The previous tenants (bloke who died of a heart attack last year, widow had a car accident a little while afterwards & gave it up) left behind some sheets of black plastic, plywood, & some carpet tiles. A small area was covered with these. There are also cold frames, a double compost bin, various plastic & metal bins (some bottomless), baskets, netting & fleece (safe in one of the bins).
We got onto it on Sunday, & found all this stuff.
The previously covered area is now dug over, & the contents of the compost bin dug into it (it needed it).
The plastic sheeting etc is now spread over some of the beds, weighted down with bricks & breezeblocks left on the plot.
Lots of vegetation has been cleared. The compost bin has been refilled, as have some of the bottomless dustbins. The green cone with a lid (there's another one with the lid missing) has been dug in to a sunny spot & filled with bits of bramble, in the hope that it'll get hot enough to kill off everything inside.
A pretty good start, we thought. But unfortunately the bloody neighbour who offered to share the allotment with us is now having second thoughts - AFTER we spent hours working on it, & lending her & her girlfriend our tools! Mrs B reckons that she may have realised that she'll be giving up some control, & since she's not had much in her life that's under her control, this is something she wants to hang on to.
Ah well. We'll see. No point hassling her. She'll just retreat in silent confusion & fear. She's like that. Only thing to do is wait & see if she has third thoughts.