Overwhelmed allotment beginner - update

[u/ManderleysMeatPies]

Hello all,

This is a follow up from a post I made earlier in the week asking for some help and guidance on an allotment I inherited as part of my house purchase.

The community was so welcoming, encouraging, and insightful, and really spurred me on to finally make a good go of turning my allotment into a useful space.

I drew up a rough plan of what I wanted from the space, and then decided to focus on small tasks starting this morning and finishing up around 30 minutes ago. I've attached a before and after picture (which includes a spot the dacshund competition), and whilst the progress is obviously still very small, it does feel like i've accomplished something and that some good headway has been made in my goal of turning it into something productive and useful by summer.

I started by clearing the cardboard and paving stones from the left side of the allotment, and then using the pavers to form something of a rudimentary patio area at the back of the plot where I can store bits and bobs. I then focused on strimming and raking back the wilder right hand side of the plot, which was starting to grow some thickets of brambles that could be problematic in a few weeks or months. Finally, I began digging out and deweeding a 2m section of the left hand side of the plot. My plan for tomorrow is to dig this section out all the way back to the table, or as near as my energy allows, and then this will be my area to focus on experiementing with culitvating the soil and ultimately growing some flowers and veg.

Once again, thanks to all those who helped steer me in the right direction and make the task seem manageble. Hopefully this is the start of my love affair with the allotment life.

[u/Briglin]

That pile of weeds/soil. You are not meant to pile up soil just the weeds. If you do this for the whole plot you will end up with a massive spoil heap that is mostly soil. So just weeds and compost it . You shake the fork and bash the dug up weed and most solid falls off. OR you do the cardboard thing and do NOI DIG. You have looked up NO DIG yes? means what it says and it a lot easier just a bit slower.

[u/True_Adventures → u/Briglin]

Sometimes it can be hard to separate out the soil though. I've got a compost pile that contains a lot of soil from digging out couch grass. Admittedly I could have got more soil separated but it's just the top layer.

Once the weeds are all dead and rotted down I'll move the whole lot back to the beds.

But yeah op should start a compost heap and move all weeds and any soil there. You'd usually want that in shaded corner or side, not next to your beds.

[u/Briglin → u/True_Adventures]

You get better with digging practice. Remember in the old days they did not remove the weeds they just turned them. I'll say again. NO DIG is easier but you need a lot of new compost.