[Kitchen Cottage]

I live in Essex Clay, which gets waterlogged and sodden.  I was told not to turn it over in this condition as it will damage the structure of the soil.  Its still VERY wet but not under water.  Firm enough to stand on but still sticking quite a lot to my wellies.

How dry does it have to be to start digging over?  I am ITCHING to get going because this year is my first real allotment year....

 

[MikeM]

yup, too wet to dig. I work in the basic principle that if I turn over a forkful and it doesn't crumble then it's too wet. What you can do is spread over compost or manure ready for when it dries out a bit more. I feel you pain, I also am itching to get on with digging.

[MAK]

I hae started digging  - voltarol cream and pain killers for breakfast to dull the back pain. I rather over did things becuase I was enjoying 2 days of sun. As above - I had spread manure prior to digging.

[Kitchen Cottage]

My allotment had pigs in it all last year.... I don't think it needs any more manure  

[Ina]

My allotment had pigs in it all last year.... I don't think it needs any more manure

Didn't they do the digging for you, too?

[Kitchen Cottage]

There were weeds the little beggars wouldn't eat ... and there is still rubble in there from builders 5 years ago, so I want to weed it properly and get out all the rubble by hand rather than rotavate.... My sad experience has been if I rotavate I will just cut up roots of weeds and give them a fab start to the year!  This year is a propa weeding year!!

[Marches Farmer]

Have you got any old carpet, hessian sacks, heavy cardboard or, at a pinch, old newspapers you can weight down over it?  This will warm the soil, encourage worms to surface, and dry it out.  It will also keep the soil structure intact and smother emerging weeds, which will die and further enrich the soil.  And your back will be OK.

[Kitchen Cottage]

Manches.... my allotment is massive!  I can't see this happening, its 3/4 of an acre... I shall have to be more patient.  I'll try the far soil at the weekend.  That seems to drain first .

[MikeM]

3/4 acre?!? that's not an allotment, that's a farm!!!
 
seriously, where did you find an allotment that size?

[Kitchen Cottage]

On my farm....

My allotment is a paddock area that I'm turning into an allotment this year.  I tried last year and got about a third of it going but this year a friend is planning to help me and plant some of it out....

It's ambitious certainly.....

I dug it over at the end of last year and got a lot of the rubble out but my plan is to keep at it regularly a bit more each day after the initial turn over.......

[MikeM]

heh, nice one. That's kind of my plan as well, our vege patch in total is about 1/4 acre, but so far I only have 1/2 of it cultivated, I add a bit each year to the cultivation. My plan for this year was to double the size, we currently have 6 20 * 5 foot beds and to make the beds a bit longer, but the weather is so far putting that on hold. I reckon if we don't get too much rain it should be workable by the weekend, with luck.