New allotments Autumn 2010 Chat

miss_peekaboo

i was told by my farmer friend that roughly you should have 1m squared per chicken but as has been said before the more the better.

if they roam they will come back to roost in their coop at night but they will destroy anything u have planted so be careful!

dogcat_2

Hi everyone,
I went to the allotment today for an hour.....I know it wasn't long...but I had so much clearing to do ...it wore me out!...Got rid of most of the weeds, I am going back tommorow for another burst..hopefully by next week it should be ready. Im gonna start off with some garlic and onions. Hopefully the weather tommorow is going to be as good as it was today!

loucroft

Hey dogcat an hour is good, if you can do that even just three times a week then you will have sussed it, of course for huge plots then more time needed but the old fellas ( sorry, their pet name! ) tell me that short regular bursts are better than irregular visits

Good luck, once you've had a few weeks of hour visits you'll be fit to go!!!

loucroft

Ooh please can anyone advise, I can google it but rather have your input !

Have I a chance in hell of growing / attempting avocado? ( don't laugh !!)

ta everyone

TizerCat

Hello all can I join?

Have had my allotment since 2nd Oct so 3 weeks Am loving it ! hope the winter weather holds off for as long as possible so I can get the beds dug and covered. Have my own GG's so a free supply of manure all they ask is a share of the carrots

dogcat_2

Hi all,
haven't been to see 'Lottie' (thats my nickname for my allotment) :Dfor a while..as the weather here has been awful. Hope to get there in the coming week. Hows everyone doing?

CommitedToChange

I spent a couple of hours on my lottie today double digging another 5 foot by 5 foot square, its hard going due to the clay soil - huge lumps of proper grey clay! I haven't been for a while either as when I was free it was raining - boo hiss. As it is areas of my lottie have big puddles, but I suspect that this is due to the ground being compressed from the diggers (after they cleared the brambles) and my digging in of sand and compost will solve the problem.

I was well chuffed to see that the green manure I sowed on the area that I have dug so far has started sprouting. I can grow something (even if it is just green manure) :T

Hope everyone is sticking to the little and often mantra - and I would certainly like the winter weather to stay clear, at least until I get most of the allotment dug over. (I'll settle for half at this point)

Happy lottieing everyone :beer:

TizerCat

Did some more Sunday. It takes alot longer than I thought just to dig a 8 x 4 foot patch. Had 4 sacks of couch grass roots out of that! lucky for me soil is good on top of chalk so well drained. My thoughts are with you digging clay! Still it sounds like it will be easier in future years after this preparation your doing.

dogcat_2

Hi all,
Well I was hoping....to go and see Lottie today...but the weather here is awful...been raining all through the night...and still raining now.:eek: So I can just imagine what its gonna be like. Just waiting for it to stop raining for a few days and I'll be there. I've got some heavy cardboard that I'm gonna put down to stop the dreaded weeds once I've finished digging. I heard that thats a good alternative to black stuff..as it will eventually break down into the earth....Happy digging to all those that have ventured out!:beer:

CommitedToChange

Sadly it is raining here too - shame as I wanted to do another square - TizerCat - it certainly takes longer than I thought it would - 1 1/2 hrs to clear my square, but I'm only doing this once the I'm setting up raised beds :-D