used paving slabs????

[maisiehumby]

Just wondered if anyone could think of a crafty place to find cheap/free paving slabs to make paths for my allotment. I'm in Cambridgeshire and am trying Freecycle but as yet no luck. Have also tried Ebay, but again no luck. Loads of people must surely put down new patios and want to get rid of the old slabs??? Local council?? Waste sites?? Any ideas please?

Thanks.

[Nicos]

I cornered a guy in the local petrol station

He had a truck load of them and I persuaded him to drop them off at our lottie!!!

...had to pay for them of course- i think about £1.50 each!!

Try phoning a few local builders who may be removing patios to build the extensions.

Oh...and welcome to the Vine!!!...tell us a bit about your lottie!

[cgg]

Keep your eye open for people with skips on their driveways. We spotted some slabs in a skip down the road, knocked on the door but the owner was out so left a note through letterbox explaining why we wanted them with contact details. The lady phoned the next morning and said we were welcome to them, it's recycling at its best and means she can fit more in her skip so better for everyone in the long run. Hope you have some luck, have you tried posting a wanted ad on Freecycle?

[maisiehumby]

Thanks for the ideas. Yes, I looove rummaging through skips, much to hubby's total consternation....I'm going to put a wanted ad on Freecycle since that's worked for me before. Builders...great idea, will also try that.

Took over an allotment site (half of one I think) last year, but then life got more than a little busy and I had to abandon it for several months. Just got back to it very recently and have been hacking my way through forests of superweeds. Almost there now, but I've decided to divide it into individual beds to make it easier to manage, but not raised beds since it's pretty free-draining.

Biggest problems seem to be a strong grassy thing with horrendous spaghetti-like web of roots (couch grass???) and masses of horseradish. I just keep pulling it all out but you can't leave it for any time or it gets scary pretty fast (hence my problems now!!!!). I garden organically so don't want to spray it.

Would welcome ideas of what I can do at this time of year with a totally empty allotment!! Going to put in Japanese onions. From now on I'm only going to grow things which don't need a lot of attention, to make it easier to manage....

[Stacey Steve]

Many councils are starting to do away with paving slabs due partly I think to the litigation they get from people "tripping over" broken and loose slabs.

Always worth a phone call to the highways dept to find if they have a program going on and if they will donate the old slabs to your lotties.

[jackie j]

We bought some for 60p each from our allotment shop.

[Snadger]

Many councils are starting to do away with paving slabs due partly I think to the litigation they get from people "tripping over" broken and loose slabs.

Always worth a phone call to the highways dept to find if they have a program going on and if they will donate the old slabs to your lotties.

I think also it's to do with the size of the old paving slabs which under new regulations would be a risk factor to handle being so heavy and awkward? They seem to be replaced with smaller, lighter flags!

[middlefield]

We just kept an eye out on the neighbourhood for slabs, and spotted early people that were relaying patios.

We took 70 slabs from one neighbour - they actually thanked us profusely as they were able to cancel a skip that they had hired to take them away

Slabs have been great for us, I know that some of the established plot holders on our site frown upon slabs, its allowed us to build a framework around the site that has made it easier to manage

[Two_Sheds]

One of our plot holders is a builder, and he sells them onto others. About 50p each I think.

[chris]

Shame you're not in cardiff, I've got a load behind my shed that I've just stacked up really!! Have started to use them bit by bit - and now have resorted to kind of semi paving an area between our drives with em

[Mikey]

My Dad used to work in the highways department, and they always used to sell off used paving slabs when asked. It was a few years ago now but they were around about £1 each from memory. I would find out where your local depo is an drive there, as you tend to get a better reception from them if you are prepared to collect there and then.

[Eyren]

Biggest problems seem to be a strong grassy thing with horrendous spaghetti-like web of roots (couch grass???) and masses of horseradish. I just keep pulling it all out but you can't leave it for any time or it gets scary pretty fast (hence my problems now!!!!). I garden organically so don't want to spray it.

Same here, Maisie - couch grass is the bane of my life! Two things you can do:

1. For a quick fix, if you need to plant stuff and there's lots of grass, strip the turf off and stack it grass side down to rot (you can sieve it later and reuse the soil), then fork over the soil underneath.

2. If you can wait longer, e.g. over winter, cover it with plastic sheeting or cardboard (pinned/weighted down), then after a few months fork it over and remove the grass roots, which will be weakened by lack of light. You can also plant big veg like brassicas through slits in the ground cover - we did this last year

Would welcome ideas of what I can do at this time of year with a totally empty allotment!! Going to put in Japanese onions. From now on I'm only going to grow things which don't need a lot of attention, to make it easier to manage....

* If you get your skates on, it's not too late to sow spring cabbage and swiss chard for planting out in autumn
* Broad beans can be sown in November to overwinter
* For quick results, you can get plug plants of leeks, broccoli, etc, for overwintering (I got some quite cheap on ebay - PM me if you want the seller's details)

Onions and leeks are pretty low maintenance, just hoe occasionally to keep the weeds down. Brassicas need some vigilance - and netting! - this time of year when caterpillars and slugs are everywhere, but should be low-maintenance come winter.

Hope this helps!

[maisiehumby]

Thanks Eyren.

Yes, I put leek plants in today - some planting at last!! I'm also thinking of planting Japanese onions. Thanks for your other suggestions, which I'll add to my list

If only I could find myself a shed.....the 7x5 one I'd been offered free wouldn't comply with the site regulations apparently. It must be 6x4. Grrr - took me ages to find it and now I need to start again. My fault - should have checked the tenancy agreement

[alexihen]

Is there no way you could remove the frames on the 7x5 sides and ends and replace them all 6" in from the original position and then trim the excess? This would make it into a 6x4 shed. Can't be too difficult, can it?

[alexihen]

Sorry - on the sides you could move just one end frame 12".