Second time around - advice on getting started on my second plot.

[herculean_perspective]

Hello all, just joined, I'm in Sheffield and am just awaiting a key for my second allotment.  The first one was a bit of a disaster: it was on a locked 'compound' so it was impossible to view it and when I got the key it turned out to be far larger than I had appreciated (60m+ x 20m) and too big for the time I had and moreover in need of a 'detox' before it was possible to build anything.  The previous tenant had utilised (probably wisely) about half of the plot - the rest was a mess, the remains (3 bath tubs full of glass plus a lot of wood) of the probably lovely Edwardian greenhouses (x4) originally built on each plot and subsequently prey for vandals, etc., about half a ton of scrap metal, a fair weight of asbestos/cement tiles, building rubble, 300+ bricks (I lost count), loads of domestic waste, etc.  I spent most of the year that I had the plot just trying to clear it, get it all in a decent state, did a bit of planting but it was a losing battle, Council offered no help, etc., etc.  Then we moved house (made it a 30 minute drive in each direction), then we had a baby and it seemed only fair to hand the keys back as we never had time to go down there.  However, loved the peacefulness, the tranquillity and everything that we grew.

Six months later we've not got a new plot, half the size, two minutes walk from home, can't see any rubble, 'composted' buildings, etc. on this one but it is does have a year or two of weeds, a few brambles and it's not the best time to start on a new plot, at least in the sense I don't expect any crops until next summer.  What I'm wondering is, where to begin.  Last time I just attacked it, bit of digging, bit of wedding, lots of time extracting and sorting waste no real method and it was a fire fight from start to finish.  With good weather on my side I'm thinking this time it can be different.  So, where to start, what tools and how to prepare some slightly neglected ground for next spring?  Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

[herculean_perspective]

[pigeonseed]

Congratulations. You'll probably be fine as long as you keep on at it. Last time you had a baby and lived too far away, so if now you can get down there once a week, you'll do ok.

Everyone approaches things differently, but I tend to dig a little, plant a little, dig a little, plant a little. Some people like to clear the whole plot, and then start building structures and landscaping and filling their immaculate plots with neat rows of veg. ( smug b***ds  ::) ;D)

If you clear a patch now, you could sow oriental greens, dwarf french beans, beetroot, lettuce etc. You;d have a crop before Autumn. That might be a bit more cheerful than what happened at your last plot?

[RenishawPhil]

Get a proper mattock!  Where Bouts in Sheffield is your plot?.I used to live in Sheffield and still use Sheffield forum, people always moaning no allotments available!

[pigeonseed]

Yes I forgot about the tools bit - I agree mattock or azada. It's so much faster and easier to break new ground.

[pumkinlover]

Welcome HP
from another ex- dee daa ;)

[lincsyokel2]

If you win the Euromillions you can employ a gardener............

No seriously.

I would smother it all. Mow it all over as short as you can, then cover every square inch with black plastic sheet, wait a couple of months for the weeds to die down, then clear it in small patches, dig, wait for the weeds to resprout, then recovering with plastic, until the whole thing has been weeded and recovered. The recovering has the added bonus of not only killing the new baby weeds and helping get rid of viable weed seeds, but it stops the nutrients leaching out over winter. Then next spring, uncover a patch, quickly dig over, plant, and slowly uncover it all.

[antipodes]

I like a mixture of this advice! Keep in mind that around late august, september the weeds start to die back...
I would strim it, cover as much as possible digging out really tough stuff like bramble first (seriously, get a pickaxe! best tool I have found for attacking overgrown areas) and then, with samer pickaxe, dig oover a small patch and get cracking on some salad, lamb's lettuce, late spinach, even late French beans if in before end of July etc so at least you have something to show. Then you have the fallow period to plan it out, maybe plant some fruit bushes in the autumn if that is what you want, garlic too in November, and then start sloooowly digging over the rest at the end of the winter. Your onions and shallots will go in first, end winter so get that patch sorted.
Enjoy your new space!