Author Topic: No feed allotmenting  (Read 2772 times)

Digeroo

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No feed allotmenting
« on: August 27, 2018, 18:01:14 »
I am fed up with people who come do not feed their crops, exhaust their soil, throw their weeds into the hedge or the council recycling, complain nothing will grow and then B***er off complaining nothing will grow.  The ground is left pale and stony.   

They even think I was lucky not to get any stones.  I was not lucky the first metre or so of my plot was pure natural gravel with a scrape of soil on top.    I have worked hard to improve the soil.

As Darwin predicted the worms have worked their magic and the stones have gradually sunk, apart from flints which rise to the top.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2018, 18:09:01 by Digeroo »

ancellsfarmer

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Re: No feed allotmenting
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2018, 18:34:58 »
I am fed up with people who come do not feed their crops, exhaust their soil, throw their weeds into the hedge or the council recycling, complain nothing will grow and then B***er off complaining nothing will grow.  The ground is left pale and stony.   

They even think I was lucky not to get any stones.  I was not lucky the first metre or so of my plot was pure natural gravel with a scrape of soil on top.    I have worked hard to improve the soil.

As Darwin predicted the worms have worked their magic and the stones have gradually sunk, apart from flints which rise to the top.
I agree . It never ceases to amaze that they somehow miss the link between fertility and productive output. Sure, its not all 'muck & magic', but a good mulching seems to provide the mainstay of soil nutrition. Sadly, very few know of the processes which enable their survival. With such levels of ignorance of the general public, one can only assume its natural selection in progress, another Darwinian strength!
Perhaps a basic knowledge test should precede every allotment letting, in most parts there remains a backlog of prospective plotters. I recall that its stated in 2014 as 800,000 nationally (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201415/ldhansrd/text/141203-0001.htm), 52% of the existing allotments.
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squeezyjohn

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Re: No feed allotmenting
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2018, 23:58:29 »
The very idea that you can continue to take 'free' produce away from your allotment without feeding the soil that produces it is absolutely ridiculous!  The gardening equivalent of imagining you can make a perpetual motion machine.  (pssst ... you can't)

Digeroo

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Re: No feed allotmenting
« Reply #3 on: August 28, 2018, 06:43:40 »
The biggest problem is that they spread the 'nothing will grow' myth about the town and as they leave no one wants to take their places.  We have so many empty plots now and I am worried that they farmer will give up.   
Some of the plots are as much as four to six inches below the level of the paths were the soil have been depleted.   
When we arrived the plots had had years as a meadow and then months with pigs, it grew anything.  Now plot after plot is just a weedy desert covered in stones.   
Mind you growing your own might become very popular again after Brexit.

ancellsfarmer

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Re: No feed allotmenting
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2018, 08:43:28 »
Yup!,
No-dig for victory/freedom!!
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pumkinlover

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Re: No feed allotmenting
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2018, 08:50:02 »
There's an allotment on our site where even the paths are sinking in on either side towards the plot!

ACE

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Re: No feed allotmenting
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2018, 09:16:19 »
3 tons of shite coming this month, as most of the plot will be standing for the winter it is likely to be the real smelly stuff from the pig farm. That should keep a few chatty sods away for a while but won't the worms be busy.

Digeroo

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Re: No feed allotmenting
« Reply #7 on: August 28, 2018, 12:17:16 »
And could you deal with your fly situation, they seem to be escaping still.  You   need some bats to eat them.

I am trying a new technique.  I have scooped up the soil into raised beds and am going to fill the remaining trenches with  manure so it never goes near the roots of the plants and the water will wash through it all winter and hopefully remove any remaining nasties.

I like the (no)dig for freedom!! 

Read yesterday that they will need rows of portaloos along the  motorways for the lorries held up at Dover.   And presume they will need loads of them at Schipol airport, when  we hold up the flights crossing our airspace while the French cannot cope or are on strike.


ACE

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Re: No feed allotmenting
« Reply #8 on: August 28, 2018, 12:20:17 »


I like the (no)dig for freedom!! 




  Good for you, but my full on digging/hoeing/raking goes towards making the vegetable side of my meals negative calories, so I can pig out on the pies.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2018, 12:23:49 by ACE »

ancellsfarmer

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Re: No feed allotmenting
« Reply #9 on: August 28, 2018, 14:04:48 »
3 tons of shite coming this month, as most of the plot will be standing for the winter it is likely to be the real smelly stuff from the pig farm. That should keep a few chatty sods away for a while but won't the worms be busy.
Eu regs limit application to 75tonnes/hectare per annum.
 Work that out as you barrow...
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nitrates-and-phosphates-plan-organic-fertiliser-and-manufactured-fertiliser-use/use-organic-manures-and-manufactured-fertilisers-on-farmland

"
Read yesterday that they will need rows of portaloos along the  motorways for the lorries held up at Dover.   And presume they will need loads of them at Schipol airport, when  we hold up the flights crossing our airspace while the French cannot cope or are on strike."
More project fear mk2!
Its just nonsense, there are perfectly good services at Ashford offering everything a trucky could desire. Adjacent to the Eurotunnel terminal. Enough space next to it to accommodate every Stobart truck and then some. Its only outbound that needs checking, most of them are empty with the differential in trade direction. If they even checked for human cargo inbound, which is not often done now, how long to search a 40' trailer with an Alsatian?
« Last Edit: August 28, 2018, 14:18:18 by ancellsfarmer »
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ACE

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Re: No feed allotmenting
« Reply #10 on: August 28, 2018, 14:14:45 »

Eu regs
We will be out of the EU by the time I spread it. I bet they will not negotiate on dung spreading so it will be a hard brexit. The way they are all muck raking they have far exceeded the limit already.

ancellsfarmer

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Re: No feed allotmenting
« Reply #11 on: August 28, 2018, 14:20:58 »

Eu regs
We will be out of the EU by the time I spread it. I bet they will not negotiate on dung spreading so it will be a hard brexit. The way they are all muck raking they have far exceeded the limit already.

Ha!
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Tee Gee

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Re: No feed allotmenting
« Reply #12 on: August 28, 2018, 15:32:44 »
I gave up one of my plots at the end of last year and some people clambered to get it because their current plot was strewn with weeds. One said they wanted my plot because it was always tidy and free of weeds!.........You should see it it now!!!! its a bl**dy mess!....Yes you guessed it..............its full of weeds!

I am thinking of giving up my last plot at the end of the year and because of the state of the plot mentioned above I am thinking hard of which current plot holder I should tell that my plot will be coming on the market. Of the twenty five other plot holders I think I will only be telling two of my plans.

I shouldn't worry who gets it but I have worked the plot since 1994 when it was a wilderness to what it is today with its 28ft & 12 ft greenhouses, a prolific fruit bed with 3 Apple trees, Raspberries,Gooseberries,Strawberries and Rhubarb. Then there are the vegetable beds that are free of club root, mares tail and docks. OK it gets its fair share of annual weeds but these are quite easy to keep under control ( something I told the person I gave my last plot to, but to no avail)

I am saddened to say that this easy come easy go attitude is partly the reason I am leaving! There is one plot holder who has a house in Spain and goes to it about three/four times a year and stays there for a month at a time.....how the hell can you keep a plot when you carry on like this!

I could go on with more stories in a similar vein but what's the point? I am leaving at the end of the year and to be quite honest based on the going ons or not going ons (take your pick) over the  last three or four years I won't miss it

However! I am glad to say that I am going away with  many pleasant memories from the last 28 years on the plots, the last three of four years won't take these away!

On a more pleasant note I got a fair bit done with my garden renovations this morning and to be quite honest! I am pleased with the progress to date and I am looking forward to get my mojo back next season.

So yes I agree with most of the comments written on the subject of " No feed allotmenting" and I will add "No weeding allotments" to the list for good measure!




 

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