Kitchen Garden Forum

At last
After helping some
friends out and then "borrowing" a small corner on my friends allotment,
Today I have been offered my own, after years on the list.....
I am so excited, but abit daunted,
it's been cleared by the council to expand the site to offer more plots due to demand.
I have never had so much space, I am so excited

Am I too late to plant green manure?

You must be soooo thrilled, DD
You are not a million miles from here, where the soil is still warm (though v dry), so green manure might be worth a try if you can get it in very soon. Not sure what sort, maybe rye? I'm sure someone clever will be along soon for better advice .
Have fun on your own lovely patch.

Dear Donedigging, i'm here, so still waiting for someone clever to come along.

Very pleased indeed for you, things that you really want often come along if you wait long enough.

I think if YOUR new allotment has just been cleared, i would be tempted to leave it bare, to let the Winter weather get at it.

Was it covered in weeds before it was cleared?

I wouldn't plant any green manure either as it will prevent you from getting your allotment sorted out for next season. Even if the council has cleared it - it is likely to still have perennial weeds coming up that will need digging out.

If the land hasn't grown any crops for a long time then anything you grow should do well as there will be plenty of nutrients in the soil.

Hi DD,

Congratulations on getting an allotment at long last

Perhaps you should change your name to Moredigging

"Cleared by the council" can mean many different things.

I'd be interested to know more detail before advising you, as it could mean, strim then rotovate the top few inches.

Yes indeed. "Cleared by the council" rather makes my blood run cold, I must say. You cannot assume that all perennial weeds have been eradicated, in which case sowing green manures will only muddy the waters: you don't want to be digging these in in the spring along with a load of bindweed roots, as a worst-case scenario.
Well done finally getting an allotment, though. It's an exciting experience. You cannot always be certain what has come before you, so regard the first year to a certain extent as being experimental.

Thank you all for your kind comments.
As you can see in the picture the site used to be a bramble hedgerow, given over to the wildlife, there are perenial weeds coming through already and some bramble suckers.
Hope this helps with any futher advice

Dig it removing all roots.

Can't offer any advice but just wanted to add my voice to thye congratulations.

I'm so excited for you - you'll now be looking at all of those seed catalogues in a whole new light!!

Congratulations! My only advice is don't try and do too much too soon, 'cos next year when all the weeds start coming through it will be extremely disheartening. Cover the worst looking patches and dig the best, as Peter says, getting all the roots out. At least try to get all the roots out - if you've got a lot of dock like me you'll probably have to dig half way to Australia! Funnily enough I've never found bramble to be too difficult - just be determined to follow them back to the source and keep them under control there. All the best, hope it goes well.

peter wrote:"Cleared by the council" can mean many different things.

I'd be interested to know more detail before advising you, as it could mean, strim then rotovate the top few inches.

The council cleared a plot on our site which had got really out of hand - by that I mean the ex plot holder had created huge mounds for some reason.

The council came and scraped away all the topsoil and took it away!

If you have perennial weeds coming up definitely don't sow green manure.

Earmark a section to start on and remove as much of the weeds as you can by digging out the roots.

Hopefully over winter weed growth shouldn't overtake in other areas you but you could try keeping the weeds down using a contact weedkiller or covering with weed suppressant material.

This worked for us- although I reckon it was three seasons before we had the whole plot working as we wanted it to - and if you want to see the state of our plot to start with see http://glallotments.co.uk/PlottersClearingplot41.aspx

Really delighted for you DD. I remember how it felt.
The advice given is pretty good but I would clear/dig over a small square and put some "Aquadulce"broad beans in. If you don't like broad beans,ignore me!
I wish you much success with your plot.

Fantastic. We cleared ours a patch at a time and then covered the cleared area with plastic to prevent weed seeds reoccuring. However, we did plant up one of the cleared areas with a row of broad beans (even if you don't like them yourself, you have the satisfaction of seeing something growing and you can then barter them (or give them away) in the spring. You can also plant early peas now, and garlic - just to give you a boost at watching your very own veg growing. The garden centres have baby veg plants in, at the moment, suitable for autumn planting.

Don't try to do it all at once - and cover up the cleared patches until the spring - then you'll have an idea of what you want to grow.

Thank you all for your reliable advice as usual .
The broad beans will be sown before November, hopefully I will be picking mine before Old Herbaceous next year ( I did manage it one year )
I took my OH to see the plot today, he is already thinking of asking for a doctors note to preserve his back
I just haven't stopped smiling all weekend