Mulching Orders...

[snohare]

Hi guys, I am hoping to get an allotment very soon now, however I have a problem. Actually quite a few... after spending £22 on the rent and £40 on a load of well rotted tree chippings I have a zero budget !
I do have seed, tools and some expertise, however the thing I am really lacking is weed supressant. Since I want (actually, need, for medical reasons ) to grow organically, I can't use herbicides; the soil at the plot I am likely to get is dry and light, slightly acid. What I am wondering is, since I have not enough cardboard to cover 180 square metres of ground, and would have a devil of a job getting it there on the bus anyway...would newspaper with a thin layer of soil/chippings on top do just as well ? Could I plant tatties etc through that a la no-dig ? Or would the worms have trouble incorporating the cellulose like they do with cardboard ? Do I need to limit it to just a few sheets thickness ?
I have very limited amounts of time and energy to spend on this and the council waiting list for allotments is a mile long, so it's important that I keep the weeds down.
To compound the problem, I have no access to water unless I carry it 100m in a watering can, and even though we have more rain in Aberdeen than you guys further South, I reckon the amount of fibre I add in the soil is going to make a crucial difference to how well the soil retains moisture.
All help gratefully received !

[Mrs Dobby]

Have you tried the local freecycle for weed control fabric Snohare? We got a 15m by 1m roll for nowt from our local one, it may be an idea to post a request and see whether anyone can help out!

Other than that I cat really help with any advice, as we are definite newbies, but if you dig out the weeds and roots first that should go a long way towards keeping the weeds down, even with only a thin layer of newspaper and a mulch of bark chippings, or at least thats what I'd have thought! Good luck anyhows!

[rustylady]

Old carpets are wonderful if you're not planning to cultivate immediately. Good sources are local skips, carpet salerooms (they usually have a skip at the back for stuff that has been taken out of customers' homes)

Allotment holders usually become expert skip scavengers, you know what they say, one man's rubbish is another man's pot of gold.

Don't be proud, if in doubt ask. If you have any neighbours having home improvements done have a look and see if there's anything you can use.

GOOD LUCK

[Snadger]

If you are covering bare ground it doesn't really matter newspaper or cardboard then mulch, or even just mulch!
If you are covering weed infested undug ground you need to block out light, to stop photosynthesis from happening, which you won't do with newspaper.! All but the most tenacious weeds would struggle to push there way through cardboard but quite easily grow through newspaper which would become papier-mache after the first rain!

Thats my opinion anyway!

[nick the grief]

I say Snadger your getting all clever since becoming MOM

Snohare, You could use newspaper but you'll need it thick as a thin layer will soon break down. Using the bark mulch will help but it may raise the acid levels so you'll have to but some lime on to counteract that. As Aberdeen is such a beautiful rural place try tapping a local farmer up for some of the black plastic they use for their silage pits that will work as well.

If you can't use weed killers has the site got a strimmer you could borrow & just keep cutting it back & stop it going to seed, that will sort out most of the more perniscious weeds. & if you keep mowing couch grass it will give up the ghost eventually.

Hope that helped

[Snadger]

I say Snadger your getting all clever since becoming MOM

Inside the snadger there was always a latent allotmenteer trying to get out!

[Snadger]

Appologies in advance for going 'off topic' snobare!

Just thought of an old joke!

Whats brown and does somersaults in the gutter?.........

A clever s**t!

[mazel-bee]

You can get totally degradable refuge sacks made of potato starch which may work with chippings.

[Lesley Jay]

Nice one Snadger!!

[nick the grief]

How bout .....

Whats Brown & sounds like a bell?


Dunnnnnnnggggg

[snohare]

ROFLMAO
Very good guys...it's scarey how like my humour yours is...who it's scarier for, I don't know !
The reason I didn't get back to you all to thank you is that I was away. While absent I met a man who owns his own construction company...the subject of Terram came up, he said he gives it away by the roll...(his company is BIG, builds motorways)...to cut a long story short, I gave him a T-shirt and he's giving me a roll of Terram ! (It was a rare T-shirt. )
Nick, if the bark mulch has been rotting down for a year, is that enough time for the nitrogen levels etc to stabilise back to normal ? And how long does it take for fresh cow manure to become safe to plant amongst ? I was hoping to add that as I put the mulch down and then plant winter veg etc.
And most importantly of all, I thought Snadger didn't have the...er, equipment...to be a MOM ? Is this something I'm at risk of ??

[Snadger]

ROFLMAO
Very good guys...it's scarey how like my humour yours is...who it's scarier for, I don't know !
The reason I didn't get back to you all to thank you is that I was away. While absent I met a man who owns his own construction company...the subject of Terram came up, he said he gives it away by the roll...(his company is BIG, builds motorways)...to cut a long story short, I gave him a T-shirt and he's giving me a roll of Terram ! (It was a rare T-shirt. )
Nick, if the bark mulch has been rotting down for a year, is that enough time for the nitrogen levels etc to stabilise back to normal ? And how long does it take for fresh cow manure to become safe to plant amongst ? I was hoping to add that as I put the mulch down and then plant winter veg etc.
And most importantly of all, I thought Snadger didn't have the...er, equipment...to be a MOM ? Is this something I'm at risk of ??

This is me wi me pinny on snohare! Wait til a catch that little weeeeed!

[nick the grief]

........Nick, if the bark mulch has been rotting down for a year, is that enough time for the nitrogen levels etc to stabilise back to normal ? And how long does it take for fresh cow manure to become safe to plant amongst ? I was hoping to add that as I put the mulch down and then plant winter veg etc.

If it's been a year it should be breaking down OK I guess. As to manure, s months minimum best left a year if possible ( cover it over with some plastic or old carpet to stop the rain washing the goodnes out if possible. If it's really fresh why not make a hot bed for some early crops ( see other threads on the vine re these)