New allotment

[Missiemoo]

Hi all just taken on a new allotment and want to cover the beds in cardboard. I understand you can then put rotted manure in top. However I don’t have any rotted manure or compost! Any ideas welcome as to what I can do instead

[4Shoes]

Welcome and don't give up hope. Keep posting and more features will be available once you are over the 10 to 15 post mark.....

Many Stables give it away (almost help you load the car). If there is a local livery that should not be a problem. Get a bag and test growing salad crop to make sure it straw not treated with herbicide.

At this time, section off the area you need to grow out this year and treat what you can with card and muck. May not fully break down, but sooner you get it on, the better.

Small local shops will let you take boxes from their recycling cage.

[Bluenowhere]

If you are not going to try and grow on it this year then just use fresh manure, should be easy to get hold of and it will rot down over the rest of the year ready for planting in the spring.

[Jay-ell]

Hi Missiemoo and welcome to the vine.

Fresh manure does have various risks such as e-coli so only only grow stuff that will be cooked in it.

Horse manure will also contain weed seeds so you will have to do some weed control/mulching if it hasn't hot composted or if it's fresh.

There's quite a few threads that have asked about no dig gardening, lasagne beds etc on here.

Councils can supply green waste compost so contact your local council.

Stables may have mature mature if they haven't been able to get shot of it all.

Google lasagne beds.

Find someone with a horse and grab all you can. Look on gumtree for free compost. Check with them if there's weedkiller used on the paddock. Make a pile at least 1m x 1m x 1m and it should get hot and kill off weed seeds in the manure and compost down for use in spring.

If you spread fresh manure on the beds and cover it with mulch or plastic, it will have rotted down by sprint but the weed seeds will probably still be viable.

[1Bee]

Congrats on your new allotment! Cycle shops often have good, big sheets of cardboard you can take away. My holy grail was a friend who had their kitchen replaced... all the new units came in lovely, thick, big cardboard...

I'm struggling for manure this year, too. Good luck!

[bario1]

Hi Missiemoo, and welcome. Why do you want to cover your beds in cardboard? To smother weeds? If so, just weigh the cardboard down with bricks, or even empty pop/milk bottles full of water.

[Chestnut]

Congratulations on your new plot

It would be worth asking around other plotholders at your site to see if any know of local manure suppliers. Local stables is a good option, but don’t forget other animals make manure too. We get ours from a local farmer (mostly cattle, and a few poultry), and a friend of a friend who has a couple of donkeys. You have to be a bit careful with poultry manure though - v strong so can burn plants if used fresh...

[Mr Bones]

Hello, welcome to the vine and congratulations on getting your allotment (from a fellow no-dig allotmenteer)

[bikermike]

have you started a compost heap yet? all cleared plants, weeds (apart from the nasties like bindweed/marestail etc), uncooked kitchen peelings, coffee grounds, grass clippings etc can all be composted. It won't be enough on it's own, but it's a start. And it's free.