new allotment, very weedy!

[HippyChristmaspotamus]

hi, i've never been in this corner of mn before! its all a bit scary!

we've just been given an allotment that is completely overgrown with weeds. we're planning on tackling it a quarter at a time but we were wondering what we do with the weeds. do we have to bag them up and take them away? can we compost them? i suggested a bonfire but they're not allowed on site

any help much appreciated

Congratulations ! I'm not an expert but think it depends what the weeds are, you don't want to compost something like couch grass. See if you can identify some of what you are dealing with is a good start.

One option would be to use weedkiller - glyphosate is the favourite on my field. You can use this throughout the growing season. It kills the roots but breaks down in the soil so the ground can be cultivated.

You could weedkiller then cover with plastic sheet. The weeds die, rot down and can then be dug in.

spraying off is the best option like suzie says. Wait until spring though, it works best when the weeds are actively growing. But once dead I would rake off the tops and put them on the compost heap. Otherwise you'll not get anything in this year.

If you don't want to use glyphosate you could rotavate the whole thing and then weed as they start to grow again, but you'll always be on the back foot.

we burnt ours which isn't an option for you. I wouldn't want to use compost from them as unless your heap gets extremely hot it won't kill the seeds and so when you use the compost it will just spread weed seeds everywhere.

If you have space I'd pile them up in a heap somewhere and let them rot down, but not use the compost for years. Maybe grow pumkin and/or squashes on the heap eventually.

Don't worry about seeds there won't be any at this time of year/early spring.

I think probably my allotment is but we aren't allowed to use weed killer. It was mostly couch grass so if I'd have rotivated I'd have ended up with more. Did what I could and dumped the couch grass in a pile down one end, then covered on section with weed membrane and planted pumpkins through it.

wynken - you're not allowed to use weed killer on your allotment!!! I've heard of some crazy rules on allotments but that's new. Is it a special organic allotment place? What do the old boys say about not being able to use weedkiller? How do they police it? What's the punishment if you do?

Ours is leased by a the Estate of a large house which has an organic kitchen garden. They have several allotment sites, ours is the smallest with 12 plots. I'm not sure how strictly it is policed, the old boys haven't said much so I suspect they probably ignore it. I did feel though as a newcomer that I had to tow the line so digging it was !

We're swapping later in the year to a National Trust site as long as they get planning. Not sure what the rules are going to be there but will be interested to see if they do the same, I suspect they might.

No advice on this but marking my place as I have just got an allotment. (Haven't seen it yet due to it being snow covered!)

I'm terrified at how be it might be.

Congratulations MM, how exciting! We got ours in Feb last year and got lots last summer . It is hard workbut so worth it and it's a sort of Rome wasn't built in a day thing. I found the Old boys well worth cultivating, very helpful. It was lovely to get out there today and dig up a 44cm long parsnip. The resulting trip to have DD's finger dressed when she cut herself chopping wasn't so good.

Ouch! Your poor DD.

I'm looking forward to all the fresh air and hard work.

My family are all busy recommending their favourite veg for me to grow.

weedkiller on your veg plot!! and you intend eating the produce???

you can put black plastic sheeting or big bits of card onto weeds - nothing with dye that will leach into soil and leave for as long as poss. cuts out the light so they cannot photsynthasise. i would do this while you conc on sorting out other areas.

you can put perennial weeds into a bucket of water and leave for a few months and then compost.

i compost grass

mind you i haven't actually got an allotment yet - i'm jealous - we don't have any in our town, just a waiting list of about 80 people.

oh and everything i've read says not to rotivate as it chops all the roots into tiny pieces and then you have even more the next year

I got my allotment recently and I have been taking waste sacks with me to the site, which I fill with the dug up weeds ( make sure you get those roots! ). I then usually shove them on the bonfire at home, or if this isn't an option for you, do your council do a green waste collection?

It might be worth checking out if they do a green waste collection from your allotment site. You just need to put the weeds in the green bags they provide then.

Can I join you all? After nearly 3 years on the waiting list, I finally had news yesterday that I have been given a plot. I'm excited but a little apprehensive at the same time. I'm worried I won't have time for it all!

I should get the tenancy agreement in the next few days and hope to visit the site at the weekend. I have no idea what state it'll be in.

Return I just wanted to say congratulations on getting your plot. A great time of year to start. You will be in time to get a whole growing season in.

I wouldnt worry too much what your plot looks like right now. I'm fairly sure that mine looks a right state at the minute.

Now you can have the gentle pleasure of sitting down with seed catalogues to work out what to grow.

Thank you, Gnome! I've made a list of what I want to grow and drawn up a plan. Hopefully I'll get the tennancy agreement this week then I can get going. Even the DCs are quite excited (probably because I haven't made them do anything yet!).