OS gardening/allotmenteering - traditions, money saving and savvy ideas

fuddle

I think in terms of illness, having winter veg interspersed with summer veg and different varieties means I won't be clearing large beds together in damp cold conditions. It also means square foot gardening will mean working on a square foot basis with a hand tool. I wouldn't need to push my heart with heavy digging which I'm not supposed to do.

I'm also thinking about weed control. At the moment I have to hoe a lot, specifically because I'm new and have disturbed soil and the weed seeds within, but if each square foot is working to it's full potential then there's little open soil for seedlings to get comfortable in, theoretically lessening the work load.

It means I can use companion planting to help ward off pests as well.

I hear what you're all saying about not taking any notice of others but other people have ruined what was supposed to be my quiet happy place and I'm not really feeling fully fit in my mind to be able to go through it all again next year but I have proved the neysayers wrong this past season so maybe they'll just shush AND I have got a new plot neighbour. I'm not afraid to give a quick quip back to comments and have done but you know when you just want a peaceful life?

I think the sensible thing to research these next few months, specifically carrot root fly and cabbage white butterfly protection because these are problematic for me but actually, I'm quite excited to even be giving the idea more of an opportunity not least as a way of gardening when I'm having a rough health period.

[Deleted User]

FUDDLE make your own mistakes at least they'll be honest ones and you'll learn from them don't try to slavishly follow all the conflicting advice given by 'experienced' allotmenteers but find your own way of doing things, it's much better that way.

buildersdaughter

Thank you, especially the book recommendations.
It does occur to me that maybe this thread should be in 'green fingered' forum, but I like it here!

fuddle

It could well be in the green fingered forum but I try to live in a very OS way and see the value in doing things the old way - using up, making do, the value in adding nutrients to soil without the modern take on the issue, the crafty ideas, where urine could be valued as a nitrogen rich fertiliser, how to garden without plastic and all the things OSers know in their sleep.

I do frequent the green fingers forum on MSE but I know OSers can offer something a bit more in terms of clever and inspiring ideas.

Cappella

We've been thinking about water. If we have another heatwave it will be at a premium on our plots so in the spirit of 'use what you have' we have manoeuvred a bath some charmer dumped on the playing field :mad: a week ago onto the plots and sited it behind our greenhouse. It is hidden from street view but MrC and sonC have fenced it with a pallet fence which we have stained sage green and planted with cyclamens. It still looks like a bath, but it's being used constructively and our council inspector is unlikely to object.
One idiots rubbish really can be another mans treasure, but we are lucky as our council are very unlikely to object, as long as it's not an eyesore.
If I can work out how I'll put a photo up.

-taff

Perhaps instead of getting anxious abut comments directed at you when you do things differently, see them as they're just concerned you may not get a harvest. And really, it's time to stop worrying about what other people say, you are definitely old enough to know better, or at least know there are alternative methods to do just about anything that gets you to the same result regardless

fuddle

-taff thank you for your comment. I've had a year of sexist hell from some of the plot holders. I've suffered sabotage, lies, being reported to the warden, I've endured racist rants, local gossip and had to endure stories about another women plot holder being called the allotment bike because she wore shorts and then the lady who took her plot had to cope with being shouted at in the street due to having an opinion. It followed me home and I had to endure verbal abuse over my own wall due to me cleaning my windows. Housewives shouldn't have a plot, they're for retired men and I have had that said to me, hidden as 'banter'. It's deep seated ignorance that I'm tired of listening to and arguing against.

Most of my troubles came because I wouldn't take advice from the know-it-alls and had the confidence to do what I wanted based on what I had learned/ethical/organic stance and not wanting to grow in a polytunnel but succeed purely in the ground on a windy hill in the North East.

I want peace. I am too tired and actually at risk of giving my plot up because of the trouble and my own ill health. Putting the cat amongst the pigeons isn't worth it right now but ultimately I will do what I want with my plot. I won't be bullied bit it's just right now I'm struggling a little bit.

Again, thanks though.

-taff

Blimey....Any other allotments near you?

fuddle

Aye at the bottom of the hill but these ones are at the back of my house and I have a dodgy ticker. The main culprit is actually my next door neighbour. I now completely ignore him and life is quiet. He's now just helping his mate on the plots and won't be a plot holder come April. I go in the bottom gate, use the bottom tap and don't go near the old guys at the top but I'm still at the point where I have to push myself to go over and be in that environment. I hear you though but I'm no shrinking violet when I'm pushed. I'm not weak. I stand up for myself but it gets toa point when I just don't want to have to. It's just my luck Next year will be good, I'm sure of it.

thriftwizard

Oh Fuddle, what a shame you've had to suffer this! I had similar, but not so bad, on my first plot, just up the road from our home. Just a couple of "old boys" who honestly thought no female could possibly be capable of growing stuff, and went into panic mode if anyone tried to grow stuff in anything other than regimented straight lines on bare earth - I got reported for imaginary "crimes against gardening" on a weekly basis, and I don't think they ever recovered from my (very successful) straw mulch. Yet they held OH's plot up as "this is how it should be done" without ever noticing that all he ever grew was a handful of spuds & some horseradish. Beautifully dug over, but 90% empty of actual plants! But it was right by the halfway line of the town's moderately-successful football club...

I'm a fan of packing things in in time-layers - i.e. I'll have leeks coming up between the summer veg, chard & kale plants at the end of beds of sweetcorn - as well as companion planting. This worries OH, who sees other plotholders growing single rows of produce, then digging & leaving the beds empty until next season when they're done. To me that's a bit of a waste of space, and asking for weeds to set up shop & nutrients to wash away; if I'm leaving a bed empty I'll mulch it heavily & let the worms do the digging overwinter. We don't get any mulch/leafmould/manure delivered and aren't supposed to import anything that might contain weed seeds or attract rats, which is leaving me wondering just exactly what we are supposed to use! Anyone got any (inexpensive!) ideas?