This article really covers both taking on a new allotment and converting any piece of ground like an old lawn to a productive vegetable plot. Usually the new allotment holder discovers he’s (or she) got the worst one on the site or at best one that has been vacant for six months and has grown a good crop of weeds. Don’t despair, often it’s easier to sort out than you fear.
How to Start Clearing an Allotment Plot
First of all, walk around and see what you’re going to have to deal with. If there is any old metalwork, broken glass or building rubble bring it to pile at the end of the plot. Make sure you wear gloves – hopefully your tetanus jab is up to date because you’re going to shed blood at some point, I promise you.
If you come across old corrugated asbestos sheets seek advice from the council. This needs handling with care and proper, safe disposal.
What Weeds do You Have?
Next, take a look at what weeds you have. Some weeds like nettles, docks, buttercups and daisy all indicate that your soil is acidic as does the dreaded Mare’s tail (Equistum Arvense). Other difficult weeds are bindweed and couch grass. They all share the ability to re-grow from small pieces of root. If you’ve a mass of brambles then I’m afraid you really do have your work cut out, but it isn’t impossible.
Take comfort from the fact that a mass of lush nettles and other weeds indicates the soil is in good heart with lots of fertility.
What to do to Clear the Plot
If you’ve a lot of tall weeds, then it’s worth borrowing or hiring a petrol strimmer with a brush-cutter blade and taking them down to about 15cm above the ground, leave brambles a little longer – anything up to 60cm.
Ordinary grass and annual weeds can be lifted like turfs. A mattock is very good for this, the flat blade going in almost horizontal under the root-mat and levering up but a decent spade will do the job as well.
Stack the turfs, grass side down and make into a box which you can cover with a tarpaulin to exclude light and water. In a year you’ll have some lovely loamy soil to use.
Fork the ground over and remove any perennial weed roots. Docks go deep but like dandelions are fairly easy to remove. Nettles have a mass of thin yellow roots which are difficult but you can get them out.
Bindweed and couch grass are hard work, a piece of root as longer than 3cm may have enough energy to start and grow again. With Mare’s tail though, you have real problems. The thin brown roots are hard to see and go down to Hades (they’ve been found 2 metres down!) Just do your best but I’d say the only way to really win against Mares Tail, Bindweed and Couch Grass is to go chemical (see below)
Don’t cold compost weed roots
These weed roots present another problem for you. If you put them on a cold compost heap, they’ll re-grow. You can put them in a black plastic sack and hopefully they’ll rot away in six months or so but better to drown them in a tub of water. Takes about 3 weeks.
With a bramble patch, it’s tough work digging out the roots. Leaving some cane on at least gives you something to pull at!
Ground cover
You’ll have heard about covering ground with old carpet to suppress the weeds. Well it’s not a bad idea in theory so long as the carpet isn’t there for more than a month or two.
The problem is that the weeds eventually grow through the carpet and it’s a nightmare trying to get the carpet put so many sites have banned them. I used a tarpaulin which did the same job without weed growing through.
I don’t like the idea of leaving the ground covered for a year to kill off everything; it’s wasteful, un-productive and just blessed ugly.
Quick Way to Clear a Plot
Then spray the plot with a glyphosate based weedkiller, paying special attention to the perennial weeds. Leave for a week or two, re-spraying any perennial weeds that are still looking healthy. Then dig over or rotovate.
The weedkiller is taken to the roots of the perennials so killing them and making it possible to chop them up without the problem of re-growing.
OK, this method uses a weedkiller but given the number of people who start with the best organic intentions and then give in when they discover it’s hard work, I’d say use the spray and go organic later!
Allotment Information
- Allotment & Garden Paths
- Allotment Growing as You Get Older
- Allotment History – A Brief History of Allotments in the UK
- Allotment History – Cultivating a 19th Century Allotment by Dr Lesley Acton MA Ph.D
- Allotment History – The First Allotments by Dr Lesley Acton MA Ph.D
- Allotment Journey – A Step to Sustainable Living
- Allotment Regeneration – Case Study
- Allotments & Children
- Allotments & The Law – Legal Aspects of An Allotment
- Allotments – Some Tips to Get You Started
- Clearing a New Allotment or Vegetable Plot
- Cuban Vegetable Growing Practices can Benefit your Allotments
- Finding an Allotment – How to Find an Allotment
- Health and Safety in the Allotment & Garden
- Here is How Having and Maintaining a Back Garden Allotment Could Help You to Sell Your Home
- How to Create a Charming Sitting Area in Your Allotment
- How to Ensure the Security of your Allotment
- How To Pick The Right Shed For Your Allotment
- How to reduce the costs of running your allotment
- Improving Security on Allotments to combat Vandalism and Theft
- The Allotment – The City Dwellers bit of Country
- Vacant Allotment Plots – What To Do With Them?
- Why People Grow Our Own – Our Plots
- You Have a New Allotment!
