When you start out with a new allotment it typically looks something like this. I must admit though, I consider myself lucky with this one as it is a lot better than some I have seen! You can see in the foreground a pile of thistles and the like which I have pulled up. Because of all the rain they came up easily, which his a blessing.

This is my second allotment and I’m starting afresh with a nice crop of weeds! As you can see, the first job is to tidy it up and clear away the weeds. I had two choices when I started – I could either rotavate the plot or I could do it the old fashioned way. After weighing up the pros and cons and seeing just how many persistent weeds there are on the plot I do not want to rotavate it. Rotavation will shred the roots of these persistent weeds which will make spring time a weed fest!

I’ve decided to manually dig it so that I can get all the roots / stones out. These allotments are notorious stony but hopefully the previous occupants removed most of the stones for me. By manually digging I can clear the weeds properly so that it will be easier to manage in spring time. There isn’t any hurry to clear this allotment so I can take my time and do it properly. My winter onions / garlic will go on the other allotment and this one will start with spring crops next year.

Here’s another picture of the allotment … I’ll be removing all persistent weeds and leaving the rest to compost in a pile in the corner.