Need some motivation please!!!

rosie383

Thank you Elsien.
I can't put carpet as it isn't allowed on our site and experienced gardeners say that it is a nightmare to remove as it gets very heavy with muck and worms!! I am going to put cardboard weighed down on some bits.
On a bright note, I put a request on Freecycle and have been offered an old pallet and some chicken wire! Happy!

rosie383

Wee update. I finally got off my bum and faced up to the allotment. The last time I was up there was just a bit less than 2 weeks ago when I cleared an area of weeds.
I went up yesterday with the wee bits of wire and pallets we were given and was horrified to find that the weeds were about waist high!!!!!!!!!
Well, sent kids off with dh and spent hours tackling the weeds. First thing I have to do is get decent gardening gloves. My hands and arms were on fire from nettle stings. They were actually covered in small blisters. They just seemed to go straight through my gloves!
Anyhoo, thanks to your encouragement on here, I stuck at it until I had to go home and make dinner. Got lots done at least.
Now I am motivated to do it. I had forgotten how therapeutic it is to spend hours in the dirt and go home aching but happy and not feeling lazy!
My plan today.... dh and I are going to go and weed some more. I think I will bring my shears and tackle an area of thistle and other weeds in the middle, then, as was suggested, cover it with cardboard and stones. It will look much better. Then we can get on with properly clearing an area to plant my spuds. get it dug over etc. Kids going off to play with friends tomorrow, so i will get more done then.

I was asking another lady on the site what she does with all her weeds when she has to clear lots of them. She said she puts down a path of newspapers and piles the weeds in it and just keeps walking on it. She has ended up with quite nice paths all around by doing this. Does it seem like a good idea? If not, what do i do with all the weeds? I have huge piles of them.

Sambucus_Nigra

You need to get one of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000LFXV2I/ref=oss_product

You can use it to chop up the soil, and just rake out the weeds. My OH dug a trench in about 30 seconds yesterday, when it would have taken at least 10-15 mins with a spade.

Weeds, so many different things you can do with them! As long as you stop them from flowering or rooting again, do what suits. I like the path idea! We have sawdust on weedfabric on ours but getting hold of the sawdust is getting a little harder these days.

Lotus-eater

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

You need to get one of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000LFXV2I/ref=oss_product

You can use it to chop up the soil, and just rake out the weeds. My OH dug a trench in about 30 seconds yesterday, when it would have taken at least 10-15 mins with a spade.

I don't know what the quality is like, but silverline stuff is usually cheap.
This guy http://www.get-digging.co.uk/tools.htm does the real deal, I have one and although I don't use it enough, it is a great bit of kit.

splodger_seedswapper

glad you had a good session up the plot - although it is hard work - it is very therapeutic, so well done for getting stuck in

re what to do with weeds - you can dry them and burn them or dry them and compost them. (this is my preferred method of getting rid of weeds)

you can drown weeds (takes about 3 to 6 months apparently for them to break down - then can be composted)

nettles make a really good plant food - put them in a water butt / barrel and let them stew

i like the idea of just walking on them - but there is the possibility that they will just grow on the paths

on one of the allotment sites i use - they have a trailer sited there, where plot holders can dump all of their green waste - this then goes to a local chap who has an energy digestor at his home - he uses the green waste to create electricity and as a by-product the green waste is returned to the site as lovely compost

Lotus-eater

rosie383 wrote: »

Thank you for the encouragement. The thing is, we may move this year, or early next year, that is why I don't want to invest too much if I have to go away and leave it.

The thing is about allotments or veg gardening at home, it's not a one off deal. It takes time and money/effort, to set up a growing space and years to get it right.
It's all an investment for future years. A one year growing spot isn't worth any investment, or infrastructure set up.
So dig and plant what you can, but don't bother with stuff like rhubarb, which you are never going to harvest anyway, then you can give it up at the end of the year and next year someone else can have a go.

Sambucus_Nigra

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I don't know what the quality is like, but silverline stuff is usually cheap.
This guy http://www.get-digging.co.uk/tools.htm does the real deal, I have one and although I don't use it enough, it is a great bit of kit.

It may be cheap but it's fab!

If it hadn't got through solid clay at our lottie last night, then it would have gone back....but it was excellent.

rosie383

What you think of as cheap.... my dh wouldn't! Unfortunately :-( And as I am a housewife, and he is the breadwinner and saver, he has all the money. I'm hoping he can get something at the car boot tomorrow, and I have already planned his afternoon for him. Either he can look after the kids while watching footie, or he can get up there and start digging himself.

valk_scot

rosie383 wrote: »

. First thing I have to do is get decent gardening gloves. My hands and arms were on fire from nettle stings. They were actually covered in small blisters. They just seemed to go straight through my gloves!
.

IMHO the best gloves are the cotton ones that are dipped in rubber right the way up to the back of the wrists. You can usually get them in a range of sizes in PoundStretcher etc for two or three pounds. Normally green, but you can get fancier colours and more expensive ones in garden centres. For brambles you need leather riggers gloves.

Also get an old long sleeved shirt to wear while pulling out nettles and button up the cuffs. Cotton is fine, cool to wear and protects against the sun too while still being firm enough to deflect most nettle stings. It's worth getting a shirt asap...the charity shop will provide...because the more you get stung by nettles the more sensitive you get to them. I fell into a nettle patch a few years ago and got my upper chest, neck and arms badly stung and since then I can barely tolerate any stings at all without antihistamines.

The plan of heaping weeds on newspaper is good. But don't waste it on paths. Mark off a few beds with sticks and string, cut down the weeds to ground level and leave them lying. Cover with several layers of newspaper and pile more weeds on top. Aim for a 6" thick layer of weeds then cover with more newspaper and net or bricks. The weeds will take a wee while to rot down but it will get them out the way and next spring (got to think long term here) you can just plant straight into them.

Other beds just clear them and cover with cardboard. You'll plant into them in a couple of months.

Don't bother much with path areas. Cover them with cardboard again and walk on that.

In fact, my advice is to think beds rather than rows and get the plot marked out asap with sticks and string. My neighbour took over a very weedy plot, did this on my recommendation and she said it made her feel far more organised immediately. It's more motivating to say "I cleared three beds today" rather than feeling you just made a small dent in the general mess. And as soon as you clear a bed you can plant it up, remember. You don't need to edge it with anything, just loosen up the soil and get the weeds out, sprinkle on a handful of Growmore or blood and bonemeal, rake in well, take out any stones and plant. Move the strings up to knee height once planted and the kids won't trip on them.

You can plant potatoes straight through cardboard btw. Lay it down on a cleared bed, weigh down with bricks, cut X shapes in at 12-15" spacing for earlies, 15-18" for maincrops then plant the potato through the hole with a bulb planter. I do this quite a lot and there's no need for earthing up as the cardboard keeps the light away from the spuds.

I manage a huge plot on my own btw, no input at all from Hubby and very little from my kids. As a middle aged woman with a dodgy back I've had to develop a lot of short cuts! No-dig beds, covering the ground as much as possible, bit of weedkiller on main paths and a flame gun for fast weeding are all useful in keeping the work down.

Sally_A

The best gloves I've ever used were bramble proof and nettle proof, they are the thick treated rubber ones used by flat roofers handling bitumen.

They make your hands sweat a bit, but are practically bullet proof.

glove link at Screwfix:-

http://www.screwfix.com/c/safety-workwear/gloves/cat850338