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Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: joji on September 22, 2005, 18:22:25

Title: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 22, 2005, 18:22:25
Hello  :)

My name is Jill and my OH is John. If any of you guys think you have taken on too much you should have seen our lottie 3 weeks ago.

Our lottie is the size of a full sized football pitch with a small wood inside it.

We are very lucky though as this lottie is just at the back of our house. It has had 3 owners since we moved here and NONE of them ever looked after it. Seemed like too much hard work for them I think.

We took it on 3 weeks ago and it was so bad that we had to cut our way through thick brambles just to get to the gate to get in.

3 weeks of hard work on and off we can see the fence at the other side now. We had to miss a bit for the moment as one of the trees has a wasps nest in it but as soon as they go that will be pruned and de brambled too.

We found an apple tree that looks like it hasn't had apples on it for a long time. The grass in places was about 3 - 4 feet high  and there was a lot of strange plants that we had no idea what they were the stems looked like thick green bamboo but the leaves were heart shaped. Cut all of them down anyway. ;D

Can't wait till we get the extra long extention lead down to use the strimmer next week. That will make such a difference.

Brambles are the worst thing to get rid of in the lottie as it is growing like a mat through out the whole place right across all of it, all points of the compass.

We will post some pics of it next week.

We are so glad that we stumbled across this site as you guys all seem to have your heads screwed on the right way
Any advice would be greatfully recived.

We have gone through some of the site already and addopted some of your tips and ideas.

thanks

John & Jill  :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: wardy on September 22, 2005, 18:26:03
Heart shaped leaves, thick stems.  Hope it's not the dreaded knotweed which someone else on here is doing battle with.  Have a search on here as it's been discussed over the past few days and there is a link

Happy lottying and welcome  :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 22, 2005, 18:48:19
Thanks Wardy :)

No it isn't knot weed I know what that is lol. The stems are like bamboo there segmented and hollow but green with red spots on them.
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: bupster on September 22, 2005, 19:32:03
Knotweed was my first thought too, glad it's not and welcome, though I'm pretty new to this place too. You must post pictures - the size of a football pitch? Wow! :D

Good luck clearing it, my 16 sq m of brambles seems like child's play in comparison. :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: Merry Tiller on September 22, 2005, 20:00:35
Quote
The stems are like bamboo there segmented and hollow but green with red spots on them

That sounds very like knotweed to me
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 22, 2005, 21:21:28
Sorry Guys after googling it I think your right. I thought knotweed and bindweed were the same thing ::) Lucky that it is only at the bottom end and a small part of the plot so not too bad. Have burned all what we have cut down. We dug a pit to burn everything as the grass there is like hay and has to be raked out with a grass rake. Great for fire lighting tinder though. :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: supersprout on September 22, 2005, 21:27:53
From the description it sounds like what the old boys on the plot call 'Willow Weed' :o and say you can never get rid of it  :P I am using the no-dig method (my son says this means he digs whilst I watch) ;D so I just tug it out of the beds when it comes up ::)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: spacehopper on September 22, 2005, 21:38:45
Hello there! Sounds like you have made a great start.  :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 22, 2005, 21:48:16
From the description it sounds like what the old boys on the plot call 'Willow Weed' :o and say you can never get rid of it  :P I am using the no-dig method (my son says this means he digs whilst I watch) ;D so I just tug it out of the beds when it comes up ::)

We have got that in there too. But the stuff I am on about has little white flowers  at the top not purple so I think it is knotweed. :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 22, 2005, 21:50:44
Hello there! Sounds like you have made a great start.  :)

Thanks  :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: amphibian on September 22, 2005, 21:57:58
A football pitch, are you serious?

A football pitch is 1-2.6 acres, that is huge. I would kill for that much land.

Are you allowed to keep livestock? If so a couple of pigs would do a great job clearing the plot.

How much do they charge you for that much land?
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 22, 2005, 22:06:38
No  Amphibian lol

Not joking . It is the size of a footie pitch NOT a stadium !!!!!!
 The only livestock we can have are chickens no cockrels. We are paying £40.20 per year for the lottie. But after all the hard work and when the council bloke comes round and sees what we have done so far it might go up lol
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: reedos on September 22, 2005, 22:18:13
Good luck with the knotweed, if you crack it let me know. If a council bloke comes bend his lug repeatedly about it in fact bend the councils lug about it any way they might come and sort it out for you.
Saying that with a plot the size a football pitch you might have enough space to ignore it for a bit. :D
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: Robert_Brenchley on September 23, 2005, 08:27:52
Don't ignore knotweed whatever you do; do something to it, even if it's only cutting it once a month, which would weaken it eventually. The only thing I've ever seen really work on it is, unfortunately, glyphosate.
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: RosieM on September 23, 2005, 08:50:53
Hi and welcome,

I would also kill for that much space!

As to the knotweed, I believe people are injecting glyphosate into the void in the stems using a syringe with some degree of success. Someone here is bound to have tried it.  :)

Keep at it as leaving it be can only make it worse.

RosieM

Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: wardy on September 23, 2005, 09:15:15
My lotty is footy pitch dimensions (well looks like it once the weeds are chopped down)  We didn't realise how big it would be once cleared and we were shocked  :o  The the realisation of what you've undertaken becomes all too clear  ;D  the other half of the plot is not in this pic  :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 23, 2005, 12:07:56
We have no intention of the knotweed getting the better of us either :).

I promised some pics so I went down today in the rain and took some.  This is what it looks like at the moment :)

(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y198/siberfish/Lottie1_640x469.jpg)

(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y198/siberfish/Lottie2_640x474.jpg)

(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y198/siberfish/lottie3_640x477.jpg)

(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y198/siberfish/Lottie4_640x476.jpg)

(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y198/siberfish/Lottie5_640x477.jpg)

(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y198/siberfish/Lottie6_640x480.jpg)

(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y198/siberfish/Lottie7_640x480.jpg)

On pic 5 is the area that we cleared of the knotweed. You can still see some growing on the other side of the fence. The wooded area we have been told by the council can't be cut down just cleared and pruned. :(
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: aquilegia on September 23, 2005, 12:31:18
Wow!

Another one here who would kill for that much land, especially at that price! Although, I'd also have to kill for the money that Mr Aqui and I earn each year as you can't possibly keep a job and work that much land. (Please don't tell me you do!)

Looks like a hard task - but well worth it!
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: bupster on September 23, 2005, 12:31:57
The size of it! I should invest in shares in a black plastic making company, no way will you get that all under cultivation this winter. Is that a shed in the picture as well? I could cheerfully live on that amount of land; I'd turn into a peculiar hermit wearing ancient tweed and shouting incomprehensibly at small children.

Ahem.
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: wardy on September 23, 2005, 12:38:23
I do that already Bupster  ;D  It's funny how getting an allotment makes you wear strange clothes.  It's like an unconscious thing.  One minute normal clothes the next minute you're on the lotty with a bright pink floppy hat with block dots on  ;D  I digress ...

Fantastic patch you got there Joji  You can keep it  ;D ;D  I can just envisage chickens on that.  Bit of shade by the trees.  Perfick  :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 23, 2005, 12:42:30
you can't possibly keep a job and work that much land. (Please don't tell me you do!)

Looks like a hard task - but well worth it!

No me & OH work part time as our son is diabetic so someone has to be at home for him in case the school phones up to say he is ill.  :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 23, 2005, 12:45:25
The size of it! I should invest in shares in a black plastic making company, no way will you get that all under cultivation this winter. Is that a shed in the picture as well? I could cheerfully live on that amount of land; I'd turn into a peculiar hermit wearing ancient tweed and shouting incomprehensibly at small children.

Ahem.


Well I didn't tell porkies about how big it is did I  ;D

Yes and a shed came with it. Actually it is an old chicken shed that is a little worse for wear but it will do to keep the tools in for now :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 23, 2005, 12:48:05
I do that already Bupster  ;D  It's funny how getting an allotment makes you wear strange clothes.  It's like an unconscious thing.  One minute normal clothes the next minute you're on the lotty with a bright pink floppy hat with block dots on  ;D  I digress ...

Fantastic patch you got there Joji  You can keep it  ;D ;D  I can just envisage chickens on that.  Bit of shade by the trees.  Perfick  :)

well there is only one other lottie up here next to us and he has chickens. We let him put his chickenson our patch to have a peck about now that we have cleared it a bit. :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: wardy on September 23, 2005, 12:50:44
Great idea that.  They'll eat slugs up dead fast and leave you some free manure.  They'll see off the chickweed and groundsel for you too  :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: supersprout on September 23, 2005, 14:05:38
I popped over to Downham Market today and got 20 white sprouting broccoli for the hungry gap :P (75p for 10). I will mark up a bed this weekend, dig the topsoil off the path areas and throw it on, cover in black plastic - and plant thru the holes. Not done this with brassica before so will wait-and-see ... ;D
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: wardy on September 23, 2005, 14:09:58
Sounds good Supersprout - lovely broc.  I like the sprouting as it has lovely tender stems which are great steamed or stir fried.  So good for you too.  So good for caterpillars anorl which is where mine have gone  :(
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: supersprout on September 23, 2005, 16:22:29
not forgetting your tip, the nets will go up straight away! ;D
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 23, 2005, 20:42:04
Well spent another 4 hours down there this  afternoon and cleared another bit of the lottie. Really starting to look like we are getting some where now. :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: moonbells on September 23, 2005, 22:46:03
Hiya

If I were you I would contact the council that rents you the allotment about the knotweed. And whinge loudly.  They cannot expect you to clear something which is notifiable and such a beast to get shot of.  And in any case, because it's also on the other side of the fence, you won't get rid unless the other side does.

moonbells

Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 24, 2005, 20:30:19
We have  an appointment with the guy from the council next week so we will be doing some ear bending with reguard to a few things we have to talk to him about.

Spent 3 houirs this morning and another 4 thisafternoon removing brambles ::). Like I said before nothing will beat us we are determind to win over this wilderness. :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: wardy on September 25, 2005, 09:28:07
I think it's unbelievable that in this day and age, when land is so scare, that lotty take up isn't sky high.  Coupled with GM and irradiated food, food scares etc.  You think everyone would want a patch of their own and that overgrown allotments wouldn't exist

In a perfect world eh ............

Good luck with the council bloke
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 25, 2005, 15:34:32
Thanks Wardy  :)

Spent another 3 hours down there today. Really beginning to win the battle now. Will put new photos up next week to show the difference. :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: Icyberjunkie on September 25, 2005, 16:39:54
GULP!!!   Thems aint allotments - thems is fields!   I thought that taking on two 'normal' plots was a lot but a field, and one that needs cleared.  You have most definately got to be mad allotmenteers with green fingers right up to the elbows.  I take off my hat to you.   When those are finished Joji and Wardy they will be magnificent.

iain
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: ellkebe on September 25, 2005, 18:23:25
That is a serious amount of land  :)  But it'll all be worth it given that it's right at the bottom of your garden.  I would die to have that set up (though obviously then it wouldn't be much good to me, except perhaps to be scattered in!)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: wardy on September 25, 2005, 19:32:06
Been a good weekend for getting to grips with allotments.  Forecast for our neck of the woods was poor but we've been out on the plot all day and it's been red hot.  Had a light sprinkle of rain that's all.  Hope you've all managed to get to your plots today.  My lotty neighbour hasn;t worked on her plot today but she turned up as she was passing to put up some new bird boxes.
She gave a huge pumpkin to a young chap with 5 children who's just taken up a really weedy plot. 


Ah one big happy lotty family  :)
Title: Re: 2 lottie newbies
Post by: joji on September 25, 2005, 19:44:53
We had heavy showers but we stuck them out and carried on  :)
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