Allotment

On Gardners World, the local authority sent in a digger to scrape the surface weeds off the soil. It left loads of weed roots behind tho. Me, I'd hire a rotavator and just turn the weeds back into the soil. Regular weeding and cultivation should reduce them in time. re costs, I have no idea, but London suggests to me astronomical costs!

Sid get some old black polythene sheeting, or old floor carpet, enough to cover the area or do it in sections.
Make sure the ends are held down to stop light getting in.
This will kill off anything grass or weeds. If the grass is really high then hire a heavy duty strimming machine and rake it off and pile it up to dry and burn. Then why do you want to pay some one else to dig it. That's part of the reason for getting an allotment, exercise!

You dont have to dig it all over at once.

Good luck
Wisteria

Erm.....firstly it was Ban asking the question and not me! Secondly, I suggested hiring a rotavator - not a person WITH a rotavator (I've used one and it is in fact very good excercise!) Thirdly, with plants entering their dormant period very soon, putting polythene or carpet over them now will only serve to protect them over the winter - when you take it off in the spring when you want to start planting, the weeds will just take off again. Fourthly - just by way of showing off a bit - have a look at my photos page - I've posted lots of pictures of the veggies from my own veggie patch! Te he he..... ;-)

Having got an allotment (in London) in march this year which was heavily invested with both bramble and couch grass. We have clear about 2 thirds and have had great success with both potatoes (whic themselves cleared lotes of the weeds by the earthing up and ground cover) along with marrows beans and tomatoes). The allotment had been derelict for about 20 years. My wife and I did this by hand and the best tool is a hoe (has about a 5ft handle with an 8" blade at right angles to the handle look at grape hoe on the web). This cuts the grass roots out like turf. I rotavated a similar plot some years ago and all I did was spread the weeds. I sectioned out manageable bits and did it bit by bit. A soon as i had and area fairly clean i put spuds in. It's a great time to do it now and maybe get some braod beans in for the winter