Topic: A bog :(

[Cinnamon]

Oh well, I guess I got the short end of the sausage... my allotment turns out to be a bog/pond.  Its all underwater and I guess my asparagus has had it *grrr*

Well, how to make the best out of a bad situation?  Is there _anything_ that I can grow on there other than rice?

Cinnamon, the frustrated

[tina]

....watercress????

[Mimi]

Rice.

[adamhill100]

Water Lillies

[rdak]

bog plants ?

[Doris_Pinks]

Poor you! Mine was very boggy at one end, and I was growing a lovely "crop" of rushes! :'( so I am in the process of making raised beds :o  Hard work, slug attracting, but hopefully improved drainage and better crops the result!  DP

[rdak]

DP, do you mean slug attracting because you are using wood sides, or is there another reason?

[Doris_Pinks]

Yes Ross, the little loves love to lurk, hold plan of assault meetings etc. between the wood and the soil!

[rdak]

maybe make raised beds without edging, and just slope the soil up?

[Doris_Pinks]

Trouble is I find that way, it all tumbles down :(  

[campanula]

has to be raised beds. true, slugs love to lurk but you will need to use plenty of grit so keep some as a mulch on top - this does deter them. I used gravel boards for my beds but have heard of (rich) people using scaffold boards - altho it is possible to buy secondhand. Once you have done the hard bit though, you will never look back. Good luck, cinnamon, and do not despair - you can make the plot usable.
cheers, suzy

[Cinnamon]

Heyas,

I asked when I took the plot about the flooding and he lied to me saying its a 'burst waterpipe' that will get fixed this week and that its never a problem.

Moreover, the rain we had wasn't all that outrageous (I've seen worse) and I think that a serious rainfall will produce a pond there, so, my bees would die there as well.

Sure, you can laugh at my naivety, but I've never gardened before, and so far, I've wasted a lot of money on tools I won't need now, and 100 pounds on seeds and asparagus plants that will never grow on there.   I don't have a job because of my shoulder and so, well, thats my budget busted.  

I found out from other people that no-one has worked this plot in years (because of the problems, and its the lowest point on the allotment as well, something you dont' see until you've wasted your time clearing it!) and the allotment manager has run this site for 7 years and he knew full well what he was renting me there, he knows I've a disability that makes gardening difficult.  Try digging and weeding lefthanded sometimes in such a way that you do not put pressure on your right shoulder... I take about one hour to dig and weed a square metre. I don't whine much about it normally, but this time round I feel I am justified in doing just that.  

I don't know what I'm going to do about it, but I'm thinking on how to complain in the most efficient way to the council about this.    I am so not going to let him get away with this.  The plot is totally unusable for any purpose,  and should never have been rented out in the first place.

Cinnamon, the very annoyed ex-gardener

[tina]

 :o

Oh, you poor thing!

Hope that the council help you to sort this, but in case they don't, local press types usually love this sort of story! If you don't get anywhere, try speaking to the local rag to see if they'll come and interview you.

Chin up.

Tina

[The gardener]

I know the feeling! I had an allotment like that once and how I overcame it was by forming a diverting drain.

Our allotments are on the side of an old disused railway embankment which was OK up until Dr.Beeching closed it down in the 60's, now their is no water diversion control anymore.

We all got together many years ago and dug a ditch on the upper side of the allotments to divert the surface water and it worked quite well, and still does to a point.

The problem is that vegetation has grown in and over the ditch so in times of prolonged rain,the ditch overflows on to the plots.

How I overcame this was to dig a shallow trench along the top side and edge of my plot, and fit some old plastic drainage pipes in it.

What this does then is divert the 'overflow' off my patch and sends it elsewhere.

Something you may not know but it is perfectly legal to divert flood water from your patch to another, not that I was so mean; I diverted the water from my plot onto some waste land.

I hope this gives you some encouragement, think of it in this way............you cut down on the watering and save mains water into the bargain ::)

[Doris_Pinks]

Oh no Cinnamon! There are plots like that on our site too! |(far worse than my boggy bit!) They too have dug a trench, all around the plot, like a mini moat, then keep topping up the soil in the plot with compost or whatever.The water drains into your trench and off your soil. It seems to be very effective, and if you get the allotment manager to dig the trench around, by way of compensation, it may be worth a go!  Good luck, don't give up!  DP