Allotments 4 All

day 1


day 4



a little at a time  ;) ::)

Watch the grass you're leaving between the beds; it's often a reservoir of couch.

i was thinkin of puttin weed supressent fabric down with wood chip on top -

would u recomend digging it all over then  ???  please help - i really havent got a clue .. ???

and what is couch  ??? :'( :'( :'( :'(

>:(

Couch is the spawn of the devil...evil weed which looks like grass and has long, white roots which will grow as another weed when chopped up.

Check the "search" facility or the "wiki" at top of screen to see how to deal with it!! I have loads and can promise you it's no joke!!

Great start tho, well done you!!

;)

If you want grass paths, your best bet is probably to dig them out then re-seed. That way you can be sure there's no devil's grass in there. Otherwise, you may be in for an eternity of digging out spreading rhizomes. Sisyphus probably has a better time of it rolling a boulder uphill for eternity.

Hi Moo,
Couch grass is nasty, that's all I can say about it. When I took my plot over it was covered in it and I couldn't cope with digging it all out in it's green state. In my pics is my before and after. I simply covered the whole plot in black polythene and left it for 6 months over the summer. Nothing to grow on I know. Recently I took it off and it was easier to deal with. I had to dig the whole plot over and take out the root system, which gets everywhere. If you don't take it out it will spread again. Once it's dealt with then it'll be fine. The only other problem I had was the resident snake.
before


good luck

here's an update -

ive decided to dig the paths over and try to make paths from all the stones and bricks i keep finding...

It's nice to see the transformation gradually taking place. Wish I'd taken some early snaps of my plot now.

thanks onionhead

here is a further update




i am  in the process of getting rid of them weeds paths . :)

Lovely to find moo's plot thread, crikey you have worked hard :o
I can recommend just earth paths cowellen, scrape the weeds off when they come, cover with newspaper and straw in summer to keep the moisture in the ground.
Earth paths between spud bed and comfrey bed, not touched all winter so you can see it doesn't get too weedy:

cheers Super ;)

can i ask what are the bottles on the sticks for ?  -

I scattered grow more over the spuds today and raked a bit more soil over em'.

I'm off work for next 2 wks so - i hope to make a lot of progress  :-\

I will keep u posted - and thanks for tips ..

:-X 1 last thing - i have been given some laminate flooring - what use would u recommend 4 it.  thanks?

Laminate flooring is tricky - too full of gunk to make wood ash, too light to hold down black plastic, too fragile to edge beds. I can't think (but it is late ;))
Bottles on sticks are to stop you tripping over them/poking eye out ::) and to store the bottles!
Later in the season I will cut off the bottoms of some of these bottles, invert and plant them deep next to my squash. When I go round with the watering can I will water into the bottles, so the water goes direct to the squash roots and doesn't rot the stems or encourage that grey mildew.

Thanks for the tips Super - going to take them plastic bottles of mine up to the plot today and put em on some sticks. ;)

here is what has been done today  ;D

( that's bluebells in the corner - hope they don't interfere with my spuds ::))
i'm going to try and dig another bed this week for onions - and I might have a shed  ;) ;D


will keep u posted  :)

Crikey, feel all whacked out just looking! You don't half put your back into it gal :P :o Love the bluebells ::)
What sort of soil do you have? It looks very friable and dark compared to mine, would be interested to know. Keep posting, I love to watch people digging ;D ;D ;D

havent got a clue what soil type it is.  (i love it though) it does seem to dry out very quickly... - i'm thinking this is bad?

Yes, wondered if it was silty like mine here in Peterborough, near the fens - a joy to dig, weeds jump out, but can get very dry. My Secret Weapon is spent hops which make it more sponge-like. Still, I'd rather have silty than clay any day, having wrestled with stony clay in York!

I have wet soil today  :'( - it's raining here  :'( 

so not going to get anything done today - i might start off some lettuce  :-\

You got rain? Lucky you!
We have SLEET :P