Just got an allotment (Merged)

albacore1854

Apparently if you compost, only use veg/fruit/flower waste. Egg shells attract the little critters.

I think the rat population is greater than it ever has been, and with the warmer winters, the numbers are only increasing.

I mulch with paper/cardboard and straw or muck between rows, and I don't have a problem.As with all things if you have clear lines of sight, with no accumulations of rubbish, or piles of things.They won't settle.They like cover, so keep all piles of wood etc, raised up off the ground.Never lay corrugated iron down, they really love that, it warms up in the sun, and keeps them warm all night.

tenuissent

In anwer to the question about whether it is worth asking for allotments beyond your own immediate town or village: my first allotment in my village is small and on a site too crowded for expansion, so I googled all the local ones. My new one is 5 miles away in a small town and the council didn't mind at all that I didn't live in that town. It would have helped that this site is almost deserted - 4 active allotments, 2 or 3 being swamped by the meadow, and a lot of lovely empty space.

I have 7 grandsons (newborn - 11), and one of the reasons I chose this meadow is that they can run wild on it without annoying anyone. Some of us spent many happy hours over the holiday there, lighting camp fires, cooking sausages, bacon, marshmallow etc, building a hasty shelter when it rained, and constructing a mini-allotment (lasagna method) full of broad beans and daffodils. It beat arguing over what to watch on television. One of the many benefits of allotments.

full-time-mum

albacore1854 wrote:

Forgot to add, when mulching with cardboard, carpet etc, have to take a bit of care, rats love it.

I'm sure you aren't supposed to use carpet on allotments as the chemicals in the carpet leach into the soil. Can't remember where I read that but it MAY have been in Gardener's World Mag which I subscribe to.

albacore1854

full-time-mum wrote:

I'm sure you aren't supposed to use carpet on allotments as the chemicals in the carpet leach into the soil. Can't remember where I read that but it MAY have been in Gardener's World Mag which I subscribe to.

Hurrah, lets hope they ban it, it looks awful, not like a nice well dug plot.

tenuissent

I've certainly read forum hate mail from people who inherited a neglected allotment with pieces of strong, rubbery, smelly carpet embedded in a thick mat of weeds and nearly impossible to dig out.

albacore1854

as for the people who use old carpet tiles, what exactly is going through their minds when they put that rubber on the ground, surely they don't think it will rot.That's nearly as bad as broken canes poked through cardboard to hold it down.

If you're going to lay down cardboard, you need at least 2-3'' of wet straw on top of it otherwise some poor individual as to collect your cardboard from the fence the wind is holding it against

katskorner

old carpet works well with paths but not for mulch. That would be madness. I use carpet to line my paths between beds and then I cover it with at least four inches of wood chippings which I keep topped up throughout the year. It keeps the paths clear and looks nice and tidy and gives easy access to the beds.

tenuissent

I weigh my cardboard down with bags of perennial weeds that are slowly turning into compost. Looks awful but keeps the cardboard in place. Within a year I hope to have cleared the whole allotment so it will look more nromal.

hazelize_uk

We too have just taken a 10 'pole' allotment why are your plots measured in 'rods'! is it a locality thing! anyway we got the keys a week ago and have had 3 full days clearing and beginning the dig (the proper way!) been growing veg in our garden for a while so not completely new to it, but we cant wait to get going with it!!

The other allotmenteers have been really helpful and all seem a friendly bunch, all I need now is my body to get use to this extra exercise!!

charlies_mum

I've got my key, so next week the hard work starts - just hope the snow holds off !