Hey all...
Joined a few days ago...just made a "hello" post in the "shed" but I have a question already, been reading the wiki and stuff and cant see much about it but sorry if its been done before...
Basically we are being given the choice of a plot...only going for a 5 pole atm as we dont want to overwhelm ourselves. Plus I was informed by the parish council person that a 5pole is 130 sq yards....which is huge, I'm wondering if she means 130yards square!
Is there a "good choice" of plot? Ya know, obviously I'll avoid ones with 8 feet deep brambles or whatever but is there anything I should look for that should turn me off/on?
Thanks
Welcome to A4A. How nice to have a choice of plots. I think I would ask about as to which plot to take.
5 poles is 130 sq yards which is for example 10 yards by 13 yards.
Quote from: Digeroo on April 03, 2012, 13:49:12
Welcome to A4A. How nice to have a choice of plots. I think I would ask about as to which plot to take.
5 poles is 130 sq yards which is for example 10 yards by 13 yards.
Thanks
Yes, we are being "shown the ropes" by one of the allotment caretakers, so I suppose they would have a good idea...I was just worried they might try to offload a bad patch in the hopes we make it nicer!
Oh right, sorry...I was awful at maths at school...I assumed a SQUARE yardage would need to be SQUARE? So the same length on all sides!!
As Diaeroo says 130 sq yards is 130 squares each 1 yard square
130 yards square is a field :-X
Hard to say which plot with out seeing, but things to look at are:
Nearest Water
State of adjacent plots, nice plots probably means nice neighbours
Is it shaded?
Are there any boggy bits?
Does it already have a shed?
Ah right, so its me confusing square yards and yards squared! Like I say, bad at maths ;D
A pre-existing shed would be nice!
I will certainly be taking pictures of the plot we end up taking, so I can upload those tomorrow night maybe! Be nice to do anyway just so I can have a before/after type shot
As said: near to water supply, helpful neighbours, crops still planted, shows you what not to plant in the same place and might even be edible, not to overgrown, get info from other lottie holders. :)
Look whats growing on it. Does it have mares tail or bindweed. Definitely near to a tap . Welcome to A4A swampy
Check buildings or other shade (for instance trees or a tall hedge) nearby... you don't want them south of you whereas north of you they are a real boon... closest water (as others have said), useful infrastructure... a shed is nice if you live a distance away, not to leave stuff in (though it's handy) but as a place to get out of the weather if you get caught by a shower... also a path made of something inert and long-lasting like paving slabs running front to back is useful... if it forms boundary with neighbours then it marks it well without needing a fence (which you will find is a weed trap) but also on my own plot I get the benefit of a 2 foot wide path (big enough for a wheelbarrow) for 1 foot of width. If you've got a shed then a waterbutt to catch the water off it is very useful... up as high as you can and more than one isn't mad... I've seen them where the guy had four butts spaced down the plot all linked by blue pipe mounted at tap level.... meant he had easy water everywhere on his plot but to refill all of them in dry spells all he had to do was to put water in the one closest to the communal trough..... which gives me an evil idea.....
Present state of the plot I would count less than the location and major infrastructure like shed or path, you can always dig the stuff out.... it's taken me a couple of years to pretty much eradicate marestail in the garden... keep[ pulling it out whenever you see it ... it dies eventually.... is there easy car access (if you hae a car).... being able to unload heavy things like bags of compost or trailerloads of manure right onto the plot is a boon...
Also take some photos and look at it at home in the cold light of day you can get very rosy spec about the plots when your on site :)
Try and find the plot on google earth,it isnt exactly up to date so you will see how the plot was kept in the past and plan out what you could do with it yourself :)
That is about the same size as mine. It can be a bit of work, but once you have put in some permanent crops like fruit bushes, rhubarb etc. and get some spuds planted, it becomes much more manageable. I work it on my own and I put in a few hours a week, and an occasional all-day blitz, that's all. (Have a look on my blog, see my signature, if you want to get an idea of how much it will grow.)
Water proximity is a necessity.
The first year, I had trouble planting it over completely as I was inexperienced. But if you are concerned at having it look "full" as soon as possible, get on plenty of squash (pumpkins) and courgettes in summer and it will soon be less work!
Have fun.
Thanks for all the replies!
Well we met up with one of the caretakers today, only had a choice of 5 plots or so all in the same area...so we did pick one.
It doesnt have any natural shade or an old shed/greenhouse, but it also isnt overgrown. Few weeds here and there but no brambles or anything nasty like that. Also the plot next to it has only recently been taken over so itll be good to have someone who would have just gone through what we would be!
Also there is space to pull the call up right next to the plot and there is also a water tap literally opposite the plot.
I've linked into a googlemaps which should show it...the map is a little out of date and for some reason it opens the map too far to the right...so go left a little bit! Our plot is around where the white greenhouse tunnel thing....the corner opposite is where the water tap is
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Stacey+Avenue,+Stony+Stratford,+Milton+Keynes&hl=en&ll=52.058392,-0.804464&spn=0.000924,0.002722&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=14.432157,44.604492&oq=stacey+aven&hnear=Stacey+Ave&t=h&z=19
I'll be getting some pics of the plot later today...
It's nice to take photos same time every month for comparison - it's good to look back on how you've progressed and the different seasons.
Well here is a photo of the plot...I'll get a better one when we go down and mark out the boundary tomorrow.
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii137/swampyseifer/allotment/20120404_180447.jpg (http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii137/swampyseifer/allotment/20120404_180447.jpg)
We're looking to see if we can borrow a scythe of someone we know to make light work of the long grass and then we were planning on skimming off the top inch or two and then rotovate it. Although we're only going to concentrate on a smallish patch to start with, just so we can get some tatties in to break up the soil
Hi swampyseifer.
I am also on Stacey allotments... look forward in seeing you there !
A lovely bare canvas ;D
Personally I wouldn't rotovate it - any nasty perennials (thistles, bindweed, couch, etc) will get chopped up and you'll have a lovely crop of fresh young ones.
Whatever you do - enjoy it. We love ours, the perfect bolt hole from the stresses of work. Half an hour pottering/watering on an early summer's evening and the troubles of the day drift away.
Quote from: non-stick on April 06, 2012, 09:19:30
Personally I wouldn't rotovate it - any nasty perennials (thistles, bindweed, couch, etc) will get chopped up and you'll have a lovely crop of fresh young ones.
Whatever you do - enjoy it. We love ours, the perfect bolt hole from the stresses of work. Half an hour pottering/watering on an early summer's evening and the troubles of the day drift away.
Does depend on how aggressive you get withit... I took on an plot last year that I didn't have tiem to dig properly so I rotovated it three times, spread a load of manure, rotovated that in, put ridges into most of it and planted spuds, the rest got some ratehr tatty weed fabric adn I planted squashes through that. The spud ridges then got covered in cardboard and backfilled with manure... end result is there aren't a lot of weeds there this year and it's way easier to dig..... And I've still got loads of squashes left in store and I'm just reachign the end of the spuds....
Personally I wouldn't rotovate it - any nasty perennials (thistles, bindweed, couch, etc) will get chopped up and you'll have a lovely crop of fresh young ones.
I used to think along that line too...but..after giving it a good old 'thought' having to face weedy situation myself on a plot..if the ground is not been used for a while..the ground is bound to be compacted..there is no way getting all roots intact anyway. By time you have given the clumps of soil some welly and back of spade..all the roots would have snapped into million pieces anyway... ::)
It is far easier to do weeding on the ground that has loose, rotavated soil than keep whacking it clump by clump with the spade. Back breaking job.
It is true that new weeds will pop up everywhere if they they've been rotavated in and potentially making the situation worst..but keeping top of them is easier and providing you are keeping top of them, much easier task... ;)
I would just dig the most obvious ones out..like brambles and dogweed ..thisles, couch, and bidweed roots as such are trouble that you don't get rid of them in 1 go or even 3..they will take time..and time is better spent this time of the year after initial weed removal by getting crops in while the soil is moist enough.
I rotavate my plot. Weeding when you rotavate requires an entirely different strategy to hand digging.
I smother the plot with plastic. That kills everything on top except the nettles and the tap roots. You pull off the plastic, then go round with a fork, digging them out. When I have cleared them, then I go round with the rotavator.
You MUST avoid chopping up taps and nettles, its spreads them like mad. Smothering the land reveals where they all are. The other problem is couch grass, that also needs taking out by hand, but its not as bad as the others, just keep your eyes open as you rotavate, and pick the fragments up as they appear.
Rotovating is not any less work then hand digging. The difference is that it doesnt do your back in, and you get about ten times the area done for the same effort.
The other point about this is to rotavate when you start using the bed, and rotavate when your done, and smother over winter. Dont allow it to compact down. To that end i break up my temporary paths with a fork just before smothering and let the winter do the rest.
Thanks for all the comments...
it turns out that we didnt use the rotovator! We first went round and cut all the tall grass down, we also used a rake to pull off the worst of the bind weed. We then stringed off the borders so we knew how much space we were dealing with. We then mentally broke it down into thirds and put somee tarpulin over the middle third and started working on the first third. Finally we used a spade to skim off the top level from the first third...well we got most of it done. By then we had been there for around 4 hours (mostly spent our time chatting to all the friendly people!!)
Pic of it after the first day
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii137/swampyseifer/allotment/20120406_184714.jpg (http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii137/swampyseifer/allotment/20120406_184714.jpg)
Sorry to doube post but here is a pic of after digging over the whole first third....god do I ache though!
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii137/swampyseifer/allotment/20120408_143628.jpg (http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii137/swampyseifer/allotment/20120408_143628.jpg)
Well done. Sorry to hear about the bindweed. I find it almost impossible to get rid off.
I think you make a wise decision not to rotavate, you would simply have chopped up the bindweed into tiny bits each of which will start a new plant. I am not convinced that covering with plastic kills bindweed.
I am not convinced that covering with plastic kills bindweed.
I know it don't.. ::) Unless I happen to have extra monstrous alien species growing over here.. ::)
You've made a good start... :)
Quote from: Digeroo on April 09, 2012, 11:16:28
Well done. Sorry to hear about the bindweed. I find it almost impossible to get rid off.
I think you make a wise decision not to rotavate, you would simply have chopped up the bindweed into tiny bits each of which will start a new plant. I am not convinced that covering with plastic kills bindweed.
Ive found it kills everything apart from taps and nettles, and couch root. You might have to leave it on two winters, but it definitely works.
I had a virgin plot, grass and the usual weeds including couch and bindweed on clay. 10 x 100. I covered it all with costco weed fabric and hacked away with an azada plus a hand azada on hands and knees removing weeds as I wnt (back breaking as clay was like rock) and I covered as I finished. That was in august 2010 and by september I managed to get broccoli and onions in. The fabric was geat. We don`t use manure and have no weeds now and 16 beds plus utility area and lots of fruit. All the fabric is being re-used
We started compost straight away and use that as well as comfrey and produce fabulous crops, enough for almost the whole year for two of us. Rotation is key
Good luck with the plot, it looks nice
I've successfully killed bindweed with black plastic, but you do have to give it a couple of years if it's well established.
You can tame bindweed by digging up as much as you can then keep pulling out everytime it reappears.
Thanks for all the comments. We have covered the middle part (as you can see in the pic) but I think we only ever looked at that as a short term way to keep the weeds under control and to weaken them a bit before we got round to that section.
Had some heavy rain and strong winds over the last few days so I'm hoping that when we go back to the plot at the weekend, a lot of the ground will have broken up a bit, or at least be ready to get in there with a fork and break it up.
Also the fun job of pulling all the visible weeds roots out!
Still, should have one of those burning bins and a composter by then, so at least we can start storing the stuff up to be burnt/mulched down instead of bagging it and throwing it away like we did with the remains of the first third!