All my spare time is now spent in either reading my books on allotment gardening or searching the web, specifically for advice on how to tackle an overgrown allotment.
The plan has developed a little over the past few days.
Step 1. Strim the entire plot and pile all the cuttings at the back intermingled with cardboard and shredded paper to try and stop the pile going slimy and horrible. I have been offered the loan of a battery powered strimmer, and there is a petrol one I can hire at the allotment for £10 per day. My son Will has promised to give me a hand with it, so we should hopefully be able to get it all done in a single day, weather permitting.
Having said that, the long range forecast is for some showers on Sunday, but not too bad on Monday with a chance of rain around midday, so we may leave the main work for Monday.
Step 2. Dig two 4' x 8' beds - where these are sited will depend upon the condition of the ground as we uncover it, and also if we uncover any plants in situe - apparently there is some rhubarb in there somewhere.
Step 3. Cover the majority of the rest of the plot with black polythene - I will visit our local builder's merchant and purchase a couple of big rolls that I can use until I can get hold of some proper weed suppressing fabric, I'm not going to order anything until I am sure that I have got the plot.
Step 4. Stick a load of potatoes into the ground that is not covered by plastic. Hopefully this will help to break up the ground a bit and also provide som e foliage cover to keep the weeds down a bit. If I get any crop from them then that will be a bonus, seeing as I wil be using a couple of bags of ASDA whites that have started to sprout in the veg drawer at home.
Step 5. Plant up the newly dug beds with a mixture of young plants from the blow away at home and seeds planted straight into the ground. I am going to use the square foot gardening method on at least one of these beds, but I am not planning on using wooden framing to start as I think that will give the slugs and snails a place to hide through the day.
I know that things are unlikely to work out quite like this, but at least the plan is there.
Wish me luck - I think I am going to need it!
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