New Allotment - The Shire

[broadway]

Popped down for an hour earlier to do some measuring.

Carried on clearing the bit near the shed and got some matting down. Wife wants to use this area for sitting so my thought is its ok to nuke with weed killer?

Also, you can see the gate now!

Lastly, I thought I'd take a photo of one of the plots that has been turned into a garden. I know not everyone may agree with this but I suppose it serves a purpose. Brief history, the road of houses was built to house miners, there are no gardens just a yard with a coal shelter and outside loo Each house received an allotment to grow food for the miners. I suppose if you have kids and no garden the next best thing is to use the allotment. Agree with it or not it's beautiful, they have done a cracking job.

[nickdub]

Personally I wouldn't use weed killer for the area you mention - for me it does have its uses, but in this case if you are planning on a sitting area then it will be a question probably of either a grass area ie a lawn of sorts, or some sort of hard landscaping like chippings bark or whatever.

If you opt for grass then a mower is number one priority, and just mowing off any weeds once a week will see the back of most of them. If a dead surface is wanted then either digging down to put in sand followed by slabs or whatever - or bark, when again you need to dig out a bit, put down something like flattened out builder's bags, followed by bark pieces.

If you do get a few persistent weeds later on you can always treat them individually with weed killer at that time.

[Jungle Jane]

If you don’t want weeds there,cover the matting with woodchip. Weedkiller doesn’t kill weeds for long,they come back quickly....

[broadway]

Well it's certainly a marathon not a sprint, not helped by the weather or me getting knackered after about 2-3hrs

Anyway slowly but surely we'll get there.

Some more upside down pictures?

[nickdub]

Making good progress - as soon as you can clear even a small patch to start growing plants in, then that will be the inspiration for further efforts.

Just think how much you are saving compared to a gym membership :-)

[bikermike]

looking good!

As Nick said, I'd whack something in. My first crop was potatoes, which are pretty hard to get wrong and work the soil for you as well, my local garden centre had bags of seed potatoes going for free last week, so you might get lucky.


It's good to get something in for a quick return and it shows that you planning to cultivate.

Nothing too precious as you'll find that whatever you plant, it ends up being right in the wrong place...

[broadway]

Cheers Guys

In my back yard I have the following growing in seed cells, hoping to get them in in about 2 weeks, nothing ventured.....Kohl Radi, Paq Choi, Squash, Marrow, Courgette, Cabbage, Lettuce, Beets

[SarrissUK]

Well done! It's lovely to see the progress isn't it? I take great pride in my achievements and try not to be stressed by how much is left to do

[nickdub]

Cheers Guys

In my back yard I have the following growing in seed cells, hoping to get them in in about 2 weeks, nothing ventured.....Kohl Radi, Paq Choi, Squash, Marrow, Courgette, Cabbage, Lettuce, Beets

Sounds like a plan !


Happy gardening :-)

[broadway]

Morning folks

Did a couple of hours Fri, Sat, and this morning, slowly getting there

After a few runs down the dump with weeds I decided to reserve the bottom of the plot for weed storage, picture 1. Question should I cover it? Is storing it at the bottom ok or a mistake?

Our intention this year is to grow a few bits and pieces and cover the rest of the site in membrane and dig a bit at a time. Question, could I top the remaining growth with manure before covering in membrane, would this mean we didn't have to dig next year?

[nickdub]

Morning folks

Did a couple of hours Fri, Sat, and this morning, slowly getting there

After a few runs down the dump with weeds I decided to reserve the bottom of the plot for weed storage, picture 1. Question should I cover it? Is storing it at the bottom ok or a mistake?

Our intention this year is to grow a few bits and pieces and cover the rest of the site in membrane and dig a bit at a time. Question, could I top the remaining growth with manure before covering in membrane, would this mean we didn't have to dig next year?

I'd say leaving the weeds you've cleared at the bottom of the plot is fine - I wouldn't bother covering that part for now - no need to let the perfect stand in the way of the good, and it looks like you have more urgent jobs to deal with.

Cutting down the tops of the weeds which regrow will help weaken them whether you use a hoe or a hook. Whether the plan you outline will eliminate all the weeds by next year really depends on what sort of weeds you have. Bindweed for example seems to have a a lot of energy stored in its roots, so just some months without light wont be enough to kill that.

[broadway]

Thanks Nick

Weeds are not really my expertise but have not seen any bindweed, seem to mostly have nettles thistle and some grass

[nickdub]

Bindweed is easy to spot from the roots - if you have long fleshy runs like underground spaghetti, which when snapped exude a white sticky liquid, that's bindweed.

Nettles are good because they show the ground is fertile - in fact you mostly only see them growing in places where people have been once upon a time. Their roots store a lot of plant nutrients, but its relatively easy to kill them by digging them up and leaving them to dry in the sun.

[broadway]

Ok I'm calling this "phase1" complete, at least I can see from one end to the other now!

All weeds going at the bottom, I intend to section it off with stakes/matting(used as fencing).

Once the weeds are fenced away I intend to give it a strim all over then cover 80% in matting whilst working the other 20% and transplanting some plugs from my yard.

In the end I found 5 fruit trees and 2 berry bushes!

[Logunner]

Looks a great plot