Topic: New Allotment Holder's queries

[wardy]

Amphib   If you're aiming to be self-sufficient off your plot you'll need to plan for the hungry gap.  It''s a good thing that today we have so many varieties to choose from which make that task easier  :)  Good luck with it.

I only started mine last year and it was an horrendous mess.  I'm now harvesting crops despite having not dug due to bad back but that's not been a problem other than I think my celeriac won't be a success.  Oh well you win some ...  :)

[amphibian]

Amphib   If you're aiming to be self-sufficient off your plot you'll need to plan for the hungry gap.  It''s a good thing that today we have so many varieties to choose from which make that task easier  :)  Good luck with it.

I only started mine last year and it was an horrendous mess.  I'm now harvesting crops despite having not dug due to bad back but that's not been a problem other than I think my celeriac won't be a success.  Oh well you win some ...  :)

My mid-term aim is self-sufficiency (in fruit and vegetables), but I'm not expecting any short-term success, and I am quite able to deal with set-backs--but I have never worked any soil contaminated with couch grass, and it is hard for me to guage how serious a problem this weed is; how long I can expect it to take to clear, or primarily (given frequent weeding), how badly I can expect it to impact my crop production over the coming months.

[jennym]

I took over my plots in August 1999. The first thing I grew was broad beans, sown in October, harvested April/may 2000. Also made a smallish hot (well, warm) bed, covered with about 6" of cheap bagged B&Q multipurpose compost and grew lettuces and carrots in Jan/Feb of year 2000.
Really started sowing and planting out in May 2000 (it helped to sow some things at home to give them a head start)

[amphibian]

How good a compost is leaf mould? Basically my family own 27 acres of woodland, and in absense of any compost (as my heap is far from rotted) I was considering filling up a boot full of well rotted leaf mould to dig into my beds.

[Robert_Brenchley]

There's not much nitrogen in it, but it's good for boosting humus levels, and that can't do anything but good.I use masses as autumn leaves by the ton are brought down to the site from local housing estates.

[wardy]

Apparently leaf mould is good incorporated into the soil where you're growing carrots  :)   When I first got my plot I made myself a leaf mould bin a la Titchmarsh, filled it with fallen leaves from home - two bays that is.  It has now gone down to almost nothing.  I've had it covered.  I think it will soon be ready for use.  That's in less than a year.  I thought it would take longer. 

I think you can look forward to short term rewards. A quick catch crop will keep you happy  :)

[redimp]

After one year it makes excellent soil conditioner - I put two bags on my beans.  After two years it is one of the best seed composts available.  Nice and crumbly and not too rich.

[amphibian]

Apparently leaf mould is good incorporated into the soil where you're growing carrots  :)   When I first got my plot I made myself a leaf mould bin a la Titchmarsh, filled it with fallen leaves from home - two bays that is.  It has now gone down to almost nothing.  I've had it covered.  I think it will soon be ready for use.  That's in less than a year.  I thought it would take longer. 

I think you can look forward to short term rewards. A quick catch crop will keep you happy  :)

A quick crop would make me very happy, after removing a binbag full of couch rhizomes.

I feel lucky to not have to wait for leaf mold, I need only collect it.

What quick nitrogen natural sources can I get into the soil, or should I buy some compost of the council?

[amphibian]

After one year it makes excellent soil conditioner - I put two bags on my beans.  After two years it is one of the best seed composts available.  Nice and crumbly and not too rich.

Cool so I can grow my seedlings in it.

[redimp]

I feel envious at the amounts others get their hands on - I am going to see whether we get any from the council and if not - why not?  I collect about three bages a year from my garden and none of it makes it through to the second year.  I did manage to save a small amount once - just to see, and it was very good.

[daisymay]

Hi amphibian

I am another newbie lottie holder, had ours about 6 weeks. It is addictive isn't it?! Not sure what I did with my life before I got a garden / lottie/ found this site.

Could you, or someone take a picture of couchgrass for me?! I have no idea what it looks like - the pictures in my gardening books of weeds are not too great really, even the ones I know I cannot identify from the pictures.

Interesting to read that it does not respond to the faithful hoe as I had thought this was the key to successful weed management!

Good luck with it, hope it makes you as happy as I am  ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

This is the best I could find. Once you've seen the root it's unmistakeable.

http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_couch_grass.htm

[redimp]

After reading that I have decided that from now on:

'I will be mostly growing couch grass'

[amphibian]

Hi amphibian

I am another newbie lottie holder, had ours about 6 weeks. It is addictive isn't it?! Not sure what I did with my life before I got a garden / lottie/ found this site.

Could you, or someone take a picture of couchgrass for me?! I have no idea what it looks like - the pictures in my gardening books of weeds are not too great really, even the ones I know I cannot identify from the pictures.

Interesting to read that it does not respond to the faithful hoe as I had thought this was the key to successful weed management!

Good luck with it, hope it makes you as happy as I am  ;D

I am loving my allotment, and I feel far more optimistic about the couch than I did; a walk around my site revealed that everyone has it, and yet are still producing wonderful vegetables.

I haven't got a digital camera, but its key identifiable feature is its rhizomes (underground stems). Below is a picture, though many of them are far thinner. or may be fragmented if your plot has been rotorvated in the past.



On my plot the rhizomes have formed a mat under the turf and do not penetrate deeper than 5 inches (probably because my soil is very compacted clayey loam).

I'm tackling this by removing the turfs completely, lifting 5 inch clods with my spade and then working through by hand, a clod at a time. It is slow work, but it is oddly theraputic using your hands in the dirt in this way. I cleared a 5x20' bed of the stems today, and I am going to line the sides of my beds with weed control fabric submerged in the soil for half a spit.

I am hoping to isolate my beds from the rest of my plot, meaning that I can tackle any regrowth in a way that impacts on the root reserves of any couch left in my beds.

[amphibian]

After reading that I have decided that from now on:

'I will be mostly growing couch grass'

Send me your address and I'll stick a binbag of rhizomes in the post. ;)

[jennym]

Try this for a pic:
http://212.84.179.117/i/Couch-grass.jpg

[amphibian]

Someone mentioned that couch rhizomes are spiky and can cut you, why don't mine seem to be spiky at all?

[daisymay]

I have loads of it too then. Feel part of the gang now! The bindweed still out numbers the couch grass though on our lottie.

Am in a false sense of security stage at the moment though as our lottie was rotivated last week, so it looks beautiful at the moment. I do know that this has made the weeds 100 times worse in the long run, but try not to think about it.

[amphibian]

I have loads of it too then. Feel part of the gang now! The bindweed still out numbers the couch grass though on our lottie.

Am in a false sense of security stage at the moment though as our lottie was rotivated last week, so it looks beautiful at the moment. I do know that this has made the weeds 100 times worse in the long run, but try not to think about it.

One off rotivation is disasterous with couch, however if you do it very frequently it eventually kills the couch off. (or so I have read).

I get the impression that as long as you get enough time to weed frequently you'll be okay.

[wardy]

Red Clanger   What went wrong with your leafmould?  If you only have small amounts save it up til you have a black bag full.  Add a bit of garden soil to the bag, tie it up and then make some fork holes in it for a bit of air to get round.  I then collect these up and wait.  You can go and shake them up every now and then.  It does take about 18 -24 months usually.    :)