Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: markymark on December 27, 2003, 18:42:27
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After 2 days away from the lottie, just couldn't resist a visit today....and bet I'm not alone?
Not much to do down there at the moment as all dug over, manured etc but as still down there all morning pottering about....aaaahhh bliss!! :)
Managed to tidy my brussels up once and for all (sounds painful eah?). Having read an article recently I took out some of the smaller plants and re sited the remaining ones in one formal row.....probably all stop growing now!
Anyone get any cool allotment/gardening pressies this year?
Saw a fab gardening program this morning the first part was yesterday, and having now received my seed order am busting to get going again.....hurry up Spring!
Happy New Year to you all
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Well lucky you markymark :D
We have had the most atrocious weather here, never seen rain like it, thought the fire brigade were outside with hosepipes at full blast!!
Ground far too waterlogged to attempt anything at mo, and only one more day and back to work Monday :(
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Sorry to here weather on "3rd rock from the Sun" not so good? ???
The ground here is still very wet (Essex), and guess what it's now starting to rain this afternoon and accordning to the forecast again tomorrow....deep joy....not :-/....oh well will just need to carry on meditating with Led Zep!
Mind you it's a d**n site drier than a few weeks ago, when my lottie underwent an underground leak from the main water supply! It's now been cured but seriously thought I might need to start planning my own paddy field! ::)
Don't know what part of the world your from, but will get my prayer mat out for some drier weather for you tomorrow ;)
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Cheers markymark :D
Going to have to be mega prayers I think
Cos here in South Wales we have rain like no-one else has rain. We are the rain experts of Europe. We have A Levels, not to mention Phds in rain!!
The fields I look over are like a lake at mo and river rising and running very fast .......
Still, at least we never have much snow, unlike Essex :D
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Fields and Rivers.......sounds cool to me 8)
The only bit of greenery around here is my lottie!....swap you for a week ;D
In the meantime will get my mega prayer mat out of storage for you ::)
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So much greenery round here you gotta wear shades!!!
Looking out over river valley, woods, hills
Oh how bucolic mahn, positively pastoral !!!! :D
Great news. Just got spotted woodpecker regular visitor to apple tree and me own hedgehog. Wot else could a girl want?
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Greenery?.....is that the opposite to concretey?
Oh maaaaaan, greenery sounds jolly top holey!
Although we do see some wildlife down on the lottie, i.e. foxes, slow worms, lizards, badgers.....but no hedgehogs....probably due to a lot of the allotmenteers using slug pellets >:(. Even thought about applying for some hedehogs from the recent cull they had up north!! :'(
They must think I'm a sandwich short of a picnic, with my organic ways?...Although they have started to ask me about the nettle/garlic concoction I use, so maybe there's hope yet? ;)
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What nettle/garlic concoction is that then? Oh do tell!!
Old gypsy recipe is nettles infused and used as rinse for hair - v. good at promoting growth for any follicley challenged blokes
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Don't tell me I've got it wrong after all this time, and should be pouring it over me follicles.....oooh err?? :o
Sod the blackfly, I'll give it a go! ;D
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Wouldn't pour it over your follicles prior to big nite out :o
Get terrible blackfly on me echinops and philadelphus ..
So is this an infusion or what and what proportions?
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Nothing tricky about it.
Fill bucket half full with fresh nettle tops (before they go to flower) and put two crushed garlic cloves in.
Then fill bucket up to top with water, cover and leave for 3 days, stiring each day.
Then water/spray onto plants. Word of warning, it smells pretty uurrgghh, but then I suppose that's why it seems to work?
Certainly worth a go, and kept the balckfly off my broad beans, when all around me seem to be somthered with them?
If you decide to give it a go, let me know how you get on :)
Good luck
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What an interesting conversation .More .More.
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So come on then BB, spill the beans..........was it turkey this year or had you been feeding your yellow, green, blue friends up with millet prior to the festive season? ;)
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Sorry BB
Looks like this could grind to a halt now we have the secret recipe to life the universe and everything .....
Except, any more folk remedies out there involving nature's pest control ..........?????????
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If you had been at the Party Markymark you could have tasted my Budgie burgers they went down a treat.Ava Banana was a bit greedy for them though and got feathers stuck in his teeth.
My recipe is good old Sheep Droppings (very polite) in my water butt.
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Now have visions of you bent double over a dust pan and brush collecting in the fields? ;D
Only jealous, not a sheep to be seen round here! ::)
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Got up today to a covering of snow,talking of weather.Then I went over into Lancashire and it was thick with fog on the moors.Came back to a lovely sunny day.
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Nah i'm a Yorkshire lass,pick it up with me hands not frightened of a bit of sheep sh.....droppings.The dry sort of course.
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Got to go I'm afraid, the next round of Turkey sandwiches beckons! :'(
happy digging!
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A thread re old wives tales/natural remedies would be really good I think
Anyone wanna kick it off?
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Hi JJ
go for it start a new thread and I will tell about my rhubarb leaves etc
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went to my lottie today. left with most of it attached to my boots. think i need a week of dry weather so i can start digging it over ready to plant.
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I managed to get up to the plot this morning for a couple of hours of chocolate burning! ;D. Forked over about half of the plot, including all around my fruit bushes and apple trees, and altho the ground ws wet, it wasn't sodden so the ground dug and broke up wonderfully! I was able to oik out a few docks that I had missed when I first cleared the site, and thanks to the rain, the ground around the apple trees was soft so the stinging nettles I couldn't get out in the autumn pulled out along with about 3 foot of roots! How satisfying is that! ;D Spending this afternoon up in my greenhouse pottering, cleaning and making room for the spring sowing of veggies and flowers.
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Pottering in a greenhouse sounds the perfect way to spend the afternoon.
Went down the lottie this morning, and although there's nothing much to do, managed to add a few barrowloads of steaming horse poo to the compost heaps. Doesn't matter how many times they are filled to the top, they always seem to want topping up! :-/
Also managed to tidy some of the shed up.
My eldest has just bought a new digi camera, so be warned there could be a few pic's coming up in the next few weeks!! :o
If I had a greenhouse EJ, I'd be doing the same.....lucky moo! ;D
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A word of Caution
Nice idea all this diging to work off the christmas excesses, but perhaps you might all be doing the soil more harm than good??
I know the idea of winter digging is to expose the soil to winter weather (ie frosts) to break it down, and perhaps this is still valid in the 'frozen' north. However here in the south we are more likely to get heavy rain than penetrating frosts, so digging will loosen soil and make it more vunerable to leaching and erosion. Perhaps down here it would be better to leave (lighter) soils undug until spring. It would be more stable and any weed growth would serve to protect the soil.
Just a thought. My soil tends to loose structure if it is well dug then rained on. It becomes sticky and heavy to work and takes a long tome to dry out afterwards, this is why I generaly avoid too much digging in winter. Come spring it dries out quicker and can be cultivated earlier.
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Cant wait for spring either for it is the time of the budding trees moons... we who belong to the thunderbird clan who fly dead high... thing wiv this growing malarky... just cums easy to me... I dig. sow then watch.. then harvest... its all that happens in between that rocks my world...
oZ
xx
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Well Markymark, had a great afternoon and got so much done! It piddled with rain, but I was lovely and dry and hub bought me coffee at regular intervals. I have so much growing in the greenhouse. My problem is I am addicted to growing anything, but at the moment my greenhouse is packed with tender things that were sent to me from south america. I have a box full of seeds I received from Australia, but they will have to wait until after I have sown toms and peppers. I have a hedge of parsley and a lawn of lemon grass. My wee olive tree has put on so much growth in the last 8 months I am hopeful of a flower or two. I was going to try and overwinter some chilli plants, just as an experiment, but they weren't happy so I binned them and decided it is no hardship to grow new each year. Looking forward to seeing some pics of another Essex lottie Marky. ;D