Overgrown wasteland of allotment - worth it?!

bha.fatboy

Any tyre place will have old tyres that they just throw away and are happy for you to take them. We stack 4 on top of each other to grow potato in
As for water butts register with freecycle and keep an eye on it and you will get one before long. I have 2 on my plot and a compost bin all from freecycly but you have to be quick
It sounds really good and yyou will have to keep up with the posts as it is good to see how others are getting on

bha.fatboy

Yes I agree with heather about feeding the soil with some sort of manure or compost to replace the nutrients in the soil or in a few years you will find nothing will grow at all. I even get my Manure for free now so am doing really well with my plot

Destined_to_be_skint

LOL! This sounds like my allotment! Got it a couple of months ago and finally started digging a few weeks ago. Managed to clear a 2m x 7m plot over the weekend and by god did my body complain about it the next day! Slow work but it's satifying to see the bare earth compared with the grass/brambles on the rest of it!!

I will be taking the easy route and covering half of it with black sheeting as I just don't have the time, I'll be pleased if I manage 1/4 of the plot this year, but I am the proud owner of 172 square metres!

Was debating a digging party too but I'mnot sure everyone will be so thorough after a few beers!

lianne1978

This thread is great!

I became the proud owner of an allotment on Sunday and I can say it looks just like wasteland! Its 83 sq metres of mounds and mounds of rotting veg, glass, a greenhouse that's falling down, an inside door, carpet and a couple of blankets. But we love it, it is a 2 min walk from our house, has our very own water tap and is in a really lovely location.

We took the children tonight and my 8 year old was so enthusiastic, he didn't notice all the rubbish, just focused on where his raised bed is going that huge pumpkin he wants to grow for Halloween!

rach2403

Thanks for all your advice!

I am going down again tomorrow on my own to see about where we should plant things - does anyone have any advice they'd be willing to pass on specifically about what grows well with what? For example is there anything that will keeps the bugs off anything else?

I'm guessing for at least this year we're going to make loads of mistakes and spend next year learning from them!!!

Thanks,
Rachel

P.S I've noticed my tyre is looking quite bald, will be off to the tyre place tomorrow to get it checked and hopefully scrounge a couple of old ones!!

heather38

plant onions and garlic with carrots to deter carrot fly.
plant fast crops between the rows of slow growers like leeks to maximise space.
plant flowers near strawberrys/peas to attract bees for pollination.

Destined_to_be_skint

Hi folks. in March I was lucky enough to get my mitts on an allotment that hadn't been cultivated in years. The council did a slash job cutting all the brambles down to the ground for me and I set to digging the roots up. Due to the enormous size of the plot (26m x 7m) this soon proved to be beyond my capabilites despite my dad and boyfriend coming to help on occasion!

As I wanted to go down the organic route I haven't sprayed it but stuck a black tarpaulin down on half of it, which someone gave me. Seems to be doing the trick, so I am wondering if anyone on here has tracked down the cheapest source of buying tarpaulin as I need to get another one to smother the other half.

My main problem weeds are brambles, dock, nettles, bindweed (thankfully not as bad as my garden!) and couch grass. Not so bothered about the annual weeds as I can just hoe them off (providing my neighbours keep their plots in check!) What can I do about the brambles, some are impossible to dig up - have huge two foot craters where I've tried to get to the roots!

The good news is so far this year I've grown potatoes, mange tout, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes (currently green!), pumpkins and spinach.

So my questions are:

1) Who sells the cheapest tarpaulin, and
2) How do you kill brambles?

powershopper

Don't know too much about tarps, but the guy with the allotment at the bottom of our garden cleared all the weeds using a huge piece of old bedroom carpet. He left it on the ground for a while, then rolled it back, and cultivated a strip at a time. Boy, has he got good crops this year!!!
If you haven't got any old carpet, try your local Freecycle site, mine always seems to have someone trying to get rid!
Cant help with brambles, but if you can't kill them, try making friends!!! Train up a wire and gather the fruits.
Good luck

Destined_to_be_skint

Thanks powershopper! Need to rejoin Freecycle!

vfairbrass

Make sure the carpet is natural not artificial fibres or rubber type backings otherwise you'll have problems. I think you can test by lighting a flame against the fibres and if they melt don't use it.
You could use a thick layer of newspaper or cardboard as suggested on this very good site :

http://www.keirg.freeserve.co.uk/diary/tech/mulch.htm

Valerie