Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: Chrissie on November 08, 2005, 15:24:02
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Hi all,
At last I've been given my own full-sized plot after sharing someone else's for a season. Yippee!! It's ENORMOUS. Well it seems huge to me. I need to divide it up physically and therefore mentally, so I can cope better.
I'd really appreciate ideas for making cheap, functional paths between beds. Last year I used non-woven weed suppressing fabric from Wilko's which looked great and worked brilliantly until bright sunlight made it disintegrate! Oops :-[.
Grass paths are definitely out from a maintenance point of view as I need so many.
Cheers everyone.
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Have you a local free source of chipped bark? You could cover the weed fabric with these and it should stop it all sinking into the soil over winter.
This is better than wood planks, which get slippery and cheaper than paving slabs which harbour slugs and snails.
You could also try carpet but that is not so nice on the eye.
HTH
Jerry
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Get in touch with the appropriate dept of your council and at this time of year they'll be pruning trees. We keep seeing them in various places and they seem happy to drop loads off instead of taking it to the depot. We've had 3 lorryloads so far with more promised.
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Am currently aquiring a nice kind of crazy paving effect wih my paths which consist of damaged bits of patio slabs from the local quarries/garden centres etc. They sell them off really cheap or give them away and are looking really funky.
Haven't had any problems with slug and snail harbouring either, touch wood!
Have to say I'm well against the use of carpets - have been slowly working my way through my extremely overgrown allotment, and along with all the couch and bindweed roots, keep finding chunks of partially rotted blue carpet!
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Some great ideas - thanks! ;D I agree about the carpets, in fact they were nearly banned on our site as it's entirely organic and some bright spark on the committee was worried about non-organic dye leaching into the soil. They eventually decided that was taking things a bit far...
I love the idea of free chipped bark and will definitely follow that one up.
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I have an allotment that is is on a filled up quarry - thus I have a lot of loose stone (that eats soil). When I lug one of these things up, I add it to my growing paths. It happens quite frequently.
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I use some old laminate flooring, we ripped it up out of lounge when we moved in, so you could do a bit of scavenging round building sites etc... disadvantage as Jerry says is they are quite slippy when wet, especially in wellies, nearly came a cropper the other day!
But good as a temporary solution till we decide on something more permenant.
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We find bark very useful. Even without the underlay.
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I phoned the local guy that pruned our trees he was only too happy to offload some bags of bark. I use it over the top of weed suppressing fabric. Just finished my new path at the lottie and will be posting some photos at the weekend in "Top Tips" Moving plots. Bark, I think looks nice is natural and mostly maintenance free, all it needs is a top up from time to time.
Regards
Chris
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Thanks for all the tips - it looks as though bark is the answer, especially if I can get hold of some for nothing!
Bit dubious about containing it along the sides - won't it spill out everywhere? I'm planning a lot of these paths as I like the small bed system (not much digging!) so finding enough wood to make hard edges would be difficult :-\...
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if you've had an allotment for more than 3 weeks then it's past time you were introduced to skip diving anyway.
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You took the words out of my mouth also the local tip its amazing what people throw in the wood bin, I recovered about a dozen 12' planks in half an hour.
Also the local scaffolders often have old boards discarded.
Good luck and happy hunting
Regards
Chriszog
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Hey Chrissie, I am a confirmed no-dig bedder and I'm with you, I think edgings on beds and paths are an invitation for slugs to set up home :-[. Plus, I might want a roundy one one year ::), a flat one next year ::), hilled up in the middle for spuds ;D - all possible with a 'sideless' bed!
My paths are a mix of a few wide lined and chipped paths (a treat in winter) and mostly plain earth paths, whose topsoil has been put on the beds. In the summer I keep the weeds off by scraping with a hoe from time to time :P. No trouble, and the plants seem happy.
Green with envy though that you can find free woodchips! ;D
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I must go with SP i just dig the lot & then where i need to walk is the path until next time i dig it all over again & start again ;D
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I have a number of paths too. Most are from slabs discarded by people - the best time to get these free is in spring, especially on housing estates where people are doing up their gardens. I just keep an eye open, and people are usually only too glad to get rid of them. have to make several trips though, can't get many in the boot...
I've done the same with discarded bricks, and also have one path made from pieces of hardwood I got - I cut them all to about 2 ft long pieces.
All these are laid directly onto compacted heavy clay soil. getting it flat is the worst bit, but they do last well when done.
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Wow I'm overwhelmed with all this fabulous advice.
This forum is just wonderful - the wealth of knowledge and ideas out there (and the friendly way it's shared around) is fantastic and very much in the allotment spirit I think.
Can't wait to go skip-diving and get my eye in for discarded goodies.
Thank you everyone :-*
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I have my fingers and toes crossed. ;D I was in the local town centre this morning and they were in the process of re-doing all the old brick and slab paving so I have asked for some of the bricks/slabs. So just waiting for a phone call and hope someone hasn't beaten me to them. They will be perfect for edging the new path I have just made on the lottie.
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That's brilliant Ani, let us know how you get on.
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Hi Wardy,
I've been using small cardboard boxes up to now but they're not ideal.
Your offer is much appreciated and I've sent my address in a personal message.
I was definitely right about this site being REALLY friendly ;D!
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Thank you!
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I have beds edged with old pallets from a garden centre broken down and my paths are black plastic - all sorts and covered with bark chips but now being replaced with conifer type - would you call them leaves? pine needles - as they break down much more slowly than bark it seems.
Good luck and happy scavenging.
Lottie 3
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Pics of the path at www.chriszog.smugmug.com
If you want a look
Regards
Chris
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Lovely neat paths Chris - I'm greatly inspired.
I'm GREEN with envy to see you have a shed too - how wonderful. I know they're supposed to be the indispensible social hub of an allotment but we're not allowed anything permanent over three feet high on ours - for aesthetic reasons I think. Daft because loose tools etc lying around look far messier. It's a pain :'(.
Great idea to keep a photo record of your progress - will follow it with interest!
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All of my paths are slabbed.. its taken me three years of scrounging for freebies plus buying a few cheap out of the paper...50p each
A neighbour recently gave up and asked if I wanted some slabs 3' x 2' that edged his dahlia beds and they were sufficient to completely do the path between my two half plots
At least I don't keep falling off the slippy uneven grass path that was there before.
Another bonus of dividing the plot for me is the fact that each bed can be dug in an hour and I have that sense of achievment that it is 'complete'
Derek
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My paths are just black plastic from old fertiliser bags - or rather were because I have just dug the all up having got rid of a raspberry bed and claimed a second plot!
If you do line the underside of your paths with plastic leave them a little loose and as you lay each sheet use a spade to push the sides and ends into the soil - it will hold them firm preventing the wind or foot traffic lifting them up.
Its also worth laying them double for any split and you will find all sorts of weeds pushing up! On that point thety are not great next to raspberry or bramble hedges for the sucker push there way through!
Iain
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OK I know - indispensAble. Oops.
When I think of the stuff we got rid of when we cleared out our new garden a couple of years ago I could cry... bricks, slabs, lumps of wood, breeze blocks - we had nowhere to keep them then and I hadn't been bitten by the lottie bug!
Good luck with the second plot Iain.
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I'm making mine out of bricks which I salvage from the stream at the bottom. At this rate it's going to take me years.
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some places also to a recycled tyre mulch - it has the advantage over bark in that it won't dissapear - though that might also be a disadvantage - depending on whether you are ever going to move your paths - if you are at least bark will compost away if you dig it in! Rubber bits on the other hand will remain a path for 30 years or more - unlike bark which will need replacing every couple of years - rubber also comes in a number of "attractive" colours - not sure I'd want to use it though as it's not a natural product
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We too have gone the way of wooden edged beds, with the paths lined with weed suppressent fabric and bark placed over the tops, and they are really neat. I have just re-barked ours thanks to the freebie load from our council. busy_lizzie
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Rubber tyre mulch sounds interesting but a bit unnatural as you say Timmyc. Would be very hardwearing though. Isn't that the stuff they use on children's playgrounds?
I'm spoilt for choice now with ideas. I'll bet brick paths look lovely but it would be difficult to collect enough. Bark seems to be the way to go.
Now I need to chat up my local council!