice on a cheese sandwich when its grown lol... any advice on what to do tmoz evening after work would be very greatly appreciated sorry for the long winded post but I need some advice lol cheers guys

Don't worry mate if you wanna plant your tatos so it the weeds will probably come back but just hoe them this old boys plots are only the way they are from 60 yrs of work it's probably been so long they have forgotten how to do a big weed anyway ( no offence to the aged ) what I'm trying to say us read and watch how to's make up your own mind and so it if it don't work try something else next yr your going to get ten different answers from up the allotment anyway ... And as far as getting down about it that's blind to happen too it's the reality just do a bit go home and do a bit the following day there isn't a rush starting out ! Your ment to enjoy it it's not a job it'll all turn good in the end

[mr tiler]

thank you people... here is day 3, thought I would just update it on this thread rather than in new ones.... well the spuds are in, soild is still full of weeds but had a good bash at clearing my trench.. watered and now waiting patiently lol



now I have tmoz off work so I will be down the allotment most of the day the plan is to clear the area around my compost bin and get rid of as much of the overgrowth as possible, I can see a few 1 ton bags surrounding the compost bin I am hoping they have some tarpaulin inside if not will go and get some to cover the majority of the ground until I have worked the one patch I have already dug over.





bit tired from work today but the main goal of tonight was to get those spuds in! lol cheers