hello

Hello Rich May I be the first to welcome you to the site.
The first thing to do in my opinion is to take some photo's of your plot ( some close ups if possible so that we can see how infested with couche grass your plot is so after reading this go back to the home page click on forum at the top of the page and scroll down to website feedback click and scroll again to upload your picture click and scroll again to scarecrow. Scarecrow shows instructions how to change the black scarecrow avatar to a picture of your choice. When you have mastered that scroll down to uploading photographs.
In the meantime the only thing I can say is when you have cleared an area cover it up to exclude the light but do not use cardboard or old carpet
To give you some examples of what can be achieved go back to the homepage and scroll down to blogs on the left and click then scroll down and you will find some excellent examples
Happy gardening
Lottyman
PS Any problems don't hesitate to get in touch. If I can't help somebody else will

hey.i got some pics yesterday unfortunatly no close up's but i will try get them off my phone later!i had put weed killer down about 3/4 weeks ago and a guy from a few plots from me came and rotavated it yesterday but it was a bit soild due to rain the other other day! it has taken the top off so im going round collecting all the roots that can now be seen!then ill put some more down to kill what i didnt get!
unfortunatly were are not aloud to sheet down (only a small area) as the council want to see people working the polts!but i going to try and keep up and try get rid of it all by spring time :)

Hello again Rich

It's not a good idea to put weed killer on at this time of year because it only works on green shoots, as soon as it hits the bare soil it becomes inactive
I'm sorry to say I also do not recommend rotavating because it only breaks up the roots and each tiny piece will grow making your task much worse
The way I would tackle it is to use a fork and dig out any perennial weed then leave the plot rough for the winter
If you can get a section clear put in some overwintering onion sets and a row of broad beans so that you can see something growing and it will hopefully give you the incentive to carry on clearing
Remember if you cannot cover your cleared ground keep going over it with a push hoe and it will stop any weed from growing. Use the hoe at least once a week even when there are no signs of any weeds. Look at the pictures of my 4 plots on the blog page and I am a 74 year old wrinkly
Happy gardening
Lottyman
PS I have only had these particular allotment plots about 5 years The fruit trees were there when I took the plots over but the plots were full of perennial weeds

i didnt want to use weed killer but is soooooo infested!iv been down today trying to pull the roots up from what the roatavator pulled up!needless to say i only got a few sq mtrs done! wow 4 plots i dont think i could manage that! mine is only a small one its 25 ft wide but not sure on the lenght!
im going to dig 2 rasied bed that are already there and get some onions didnt know you could grow broad beans in winter!

I planted my broad beans in a raised bed last november & by the end of february had a great crop of broad beans, so now i plant every four months in small beds & have broad beans all year round.

arhh good stuff thanks for that!ill try get some in next week

My next door neighbour and I got an allotment about a month ago. Not quite sure of the size yet, as we cannot get anywhere near the other end.

It hasn't been used for approx. 15 years and was covered totally by 4ft. high nettles, thistles and brambles.

We managed to borrow a couple of petrol strimmers and set to work to clear some of it, only to find the strimmers wouldn't even cut the nettles - too thick and dry, almost like small tree stumps - muttering something unprintable about the council manager, we turned to a machete and took turns to cut what we could down. After about a week and in need of new arms(stung, cut and bleeding) we had managed to get about 15 metres into the plot which is 11 metres across.

At this point we looked on freecycle for wood, fences, panels etc. and were fortunate to find approx 80 foot of really old fencing. We began to burn the piles of brambles and nettles(no good even for composting as too hard and no green in them) a week later and we had a square of ground clear apart from the stubble of nettles, thistles and brambles, which continued to trip us up at every verse end.

We took to our spades and forks and tried to dig into the ground only to find a carpet of yellow nettle roots spreading out across the entire plot not to mention the roots of the brambles. Enter a few expletives about the council manager and his possible parentage, well actually not a few but an unending tirade.

One month on and we feel we are getting somewhere, fence up and started to paint, 4 beds each 10 square metres, dug and forked and roots now filling in the car track ruts leading to the plot and three more beds marked off to start and dig. Hopefully finished with those this week if weather holds!

Searching now for more wood etc. to build a shed and a greenhouse to be ready for spring. Then joy of joys we can start macheting some more nettles, thistles and brambles, we hope to end up with 300 sq. metres of allotment by early spring if we're still alive and kicking then.

Will post some photos as soon as possible, until then a few questions, we found some raspberry canes and cleaned around them and pruned them Q: can these be moved successfully? Q: what conditions are needed for small 2mtr high apple and plum trees?

I am told we can get a ton of muck deleivered locally for £20 does this seem reasonable to everyone?
Chris B

Hello Chris
It sounds as if you have got quite a job on. The raspberry canes you mention are not worth bothering with because its a good bet they will be full of disease and how do you know whether they are summer or autumn fruiting and they are pruned totally different. The only place I would move them to is onto the bonfire.
Don't be too eager to plant your apple and plum trees till you are certain you have got some good clear ground which has had general purpose fertilizer added. Keep the trees in big containers till the ground is ready and weed free
A reasonable price for manure is anything from £15-£25 for a 3-4 ton load and £20 a ton in my opinion is very expensive. If its fresh it needs stacking and covering and leaving for at least a year to rot down then use it in autumn 2012
Best of luck with it all
Lottyman
PS the normal full sized allotment is 300 square yards = 10yards wide x 30yards long