Allotment consumables: good buys and bad buys?

[supersprout]

Hello skip divers ;D

I try to find, borrow, filch or make most things for the plot. However, allotment consumables (not seeds or plants) have cost me some real money over the years. Some things I'd definitely buy again and recommend :) and others have been erm, mistakes :-[

Good buys: Large rolls of black plastic mulch, mesh and fleece. They can be used over and over again and the mesh and fleece are washable! So the price per season ends up low although the initial cost seems high. E-buygumbay greenhouse. Good stainless steel tools.

Mistakes: Rootrainers - too fiddly and fragile. I gave mine away and use toilet rolls instead. Panda Stix cloche supports - not really strong enough for the job, and very expensive. The wiki has a much better method. Large heavy metal watering can - picturesque but cumbersome!

I'd love to know what other people have found to be good and bad investments? ::)

[supersprout]

[busy_lizzie]

Like you supersprout, we tend to get all of our stuff second hand and usually from skips or if it is garden tools at the local aution house, but one thing that was a bad buy for us was a battery operated strimmer.  When we first got our plot it had grass paths and a lawn area at the back.  So we got the strimmer to keep them neat.  However, the strimmer battery didn't last long enough nor was it very strong, and the grass just spread and just made more work for us, so the solution was to get rid of the grass, which we have gradually done.  Then OH burnt the battery out by charging it  overnight by mistake, so that was nearly £20 down the drain anyway.

Our best buy was the cloches we got from Wilkinsons last year in their sale I got four for £2.99  each and also  some lighter ones for a pound at Poundland this year, really useful. busy_lizzie

[Jesse]

Best buys: Generator, pea netting, hazel poles, bamboo canes (lots!), fleece, dutch hoe, a truck load of horse manure delivered, blue water piping which can be used to make framework for netting/fleece to cover. Heavy duty leather outer, fleece lined gloves for winter use. A trug basket for carrying veg in. A good pair of pruning shears and a ladies size pocket knife.

Worst buys: cheap butterfly netting, it sticks to itself and ALWAYS ends in frustration when trying to protect crops, think I might invest in enviromesh this year. A cheap pair of gardening gloves that wore through the fingertips in less than one season.

[Curryandchips]

Poundland canes - 30 off 4ft long, excellent light stakes for so many things. Fleece as already mentioned.

My best recent buy was the florists buckets from Morrisons - 63 for £1.98, but I had to be bold enough to enquire !

[sandersj89]

Best Buys:

My second allotment, left in near pristine condition for me and very fertile.
Rootrainers, saves space and very easy to use, have lasted 4 seasons so far and I now have loads of them.
Plug in thermostate for the greehouse heater, makes control far better and probably has saved it's cost in reduced electric bills in one season.
Tanaka petrol strimmer and pole hedge cutter, has saved me hours of work each year and never fails to start.
Woven Landscape Fabric, is lasting years and does what it says on the tin.

Worst Buys:
Cheap nasty secatures that catch my fingers when closing and are useless for anything larger than blade of grass.
Cheap bendy trowls and hand forks that bend at first site of a bit of heavy soil.

Jerry

[plot51A]

Besy buys:
Enviromesh -  worth every penny, wide fleece, leather gloves, 3 tier plastic growhouse from Aldi.

Worst buys:
Cold frame from Lidls - no fixing whatsoever for the top panels (but I suppose i will find a use for it anyway)
Build-a-balls - a right load of b**** . An early buy from the organic catalogue and a big mistake.
Cheap "bargain" fleece.

[jennym]

Most of my stuff is scavenged, and some was bought for me as presents, so will include this in with the bought stuff:

Best:
Decent broad trowel with stainless blade Homebase (amazingly as I don't rate most of their stuff)
Rootrainers (donated  ;D) - love them and you can grow so many plants in such a small space
Enviromesh, decent fleece, black woven heavy duty ground cover & pegs from Kayes
Tesco soluble feed (£1.97 per kg and in 4 x 250 g sachets which means it keeps dry longer
Paving slabs from peoples old patios - no more mowing paths or muddy feet
Bahco secateurs - expensive but worth their weight in gold
Guttering from Wickes for shed roof to collect water for butt
"Gardeners  pack" of 1.000 7cm sq pots and 54 trays from H.Smith Plastics for about £30.00

Worst:
Build-a-balls, cheap secateurs, cheap bendy trowels, cheap battery strimmer - waste of time (as already stated)
Aluminium trowel and fork, cold and uncomfortable
Flymo garden vac - used it about twice
Combined stool/kneeling pad/tool holder - uncomfortable and too much effort
Green plastic coated metal canes - bent under the slightest force
Cheap plastic plant labels with shiny plastic that you can't use a pencil on

[Hyacinth]

Most useful buys - large thick  blue groundsheet from the £1 shop. Use it almost daily - keeps the weeds and soil in one place & no clearing up afterwards & of course, their cloches!

No bad buys this year - so far

[Doris_Pinks]

Best buys,
My Felco secateurs, (Have a bright red handle too so no losing them!)
Wolf gadget that is long n thin and great for getting dandelion roots out and plants in!
My individual knee pads that you attach with velcro
Manure
decent netting from garden direct
Fleece
Weed Spressing membrane
Radox

Worse buys
Fleece pegs (I find rocks and digging the edges in work better, leave no holes!
That cheap bean netting, gets in such a tangle and makes me cross!

[kippers garden]

i hate cheap bean netting...they should sell 'patience' with it!

[tilts]

I second those knee pads, great for painting skirting boards too!!!

[daisymay]

Worst:
cheap secateurs, cheap bendy trowels,
Combined stool/kneeling pad/tool holder - uncomfortable and too much effort
Cheap plastic plant labels with shiny plastic that you can't use a pencil on

agree with these for worst buys! I got one of the combo kneeler things as a present, if you put it down the wrong way round as a kneeler there is a 2 inch lip on it which you end up kneeling on - very very painful!! Would not dare get the strap on knee pad things as I would forget I am wearing them and go into town shopping or something!  :)

Invested in a decent trowel as a 30th present to myself. Sick of cheap rubbish plastic ones that bend and snap...

thought that was just me with the plant labels - what is the point of selling a pencil with them if you cannot write on them in pencil. Had to get a black marker instead, which then means you only get one use out of them!  >:(

Other best:
- electronic label maker
- cable ties- massive bundles from wilko/ poundland for next to nothing, brilliant for securing netting or tying poles together  :)
- onion hoe - does exactly what it says on the tin - great for getting into tight gaps and makes you concentrate as you have to get up close and personal rather than standing up hoeing...

[Hyacinth]

My individual knee pads that you attach with velcro

in a reverie wondering what joined together knee pads would be like to wear ;D

Last year's buy, so forgot to include them (bought the knee pads at the same time but actually prefer my 'prayer mat' - yellow thick rubber thing) was a pair of safety goggles - just have to remember to use them.

Those combo kneeling seat things......every old person I work for has got one - wondered if they were in the Betterware catalogue on 'Special' at some time? ;D - b. useless.

btw....those cheapo shiny plastic plant labels - you sure they're shiny on both sides ???

[Mrs Ava]

Has to be really special for me to spend cash on it....

Good buys:
Fleece
MASSIVE ball of string - should have been £13, I got it for £3!
Yellow trug bucket/bag thingy from B&Q.  I have another posher version, but it is much more rigid, so good in it's place, by the softer yellow one is so easy and comfy to carry!

Bad buys:
Cheap netting (which I still use, waste not want not!)

[jennym]

...btw....those cheapo shiny plastic plant labels - you sure they're shiny on both sides ???

Definitely shiny both sides - and brittle to boot. I will admit to having a go at sandpapering them to make them rough, then decided life was too short to spend time sandpapering cheap plant labels  ;D

[supersprout]

Have you tried a chinagraph pencil jenny? Only 65p and guaranteed to write on glass! ;D

[flossie]

Best buys

my old "push" lawn mover - recycled off a junk heap £1

hemp hand cream - body shop

£1 shop fleece govles

Worst buys

Willis' flower seeds - so few have germinated - am SO disappointed - veg seem ok

[markyb23]

Hi everyone,
                     My best buys-The D.T. Brown seeds from Netto(thanks again to the person on A4A that told me about them).Mini-Cloches from Poundland.I bought some a couple of years ago and they seemed to be better quality than the ones they sell at the moment.3 inch square plastic pots,second hand,but good quality, from one of my local nurseries,50 for a quid.I find the square pots much better for fitting into the blue plastic stackable trays that the nice people at the fruit and veg shop in Brum give to me whenever I ask them for some.
  Last, but not least, the free horse manure that the local eqestrian centre kindly  lets me help myself to.I really would recommend horse manure for bringing the soil to life.
    All The Best-Marky.B. :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

Best buys - The allotment. £5 steel fork that I can use as a crowbar without bending or breaking it. Digging hoe - I do 99% of my digging with a combination of these two. Stainless steel trowel from B&Q. Poundland cloches. Mini-greenhouse. Cold frames.

Worst - Nasty cheap trowels. Cheap secateurs. Cheap cordless strimmer and hedge trimmer.

[amphibian]

i hate cheap bean netting...they should sell 'patience' with it!

I found a load of this hidden in the grass while strimming, my god what a tangled mess, took me an hour to cut it free from my strimmer head.