keeping it tidy...

[Catherine]

 Had our allotment for a month now and I still think it's huge! All surrounding ones are a lot narrower than ours but we want it all anyway cos there are five hungry mouths to feed.
Trouble is we feel a little pressure from the boss men, (although we know it comes from the council really and not fellow allotmenteers), to keep it tidy.
We thought we were doing really well (it was well overgrown) to have just over half of it dug over and planted and were a bit taken aback when we were asked if we wanted to let the other half separately- we don't, so having strimmed it to make it look better is there any cheap way of supressing weeds that doesn't look too ugly?
ideally we'd use the black weed supressing membrane and plant a few squashes etc but I imagine its not cheap.
We will get round to having it completely planted by next year I reckon but at the same time we'd like to stay on the right side of as many people as poss!!
Area is about 20m x 7m
Thanks
PS reluctant to use any nasties on it but will if its the only way.

[Catherine]

[Mrs Ava]

I know some people hate it, but for cheapness, carpet might be the way to go.  Keep an eye out in skips, everyone round our way seems to be having new carpet at the moment and the skips are full of it!  Also ask at carpet shops, they may well have old chunks and remnants that they have dumped out the back.  Don't use foam backed though!  At least you could plonk this down over the weeds, which will help supress them and make it look tidier until you can work on it.

[busy_lizzie]

Catherine, I don't  know if you have seen the Allotment DVD that a lot of us have now.  On there they suggest a quick fix for new allotment holders. It is to get some cardboard and lay it down over some of the grassy area, put compost/ manure on top then black plastic on top of that, you then plant your veggie through slits in the plastic.  You get a crop this year, and underneath the weeds are perishing, as is the cardboard.  Next season it should be not too much trouble to dig that bit over, so the dvd suggests.  They show this little experiment working with a newbie they have on the programme.  Worth a try.  :) busy_lizzie

[Catherine]

 :Dooh that sounds good................. try it tomorrow (or at least when I have enough cardboard!)

[Roy Bham UK]

:o Good grief :o you've only had it a month :o what do they expect from you :o I'd tell them to go take a hike, it's your Lottie and you pay your dues and I think they are being very unreasonable, Pah! >:(

[wardy]

Cardboard is good and it's free from your local electrical retailer  ;D  It also looks ok.  take no notice of your detractors - you can't sort out a badly neglected plot overnight so just forget about them.  They'll back off - they always do  ;D

[rosebud]

Hi Catherine, if your fellow allotmenteers are in such a hurry give em! a spade or fork each and tell them to see how fast they can clear it for you, what a bl**dy cheek, i would do as Roy says and tell them to take a hike. I do not believe for one moment the council had anything to do with it, they are just being bossy and don`t you be intimidated by them.Thereeeeeeeeeeee!! >:(,       said my bit .
You enjoy your Lottie Catherine. ;D ;D you pay for it .

[Roy Bham UK]

As a newbie, I would have thought your Allotment Council would have sprayed and rotovated your plot for you.

You wouldn't hire a Wedding Reception Room and expect to find the remnants of f ag ends, beer bottles and scraps of wedding cake scatter about, good grief stand your ground and give e'm some welly, you are you and not to be messed about with >:( Tell e'm >:( Grrrr this gets my Goat >:( ;D

[Mothy]

I have to say that although our plot belongs to the family so we're not part of a council owned allotment, to expect anyone to manually clear a large allotment in a month is totally unreasonable. I started to clear ours at Xmas and it took 3 months at least to get anywhere near looking reasonable, and I worked bloody hard with help from friends and family.

I would have thought that old hessian backed carpet would be the cheapest option, look in the yellow pages for a carpet fitter, my mate can't get rid of it fast enough!!

[Lazybones]

Cheeky sods.  I have had my lottie over a year and am not even halfway down through the thick grass and weeds but everyone just encourages me and tells me how well I'm doing.

In the minutes of the last meeting I noticed letters had been sent out to those who had paid duly but their lotties were not up to a reasonable standard.  Waited for it in the post, and waited and waited and nothing turned up so either the post is really bad (not unusual) or they actually realise it's a hard, time consuming job to do.

I think you are doing fantastically to have done so much so far.  Just keep plodding on and you'll get there in the end. Or how about leaving forks and spades in the other end of the lottie with notes on them to say 'anyone who wishes to help, please do so'.  Or something rather less polite  ;D

[Anne Robertson]

It must already look 100% better than it did when you took it over. It must be a very regimented site you're on.
Do they all spirit level & trim the tops of the plants so they are the same height and colour co-ordinate the way they plant their produce ;D ;D ??? Actually we have one couple that must do that, I have never seen such a perfect plot, there again they are also the most unfriendly and unhelpful people around!

[Justy]

had mine for 18 months and it is only half a plot and only just getting to having it all cleared.  The rest on your site should be grateful that you have taken it over - at least it is being cleared now.  If they mind so much they should have not let it get into such a state in the first place.

The plot next to mine is rented but I have never seen a soul on it and now there are brambles and weeds heading towards my plot - now that IS wrong and a pain but as long as you are working on it then it is tough luck to the rest - go at your own pace.

[Catherine]

Thank you all.
I did think it a little harsh but being completely new to this we don't want to step on any toes. The chaps on site seem to be very nice, we've had several trays of seedlings from them.
I do think it's the council who are being a bit over-zealous but then if they've just visited they hopefully won't be back for ages....
I thought we were doing well too. Thanks.

[raisedbedted]

Hi Catherine

By the sounds of it you are doing great, I know what you mean about some people being a bit bossy - its our third year and the first where we have managed to use the whole plot.  We still get comments like "youve got wireworms because its so overgrown" etc etc.

I think there are 2 issues;
1, non cultivation where others may be waiting for a plot
2, weeds going to seed and causing annoyance

So as long as you strim down the weeds before they set seed no one can complain! 

There is an upside though, this year the comments have changed to "we thought we must have new neighbours..."

Good luck and above all, enjoy.

Adrian