Allotment Stuff > The Basics

Mare's Tail

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Tee Gee:

--- Quote ---of course the experienced allotmenteers on this forum would only take a couple of hours to dig 300 tonnes of soil but for newbies it would take perhaps a lifetime or a bit longer.
--- End quote ---

Well a couple of hours for a whole plot is pushing it a bit, but I used to dig and muck one of these beds in under 3 hours and found it to be quite therapeutic and more than that most beneficial to my soil.



The best bit about digging say one spit deep is you can generally keep on top of all the most problematic of weeds e.g mares tail, dandelions, docks to name but a few.

I have always maintained that a plot's output is relative to the gardener's input!

So as they say up here in Yorkshire......nout in nout out!

Then there is the more common saying......you reap what you sow!

Now that I have retired from allotmenteering I think I could say that having tried many of the new fangled  methods such as " no dig" or "raised beds" one spit deep digging always gave me my best results!

So I guess if you make your own bed then it it is up to you to accept it!( ok lie in it!) :thumbsup:

Tiny Clanger:
Unfortunately the ONLY ones I know of are not suitable for use on an allotment.  :BangHead:

martinrowe:
We have got some of this in our garden.  The main problem is that it is very difficult to get rid of it and it has been around for millions of years.  I have found WHO bedevilled knocks it back when mixed at a slightly higher close.  Greeting the main areas of growth seems to have made a difference.

This plant was on the earth prior to dinosaurs, so knows how to service and grow.

Digeroo:
Have you tried lime?  When I lived near the edge of the chalk North Downs, it was easy to see where the Green sandstone layer underneath it comes to the surface, it is where the marestail starts as well.
I only have it in one place in my garden, where the water butt leaks, so the ground is watered with rainwater. 
A few allotments on our site had bits of it, but once watered with well water which come through limestone, it soon dies out.
I do not know how much you need, but apart from things like blue berries everything else will still grow ok well, and your potatoes might look scabby.

saddad:
Improving the soil does help, with lime or muck, it is a very primitive plant, not having true leaves and finds it difficult to compete with strong growth, but thrives on poor soils. I found Ammonium Sulphamate (sorry English spelling!) very useful for bringing very neglected plots back into cultivation in the '90's.

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