Topic: How long should you get to turn a wilderness into '75% cultivated'?

[katynewbie]

 :o ;D

Crikey Me Buster! An object lesson in how to do it! Well done you!

[Buster54]

Stop it katynewbie I'm starting to look like your cat

[northener]

I'm from Wombwell in Barnsley

[Buster54]

I'm from Wombwell in Barnsley

Are you on Summer Lane

[Sinbad7]

Brilliant job Buster.  Well done.

Every site needs half a dozen Buster's :)

[Borlotti]

Brilliant, can you sort mine out!!!!

[betula]

Brilliant job Buster,however different people have different time,tools ,help etc.

I think as long as the council can see work in progress they should be reasonable.

I would send a letter listing all the work that you have done and ask to discuss the matter. :)

[northener]

No John street behind the tile shop, i know a few on summer lane though

[PAULW]

Brilliant job Buster, it shows its not how long it takes but how much you apply your self to the task, you must be a human JCB

[Ishard]

It looks great Buster  ;D

I have never used weed membrane that I see you have planted through so could you please tell me what it is and what do you do with it at the end of the growing season in regards to manuring the ground? Do you lift it, manure then replace it? What do you do if the next crops have different spacings? Do you make more holes?

[Buster54]

This is my first year at allotmenteering the membrane is a woven fabric which you can buy in diff specifications(this is guaranteed for 5 years cost £83 for a 2mx100m roll from the allotment society) and needs pegging down.only downside is it frays when you cut it(you don't cut a hole  you cut a x) and is a bit fiddly to plant through so am gonna try a hot knife when I get around to buying one.my idea was to cover half and leave half uncovered thus as the growing season started I only had one half to weed.What I intend on doing is rolling it back as everything is harvested from say October then dig it over and manure it and leave it till Jan/Feb then rotovate,I am  going to use the same holes but as I have found out this year that some plants are rather large so am gonna skip a hole or 2 dep on what I plant,as you can see I haven't used all the allotment as this year is a learning curve for me as I am growing on none manured land and want to experience the pitfalls(cabbage root fly.caterpillars,slugs ,snails and pigeons upto now) but have had some good results,one of my allotment neighbors has his whole allotment covered in fabric(except potatoes thats who gave me the info)as he puts his seeds in single pots then plants the plants through the fabric(beetroot,carrots,peas,beans,turnip,sweetcorn,no thinning out to do no weeding

[Mr Smith]

Buster,
          Well done I thought mine was bad when I took it on last back end but like you we got stuck in, I think it is called hard work, :)

[kt.]

Buster - all I can say is WOW,  WOW and double WOW! :o 8) :o  Fantastic progress.  Looks a decent size plot too.

[Ishard]

Thank you for your reply Buster   :) I shall now look to buy some as my weeds tend to grow faster than any veg  :(

[kenkew]

No-one said it was easy. But even with just 2 days a week at it, you can make a difference.
September to March...and a wet winter too.

[Barnowl]

Deeply impressed by the progress you've achieved Buster (and Ken :))

[thifasmom]

No-one said it was easy. But even with just 2 days a week at it, you can make a difference.
September to March...and a wet winter too.

wow :o is that heavy clay? it looks like you could make pots with that. i assumed you rotovated, what a lovely crumbly growing medium. i have clay but not that heavy but full of stones >:(

[kitty]

getting back to the original post-tho congrats are in order for that hard work buster! ;D

our council have stopped rotovating the plots people have taken on-not sure whether thats a bad thing tho-they just rotovated all the rubbish in,did it so badly i'm not sure they didnt make it worse-i've done mine slow but sure and make sure i dig with my back to the part that is yet to be done-

there have been a few 'newbies'who have taken the fashion up of having a lottie,and left it after realising its b***** hard work-including one lady who had a 'no-dig 'policy-after informing us all about her wonderful regime and the benefits thereof,she has dissapeared,as her 'no dig'scheme resulted in 'no veg'either....
work=food.....
but i think the op  should outline to their council just what they have achieved....while their eye is still in bandages too!-hope it gets better soon!
and i hope you retain your plot!
kitty
xx

[Tyke]

This was ours in March, complete with horsetail everywhere:




and in July:







I have to say that we had to spend almost 2 whole days a week up there to get this far, and  i think we have only about 60% cultivated. We didn't have barbed wire etc to deal with. I couldn't put that amount of work in to it all year...

They sound very harsh to me. Do they have a very long waiting list? Would other allotment holders be willing to support you?

[kt.]

Good going tyke.  Specially as it was water logged.