Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: Slug_killer on February 13, 2007, 13:02:14
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I'm sure this question must come up as regularly as couch, but I couldn't find it in a search.
I want to make a bean trench and add newpaper to help water retention, but is the ink in newpapers safe, or am I adding unknown chemicals to the soil ?
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I think the general view is black and white is the best choice. I did read somewhere that increasingly colour inks are vegetable based and so should be OK. Generally avoid the FT because the pink ink is a bit nasty. I avoid using glossy magazines - they still go in the recycle bin.
Hope that helps
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we put newspapers and chopped up envelopes and letter heads in, they can't be recycled so either go in the trench or in the compost ;D
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I put newspaper, cardboard, junk mail and veg peelings in the trench then topped with manure then filled in the soil and mounded up. ;D ;D ;D
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If it's paper, then it is shredded in this house at the moment, My bean trench was filled up with shredded paper of all shapes and sizes. Newspaper I use to wrap veggie peelings up in and it all goes onto the compost heap.
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If you want a well developed crop use shredded Times, Observer or Guardian.
If you use the Sun or Mirror you'll get a retarded crop
If you use the FT, remember your crop can fall as well as rise.
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very clever
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So presumably shredded BILLS etc. can also be buried in Bean trenches?
And can the same thing be put on the compost heap if there's too much for the beans?
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yes you can use shreaded paper in a compost as a brown (dry) layer.
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So, is the general verdict that the inks used these days are ok for the veggie plot?
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i dont know, certianly never heard anything about the ink issue untill i looked here
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Be careful with the shredded bills quiz make sure theres no over drafts in there or they might blow your beans over. ;D ,and if I shred a porno mag will it benefit a HARDy plant Forking Good
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I'm sure someone said the inks are all veggie based now, can't remember where ;D
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Hope so, I'm currently covering the lottie with tons (almost) of shredded office paper.
I intend to dig it in shortly and use it as mulch in the summer....hopefully it will lighten the soil a little.
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What is this "bean trench" of which you speak? And why would you bother? I've grown beans without a trench for years and always had good crops.....
Am I missing something? Should I be encouraging my beans to enjoy The Independent?
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Having got a shredder recently, all available bits of paper (bills, envelopes, ransom demands etc) get fed through it and it's amazing how far a little goes. I'll be packing the bottom of my bean trench with the stuff too, as well as some fertiliser and (if I get round to picking some up from the hairdresser) some hair. Good source of nirogen apparently, if a little creepy. I hear that fleece (from sheep, not the modern fabric) is good as it absorbs alot of water as well as being a good nitrogen source.
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darn if you had mentioned hair yesterday i could have saved the stuff i cut off hubbies head which are now in the dyson!
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Hi C7,
so why not empty entire contents of said Dyson into your bean trench? I'm sure household dust will rot down just as well as everything else that has been suggested.
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Just jammed the shredder - 2nd one in 6 months anyone know were a cheap replacement can be found????? ???
last one cost 11.99
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Re cheap shredder......look here
http://www.wilkoplus.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&categoryId=17002&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=17001&top_category=17001 (http://www.wilkoplus.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&categoryId=17002&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=17001&top_category=17001)
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I've never emptied hoover contents but I know overs do. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Thanks Q1 :) :) :) :)
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Hi C7,
so why not empty entire contents of said Dyson into your bean trench? I'm sure household dust will rot down just as well as everything else that has been suggested.
Its now in green wheeie bin...
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With regards to the newspaper in the bean trench- Do people scrunch it up or leave it at bottom of trench as thick wedge. I put some in my bean trench today and was not sure what to do.
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I hear that fleece (from sheep, not the modern fabric) is good as it absorbs alot of water as well as being a good nitrogen source.
Beans fix their own nitrogen from the air. It's a wonderful example of symbiosis.
I still don't understand the rationale for digging a trench. Is it to create a moisture holding area?
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Yes. Worked well for me last year, and this years will be better with a better variety of stuff. ( all compostables, paper, horse muck etc.) Aiming not to water this year if at all possible.
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If i emptied my hoover bags I'd get loads of socks!
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With regards to the newspaper in the bean trench- Do people scrunch it up or leave it at bottom of trench as thick wedge. I put some in my bean trench today and was not sure what to do.
I was wondering this too.
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Last year I just ripped it in chunks but maybe if it was left whole it would hold moisture even better.
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Pretty sure that Carol Klein put shredded paper on top of cardboard,(in the first episode of that show that annoyed most of us so much we had to watch the rest so we could shout at the screen except for the quite nice Scandinavian girl and an excellent bit with Supersprout in the last episode that should have been longer (runs out of breath).....
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Pretty sure that Carol Klein put shredded paper on top of cardboard (in the first episode of that show that annoyed most of us so much we had to watch the rest so we could shout at the screen except for the quite nice Scandinavian girl and an excellent bit with Supersprout in the last episode that should have been longer (runs out of breath).....
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My runners are across the front of the allotment, up against the main tarmac path running through the site and the bean trench rapidly dries out, so I have put some newspaper, cardboard and manure in to try and get a bit of water retention. ;D ;D ;D