Hi I have had an allotment for the past 2 years. The first year we did fairly well the first part of the year but Piers and Lydia were not at school, Piers is autistic and was Ok at the allotment for very short periods of time but would soon get bored and go off trampling on other peoples allotments, this obviously didn,t go down well. Last year i made a very good start but then needed abdominal surgery couldn,t lift for 12 weeks and nobody else could get to the allotment for me so everything became overrun with weeds.
We have a lot of dandelions, bind weed and other grasses on the plot and it doesn,t matter how much I dig they are just as bad. We have only really used 2/3 of the plot so far so the other bit is totally overun. I considered getting someone to rotivate it for me but have been told this is make the weed problem worse as it will just chop up the roots. The other option is to use half this year and on the other part really cut back the weeds and grass and cover it over for a year to let the weeds die off properly. What would you do.
Most of the people at the allotment are retire men who are not sympatheic to the reasons why i havn,t kept on top of the weeds in the first place, if i take the kids they moan about them, although the last few times we have been they have really enjoyed digging and watering and now stick to our plot. Everytime i go i get a lecture about how i am doing it all wrong and i know they would rather see the back of me to be honest. DH has said he will help this year but not sure this is a good thing as he is a perfectionist and his way is the right way IYSWIM. His idea of weed control is the same as the others on the allotment to douse it all in weed killer, i don,t want to as the idea of getting an allotment is to protect the kids from chemicals particularly as 2 of them have autism and behavioural problems.
We paln to make raised beds this year but am waiting on DH doing this we were supposed to go at the weekend but this never happened.

Hello,
I hope I can say something to help. Since taking on a completely derelict (and I mean derelict!) allotment four years ago - I was forced to confront the idea of gardening effectively and growing fruit and veg with minimum labour power and physical challenges. In our family these included my other half being diagnosed with a chronic condition shortly after Babes was born, so when I say ‘I’ converted an allotment from derelict, I really do mean that I was on my own as far as the work was concerned - as Other half very quickly gets chronic fatigue and can’t do the physical work. I’m mentioning all this, because I want you to know that it is possible. BUT - it requires a different approach than that of other ‘old-school’ allotment holders. There are lots of people with physical or family challenges. This is a short answer to your query, the longer ‘answer’ is on my gardening blog, I keep coming back to these issues and if you look at the archive, you’ll see some but not all of the photos of techniques I’m talking about. There’s much more to say about this than is possible in a short post, so here’s the link to that…

See: http://www.questionersgardentime.blogspot.com

In a nutshell I’d advise the following:

1. Do NOT, repeat NOT even think about rotavating for reasons you’ve already mentioned and because it often creates a hard pan and makes the worms very unhappy.

2. YES, YES, YES cover half the plot with cloth material (black plastic - old carpet no longer advisable organically speaking but if needs must, you might have to).
If black plastic (preferably porous) doesn’t look so nice then you can put wood chip on top if you have it (ask allotment holders or local tree surgeon) otherwise if you have access to large cardboard boxes you can put wood chip on top.
To stop the bindweed/couch grass creeping across from the clean area to the ‘dirty’ weed-ridden bit, dig long but small trenches about half a foot deep and wide.
For other ideas on mulches check the blog and google around ‘no-dig’ for more.

3. Once you have done step 2. then leave the area in question over spring/summer and don’t tackle it again until the autumn. This will take the pressure off you.
Try and enjoy the bits you are cultivating and do them as well as you can. If you find yourself with more time on your hands then fine, you can start to peel back the mulch (BIT BY BIT NOT ALL AT ONCE - AND THOROUGHLY) and take the perennial weeds out, but you’ll find it is less work in early to late autumn.
4. In the time between now and autumn try and learn more about no-dig techniques so that once the plot is clear of perennial weeds you can convert to a no-dig system and use mulches as far as possible to keep weeds down. If you manage to attend a course on permaculture or no-dig then that’s brilliant, but there are so many books about it, look for Charles Dowding..

5. Your confidence (like your allotmenteering skills will GROW) - in the long run, you will have much less work to do than your fellow allotmenteers, some of whom still insist on double digging each year, when there really is no need. As far as sexism is concerned, there is that too, but with time you’ll gain more respect. Women allotmenteers are getting more common all the time.

6. Try to differentiate in the advice that you are given - some of it is genuinely useful and some not sensible at all. You are an ORGANIC gardener. Be PROUD. It is an exciting journey. Think about joining Garden Organic (google the name) if you can’t afford it right now, you can glean lots from the website. Go your OWN way and you’ll find others will follow. WORK SMART (NOT HARD)

best and good gardening.
w.w.

P.S. Oh, and be careful about listening to advice about how to get rid of weeds. Some people haven’t been through the experience of a totally weed-ridden plot, and I really feel if you’ve never done it, (successfully) you don’t know!

Good luck!  My only allotment experience was similar.  After a year of fighting the bindweed and losing badly we gave up.  We were told the same thing about rotavating but tbh I think I would give it a try if we did it again as it was such a nightmare trying to dig up such a large area.

Could you do container/pots while you cover the whole plot?  You could probably get some old junky stuff for containers that would do the job while the plot was covered.

My MIL had great allotments - everyone there had had their allotments for years and so they were like gardens with sheds, and each plot was fenced in some eclectic way   It meant that when we went down with the children they could run around and not go anywhere they shouldn’t and it was also nicely private if you wanted it that way iykwim (no busybody’s poo pooing what you had/hadn’t done).  Certainly was a damn-site easier than other allotments I’ve been to where each plot is open!

Becky
xx

We took on a very derelict plot a few years ago which hadn’t been cultivated for about 3 or 4 years prior to that and was used as a “garden” rather than an allotment - full of trees, shrubs, grasses and many many weeds. We cleared the big things and then set about the weeds. We still have some big stuff to clear and have a 20ft Eucalyptus tree which just isn’t going anywhere. You kind of have to accept weeds when taking on a site like these and steadily you will win.

We had a lot of perennial weeds - bindweed, couch grass, horsetail, brambles - all of which are hard to eradicate totally when you garden organically. But you can keep on top of them and eventually weaken the roots. I really wouldn’t rotovate - it’s a short term gain of soil ready dug, but those weeds will come back all over the place and with a vengeance. If you did choose this path I would then heavily cover the area so that all roots of weeds will be killed off but this will take a minimum of a year and maybe more for some weeds. I’d still use this area for containers like Becky mentioned - be creative about what you can use for containers - we are

If this was my plot and I didn’t have a lot of time to spend there I would cover a large part for a year and cultivate the rest. We don’t dig - we have built beds out of scrap wood obtained from wherever we can and created paths that are covered in bark chippings that the council provides at the site for free (really helps keep the weeds down and stops muddy paths being created. Other beds are bordered with whatever we have - some have little woven fences using wood when we have pruned the trees that still exist. We mulch everything - beds, containers, etc. You then either scrape away the mulch temporarily to sow the seeds or just plant the plants raised in pots and trays through the mulch. An easy one is lots of cardboard and just cut holes through and plant through. You can then cover the cardboard with other organic material as a mulch - grass clippings, straw, etc. For some areas we don’t use we have done layers of cardboard covered with well rotted manure and eventually it all gets taken into the soil - worms are fantastic friends here - and the weeds haven’t stood a chance. Whatever you choose to cover some ground with, you can plant through it and they will crowd out annual weeds and you can manage the perennial ones then.

Another favourite for us on ground not being used is to plant green manure seeds - these are a crop specifically grown to help improve your soil structure, etc (take a look on seed catalogue sites if you’re not sure what they are). These are also fantastic at crowding out weeds. They are simply cut down to add to a compost bin or dug in or left to decompose into the soil. I can thoroughly recommend these, they are fantastic. I can post some links to info if you want some more info, let me know.

Our daughter comes with us and loves it, often asks what jobs she can do or just entertains herself playing her own little games, etc. She is very helpful so I would encourage your children to help out. Maybe set aside a bit for them to look after - a bit of a wildlife area maybe or herb garden, or dirt track for some toy cars, and let them do what they want there.

We’ve been where you are and you will continue to succeed and be organic. Take the advice you agree with from fellow allotment holders and leave the rest (spraying with chemicals etc). We’ve had some strange looks about our way of growing on our plot but now have people coming and asking about these methods as they have seen them be successful. We still have weeds, but you grow to live with them and just keep on top of them with mulching, and not letting them flower/seed everywhere.

Happy to help with any other stuff, hope some of my thoughts have helped too. There are some good sites online you can read up on no-dig systems, happy to offer links if you want more.

Good luck,
Dawn x

Here’s the post which describes in more detail the organic weed-control process we followed:
http://questionersgardentime.blogspot.com/2008/11/converting-derelict-allotment-plot-1.html
best
w.w.

Thanks for the inspiration we are going to re use a plot that hasn’t been used for a couple of years and it is just crazy buddlia nettles brambles etc etc, everytime i look at it I just shake my head, but it’s nice to know it can be done

Permaculture wise it’s mulch, mulch, mulch and like Eden says plant seeds in amongst mulch. It has certainly worked on our veg plot and flower beds. Cardboard and manure is fantastic, or old woolen carpets or jumpers. And definitely avoid digging and rotavating. Good luck