Any foliage remaining on the plants can be added to your compost bin or heap ready to be used as compost in the future. Now is a good time to go over the harvested areas and remove any obvious stones or perennial weeds to prevent them from causing you problems next Spring. Remove any plastic plant row markers and either discard or save for use again next year. Fold up and store your redundant horticultural fleece and netting as this too can be used again next year. By now your runner and French beans will more than likely have virtually stopped producing beans, and may well have begun to die down.
This is a good time to remove the bamboo canes for storage over the winter. The easiest way to remove them quickly is to cut the string or ties that hold the canes together, then cut the plants stems at ground level. Lift the bottom of the canes out of the ground and then pulling from the bottom slide the canes free of the plants. A rotavator, however much of a shortcut, means beginners can get going virtually from day one and begin their journey towards the amazing buzz of harvesting homegrown produce.
Of course, weeds come back but clearing a plot by hand can take more than two seasons, and any decision should rest on how quickly you want a productive plot. The romantic in me loves the idea of taking time to return a plot to production, free of weeds and with a lovely, fertile soil structure. Cover the plot with some kind of weed suppressant membrane and dig it over a bit at a time. Leave the rest and grow in pots if needs be until you are able to dig it over — when you can manage it.
At our allotments a guy two years running just rotivated his plot. It looked amasing when he did it. All planted up with perfect looking soil. After a year with my new plot, I have given in and rotovated it. I had to — it was simply not diggable by hand, even with a mattock to start things off. Please login or register. News: Picture posting is enabled for all :.
Pages: [ 1 ] 2. Author Topic: To rotavate or not? Read times. Following on from the "dig or no dig? If this is a repeat, maybe someone could give me a link to a previous thread. Posts: I'll probably get shot down in flames for this, however, if you've bags of spare time you could dig it a little at a time weather permitting. Will likely take you all winter but is cheaper than gym fees. If ground is too wet you could damage the soil structure if you're as tubby as me, that is.
Rotovators chop up the roots of perennial weeds and spread them all over the place. How about trying to remove the worst of the perennial weeds by hand if you can spot 'em at this time of year , then send the rotovator in. There are a few threads, if you do a search.
Most people will say no, don't do it, but mine was rotavated twice before I took over in late August and I am still grateful for it - while the rotavation chops up perennial roots, it also made the ground very easy to work. As I was taking things very slowly, first clearing some brambles in the part that wasn't rotavated, then digging over one bed at a time on the bit that had been, I found that it was worthwhile to make the work a bit less backbreaking.
However, that was my particular experience on a particular plot at that time of year; if you have boundless energy and time I'd say do it the hard way, as I still have to dig out all the perennial roots now they've grown back! On the upside, I sowed green manure ryegrass on the area that had been rotavated which I knew I wouldn't get to last year, and that seems to have kept down the rest of the weeds incredibly successfully, though I do get laughed at for having a small football pitch it's all you can see from the main path.
For myself I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use being anything else. Moggle Hectare Posts: 1, My island home is waiting for me. Quote from: monkey puzzle on January 10, , Lottie-less until I can afford a house with it's own garden.
I find rotovators really difficult to use successfully and I hate the noise and the stench of petrol fumes. I think I'd rather just dig, sweat and listen to the birds. Sometimes start out with the pickaxe if the ground is particularly hard. Tillers are ideal to use when leveling a large area of your yard.
These machines are effective when you need to prepare the soil for planting. Unfortunately, existing turf will not break up readily thereby making it harder work to rotovate or dig. So, remove the old turf and if you have a place to store it then do so as it will eventually rot down and make a great compost or top dressing later on.
Ideas so far include: bird-netting dump the soil on top, then lift the netting ; this might be hard work when it comes to breaking up clumps of soil? Allotments are usually leased for the period of one year , although they can be renewed indefinitely. For all the positives that having an allotment and growing your own brings there are also downsides. There is no gain without pain and unfortunately this goes for you and your allotment.
Growing your own food is hard work , enjoyable hard work. Sow seeds indoors ready for planting out next month — or when you're sure there will be no further frosts. Leaf vegetables. Leeks and onions. Lettuces and other salad crops.
Peas and broad beans. French and runner beans. Should i use a rotavator on my allotment? Asked by: Valentina Willms.
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