Topic: HELP! Stubborn boyfriend on new allotment with lots of underlay!!

[manicscousers]

hiya, missmegan, welcome to the site, don't worry, we don't all bite  ;D
make a paper plan and mark out where your beds are, aspeople have said, move a bit of the weed control fabric back, put your compost on, put the cover back, cut a cross in it and plant some squash, potatoes or courgettes..the weed control will keep the weeds away for you, if you want, put mulch between your crops, that'll conserve the moisture (after rain )..hope this helps  ;D

[cornykev]

No biting here, there all pussycats really, don't forget horse manure costs nothing.  ;D ;D ;D

[MissMegan]

Thank you for all of the advice.  I have no intention of getting rid of the allotment or the boyfriend(!!), but the rest of the advice was very good.  We are planning to get awfully dirty, it's just taking a while.  I think once there is more light during the day it will be easier to devote some serious time there. 

It IS light-blocking stuff, not carpet underlay.  It would DEFINITELY not get buried under stuff, but have compost/manure under it.  And we'd find some sort of use for it if we don't need it anymore, burning it is NOT an option.

Perhaps it would be an idea to speak to an established allotmeenter on your plot to help you identify what weeds you actually have.

Thank you!!!  That's one of those ideas I SHOULD have come up with, but hadn't.  I think that will help us resolve some of our weed/digging disagreements.

I think we're going to have to compromise.  He's done up a plan, but we've yet to sit down and look at it together.  I think that will help a lot.
We'll maybe set out defined beds, clear some places for potatoes to help remove weeds, and then I'll dig out beds for some of the others.  I think that maybe we'll leave the light-blocking stuff down for the part that we won't be using this year. 
SMP1704, The idea of using it for squashes, etc. that will go well with manure might be an idea to keep my boyfriend happy.

...find out what condition your soil is in the easiest way is to dig over a small area... The manure will break down & the worms will gradually dig it in for you...

Thank you very much for answering all the questions I had about the plastic stuff.  It's made me a bit happier about having it on the allotment, albeit in small doses(!)

And don't forget to take "before" "during" and "after" photographs. That way you can look back over the years and say - "I(we) did that". 

That is an excellent idea.  It occurred to me this weekend while we were putting up the shell of a greenhouse we got on freecycle.  I'll have to take a "before" picture of the greenhouse without any plastic/glass.

I can't believe how controversial my idea was!  I was just hoping to get a couple people to take my side in the whole covering-up argument.

Thanks,
Megan

[gunnerbee]

Well at least the weeds wont grow any more, so it will make your job easier, ive just been given a huge lotttie on a farm, it has 5 plots altogther, ive nearly dug one by hand which is full of couch grass, got four more to do, one ive manured and covered with black plastic and will be doing the same with another two mins the manure while i start on the smallest of the five!! they are very weedy so, ill cover them until i get around to digging them (There is only so much you can do at once) this way the weeds wont get 3 foot high!! i always find digging by hand the best way, im sure you will get there in the end, Good luck.

[compothefirst]

Why not cover it up and then do it bit by bit?  Clear a bit to put beans in this year (if you like them) because you get a good return on them and it will encourage you to do more.  Have a "garden party" with your friends coming to help and maybe persuade some of them to take on the other half.  Once you get started you will get hooked.  It's not work it's fun (honest)

[greenfinger]

I've just started an allotment with my boyfriend too!
we haven't had the same issues but we have been arguing about laying bricks for greenhouse.
how to do it etc when neither of us had actually done it before. :o
it ended up with "if you carry on like that I'm going home and you can do it yourself!!". But we apologized and laught about it.

Lately he told me off for planting shallots in the wrong place and not following the excel spreadsheet!!
Control FREAK!!!! >:(

I understand now why people have their OWN allotments.
Now we each do our own thing, with our own litltle project but showing each other what we're doing, much better atmospher ;)

maybe you can have your own little area and have a competition to see who's system has the best yield! ;D

[newbies]

Compo the first has the best idea, most encouraging.  Each time you go down, have a list of what you want to achieve, and if possible, a time that you will be down there for.  I find that if I know I'm there for 2 hours, I get cracking.  If you have a list of what you need to do that day, and actually achieve it, you'll feel great! 
Don't for get your butties and drinks!

[antipodes]

Yes I tend to agree - the first year it HAS to be lots of hard work - otherwise there is not much point in gardening!!
BUT there are some things you can do to make it easier. You can manure the bits now that will grow the summer stuff like tomatoes, melons etc because teh manure will break down. Sure if you can double dig that is great, but I got away last year with just turning over the soil and weeding. I managed to cultivate 100 m2 all by myself, just digging a bit at a time. I do cover some bits with tarps and that seems to be accepted.
But things like carrots, beetroot, beans, parsnips etc will not grow as he wants to do it, so you will have to dig some.
A girl by herself CAN dig and a lot!! Each time I go down, I do one patch, about 3 square metres, plant it then do another one next time.
The second year is easier, the ground has already been worked, you can pull up winter crops, tidy, fertilize and replant.
But I must agree with the others, the fun is getting in and getting dirty, pulling your veg up from the soil and feeling the sweat on your back. You get out what you put in - otherwise you would be better off buying your veg from the greengrocer's...  ???

[cornykev]

Hi Megan it was a bit controversial because people misunderstood what you meant by underlay, lots on here don't like the carpet idea so I think that's why you got the replies, covering up's no problem as long as you dig some, plant some and uncover as you go along. I have an area that has carpet on but once its served its purpose its gone, and I wouldn't recommend anyone burning it.  ;D ;D ;D

[Jeannine]

Hi Megan, I have a full lottie covered up right now, the whole thing!!

We have two lotties but lost all in the floods of last year, of course the weeds grew beautifully and the one without raised beds took on the appearance of a jungle.

We pondered the idea of giving one up as we are not spring chickens but decided instead to black plastic the one and work the other for this year.

My advice is not to do anything hasty,cover it for now and uncover as and when you can.

You certainly can plant through is, squash especially and it will quickly look exciting and well used, in fact growing squash through black plastic is something I used to do all the time as the plastic warms the ground and the squash do better.I might even do that myself again.

I don't like the idea of mine being  totally covered but we cannot do it all at once so needs must.

Enjoy your lottie, and the boyfriend ,

Welcome to the forum.

XX Jeannine

PS Let me know if you want squash seeds, I collect them.

[Suzanne]

I can't believe how controversial my idea was!  I was just hoping to get a couple people to take my side in the whole covering-up argument.

This site is quite tame - wait until you start talking to some of the experienced chaps on your site. I have found that saying things like "I am trying to grow veg organically", "I want to leave space for wildlife" and "I am trying to create a balance with nature" really can start a quite vigorous debate. Having said that these chaps used to have to grow veg to keep the family fed so I make sure I listen to what they have to say. The years of experience some of them may have in growing on your site means they will know it like the back of their hands. If you are lucky they will even be able to tell you where the horsetail, nettles and couch grass are worst in the summer, so where best to cover up now.

Welcome again and I hope you are a regular visitor to the site - it is an extremely useful resource. :)

[Amazin]

The first year I got my allotment, it was late March and although the plot had been cultivated in the past it was quite overgrown - and of course the weeds had got a head start. I cleared enough to plant potatoes and some summer stuff which I'd started off at home. Two of the best for me were mini-sweetcorn (actually gets up to about 8 or 9ft tall and looks really cool!) and squash - as I recall I had mostly Butternut, Marina de Chioggia and Turks Turban. I allowed the squash to grow along the ground and pretty soon the huge leaves had covered most of the plot - the transformation was wonderful to see - even if underneath most of the plot still looked derelict! And when they actually produced a harvest (technically an abundance - yippee!) I was as thrilled as... well, as thrilled as you'll be when you do it too!

And as for the boyfriend - yes, you're right, you should keep him, for two reasons.
1. If all goes okay, a well-trained boyfriend can be a positive boon on the plot.
2. If not... you have plenty of weed suppressant to hand.

Either way, enjoy the adventure!

 ;D

[caroline7758]

And make sure you keep in with his brother-in-law- builders can provide all kinds of useful stuff for allotments!

[wheelabo]

Hi again MissMegan.  Glad some of us haven't put you off (sorry  :-[)  We have just started to dig our allotment.  We have some of it covered.  My OH moans like mad when its time to go down there but once we get stuck in he loves it.  We've cleared a bit of it and it already is an incentive to do the rest.  I agree with you that when the days are a bit longer it will be easier.  By the time we all get home from work and school its getting dark so roll on the end of March!!!  Keep everyone posted  ;)

[Jeannine]

Ho ho, how right you are Suzanne, do you remember the post about planting according to the moon!!

XX Jeannine

[davholla]

This may be a stupid idea (I hope not because I have tried it with strawberries).

But why not use newspaper to cover bits of it ?  That will of course rot after time and so it will not be something you need to remove.

[norfolklass]

I scavenged big cardboard boxes from various shops and laid those down as temporary paths. once they're wet they don't blow away, and they did a great job of keeping down the weeds: nothing but bare soil left under them now, although obviously they don't last too long.

(I also have a few bits of carpet that I liberated from the derelict plots that people use to fly tip their rubbish. and I've bought a couple of rolls of damp proof membrane from B&Q. I appreciate that the carpet and dpm aren't very environmentally friendly options, but when you start off with 350m2 of weeds you just want to cover it quickly! I intend to recycle the plastic as pondliner eventually, and the carpet will probably become the bottom layer of permanent paths.)

welcome to A4A, by the way, and good luck with the plot. my OH couldn't be more uninterested in allotments - apparently he's waiting until there's a seating area in front of the shed, and tea-making facilities ::)

it's just about still light when i leave work at 5:30 so longer days are nearly here, and only another month until the clocks go forward, then you can get stuck in! and don't forget the photos :)

[Suzanne]

Ho ho, how right you are Suzanne, do you remember the post about planting according to the moon!!

XX Jeannine

I think we need to stay quiet, it can raise quite a storm. It was also a bit of a controversial topic on BC as well  ;D

[Esre]

I haven't been about much over the winter and did dread going back to my plot as I cleared the weeds and then had the whole lot rotavated.

The only thing I can say is make sure you dig the weeds out, I spent a lot of time on my hands and knees cutting them down and digging the big ones out (I left some small ones in towards the end!) and after almost 3 months of neglect I have popped back briefly for a quick once over to see shoots flourishing where I thought they wouldn't and weeds hardly anywhere when I thought there would be loads.

I'm pleased I took the time at the start as I'm really bouyed up again now and can't wait to get to the garden centre at the weekend (Mothers day pressie).

As for the boyfriend at least he has an interest! My Hubby had to be bribed to bring some fence panels down in the car grrrrrrr.

Slow and steady will get you there and loads of pics every time you go down so you can see how far you have come :)