Allotments 4 All

Went up to site today to find the most enormous pile of still-warm compost! Apparently the council couldn't sell it because it had a bit of plastic in it, so they'd dropped it off to us! Got ten large barrow loads before my arms fell off  :D

yum, well done you :)

Our site gets a load delivered every year from one of the local parks. All the leaves, weeds etc. are piled in a tip and turned with a JCB now and then and an annual cleanup sees the proceeds dumped outside the lottie gate.

After arrival, everyone moans because it is full of sticks, coke cans and other bits while I cart it away. Later they all moan because there is none left. Funny folks.

We got several deliveries of huge loads of leaves from the local parks too. You pull out the most peculiar things shovelling them into the barrow!

We also get deliverys but these have stopped for the time being :( hopefully they will start again soon as i need some for my plot.

I was tempted to pick up a show shovel in homebase this weekend to help with moving the soil and stuff we get delivered.

What do you use?

There's a proper old shovel kicking about by our concrete bays where the compost and leaves etc get dropped off. Haven't any pictures but it looks a bit like this:

http://www.spirejanitorial.co.uk/product_info.php/cPath/25/products_id/194

only a bit wider. Crucially, it's very light (which was handy as I pinched another four barrow loads today!)

I haven't had a drop of manure this year, we have two new allotment holders both who work for our local council (strange how they both got to the top of the list and got plots on the same day) and seem to know just when any manure is getting droped off.

We order manure, but compost seems to be the luck of the draw. I'm feeling very lucky, as I can only get up at weekends, and these things usually get dropped off during the week, so I don't see any of it.

Do not get any compost from the council but get loads of manure from local stables and wood chippings from tree surgeon

We get huge heaps of leaves dumped by the council in the autumn. 
good things are they're free & on-site so no more collecting leaves round the streets like a gardening bag lady and they're often full of road gravel & grit which is good on out heavy clay soil.  :)
bad things - are what people throw away in the street - takeaway food containers, wrappers, needles ( allegedly) condoms.  Definitely two pairs of working gloves and a fork at arms length!  :-\

We also sometimes get chipped wood if they're dropped a tree & we're closer than the council depot to unload.  No contamination  :)

Never know what to do with woodchip, even if I were up when it's dropped off; none of my paths could be called permanent, and I'm afraid if I put woodchip down and then change my mind the woodchip will have made the soil too acidic? :-\

We're on wet clay so it helps make paths useable for a few months, otherwise it can be like wading through an orchard with pigs in it.  Due to that, many of us have raised beds, so our paths tend to be fixed.  Horses for courses I guess.

Quote from: bupster on January 15, 2008, 16:41:34
I'm afraid if I put woodchip down and then change my mind the woodchip will have made the soil too acidic?

I reckon this is whatever the gardening equivalent of an urban legend is, even though the HDRA say it in one of their leaflets. Composted woodchip is neutral, same as composted anything else. Maybe someone confused cause and effect when observing that pine forests are in acid soil?

Thank you Ceratonia. I think the myth has been promulgulated by the same people that spread the story that woodcip and sawdust saturated in horsewee will deplete the nitrogen from the soil. I blame the RHS for taking the Horticultural devils shilling.

Pine forests actually turn the soil acid, but I doubt whether a couple of inches of chippings would have too much of an effect. It's mainly the dead needles which are responsible for the acidification.

Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on January 17, 2008, 22:35:30
Pine forests actually turn the soil acid, but I doubt whether a couple of inches of chippings would have too much of an effect. It's mainly the dead needles which are responsible for the acidification.

Pine needles are meant to be an excellent mulch for strawberries btw, and I should think for fruit like blueberries too.

I shred my Christmas tree (and everyone else's it seems!) for mixing with ericaceous compost to use for acid loving plants.

If you live in or near cambridge you can go and collect compost any time - you do not have to pay for it, you can also get them to deliver a load which is also free as far as I know, I regularly go and get a trailer load or you can go and fill your own bags. The place to go is Donbarnon recycling place - you out of cambridge on the A10 go past milton and at the second big roundabout turn left ask at the weighbridge and they will tell you where to go. if you go with a trailer they will fill it for you with their digger. You can also buy pre filled bags - but why pay for it if you don't need to? :)

Emma

www.losingtheplot.blogspot.com

Quote from: Emma K on January 18, 2008, 20:02:03
If you live in or near cambridge you can go and collect compost any time - you do not have to pay for it, you can also get them to deliver a load which is also free as far as I know, I regularly go and get a trailer load or you can go and fill your own bags. The place to go is Donbarnon recycling place - you out of cambridge on the A10 go past milton and at the second big roundabout turn left ask at the weighbridge and they will tell you where to go. if you go with a trailer they will fill it for you with their digger. You can also buy pre filled bags - but why pay for it if you don't need to? :)

Emma

www.losingtheplot.blogspot.com

Yes, they will deliver for free but only if they have a skip or empty truck leaving to go near your area to collect rubble or waste. It means there is no delivery costs. Collection times are Mon to Fri
7am to 4.30pm and Sat 7am to 12.30pm.

Postcode if your using satnav is CB5 9PG

Be warned the stuff is warm and smells yummy

not alot of trees around here but i wouldn't mind the council gathering up a load of seaweed and dumping it for us plot holders