Penellype's Allotment

[1Bee]

Penellype, do your raised beds have weed membrane under them? I'm still intending to make one or two raised beds for the second half of our plot, but I'm torn between no membrane and fighting weeds, and lining with membrane and not having the connection with the natural soil processes....

[Penellype]

I toyed with this idea but as the beds are only 5 inches high I didn't think weed membrane would be a good idea especially for deep-rooted crops like parsnips and beetroot, so I lined each bed with 2 layers of thick cardboard. Apparently roots can grow down through the cardboard but weeds don't grow up through it. My experience of it so far (at my friend's) is that it suppresses most weeds but couch grass and horsetail can pierce the cardboard and will grow anyway. I suspect these would also find their way through all but the strongest weed suppressant.

[lottie dolly]

I put the plastic mypex under several bed a few years ago,never again,the horsetail thrived,and anything else with long roots either pieced it or turned,also noticed when the beds were cleared off,the soil undernieth seem to be swelling,making the beds thinner,i wondered if it was the rain water,washeded the soil though it,would not do it again,plus a pain when you need to insert canes

[Penellype]

I put the plastic mypex under several bed a few years ago,never again,the horsetail thrived,and anything else with long roots either pieced it or turned,also noticed when the beds were cleared off,the soil undernieth seem to be swelling,making the beds thinner,i wondered if it was the rain water,washeded the soil though it,would not do it again,plus a pain when you need to insert canes

That's interesting, and good point about the canes.

[bikermike]

I've got paths made of the woven type weed-matting and the marestail has grown straight through that. solid plastic slows it down for longer, but it keeps on going for ages looking for a way up...

[Penellype]

Nothing doing yesterday as I had a meeting all day.

Today's job was to get the slug nematodes down on the allotment. This sounds like not a lot, but I had to lift each of the pieces of fleece on the raised beds and also the weed matting inside the tunnel, and while I was at it, capture any slugs and snails I found for the chickens as I went. It took me nearly 2 hours and resulted in a large number of slugs which the chickens will no doubt enjoy this evening.

While I was doing this I noticed that the summer leeks which have germinated are looking considerably nibbled, so I suspect the nematodes are not a moment too soon.

Nematodes are fussy things - the temperature has to stay over 5C at night and you are not supposed to apply them in bright sunlight, so today was ideal, being another dull and damp day.

Shoots are showing in the Desiree potato bucket, but nothing doing with the parsnips, carrots or turnips that were sown at the end of March. I suspect the turnips may have germinated and been eaten by slugs, but the parsnips and carrots may need a while longer yet.

[1Bee]

Lol! Lying in bed at 5.30 this morning, I thought "No I won't put down membrane. I'll just use cardboard."

I'd forgotten that that was what I did with my little raised bed. Yes, the horsetail goes through, but much weakened, and the worms love the cardboard.

Thanks Penellype.

[Penellype]

A busy but productive weekend.

By far the biggest job was putting the net back on the tunnel. I decided to do this yesterday as it was not windy, and got as far as putting up the 2 bits of net and securing them with inside out cable ties (which can easily be removed but are not particularly secure). I was going to leave it like that for a while in case we had any more forecasts of snow, but the potential for a gale on Tuesday made me think again and I finished it off today. I've basically stitched the top pieces to the sides with nylon fishing line. This should make it less inclined to open up large gaps whenever it is windy (previously the top was anchored to the piping with cable ties but there was nothing holding it together in between) and it should also be fairly easy to take off if snow is forecast as I can just untie the ends of the fishing line and pull it undone. That's the idea anyway. I also tidied up the door end a bit.

Also yesterday I planted out the Meteor peas, which filled 1m of row (half the length of the raised bed). Their place on the shelf was immediately filled by some Douce Provence peas which have been hardening off in the growhouse. These need to grow another couple of inches or so before I plant them out to brave the slugs. This morning I was pleased to see that the Meteor have survived the night uneaten.

I collected up 2 jam jars of slugs and snails for the chickens - the snails seem to like climbing the netting on the tunnel, which makes them easy to find. Something (slug or snail almost certainly) has got into the hotbed and eaten off some of the carrots. The only surprise here is how long it has taken for this to happen!

Today I was expecting it to start raining mid afternoon, but luckily it waited until evening. Having finished stitching the top onto the tunnel I sowed some leeks in the empty bed near the raspberries. I've been dithering with this because the summer leeks I sowed earlier in the next door (onion) bed are being eaten by slugs. However I have applied nematodes, and hopefully the slugs will be starting to die off by the time these leeks germinate. If I don't try things I won't learn, and I can always sow some more at home in reserve in case of failure. I also sowed some more lettuce in the hotbed to replace the lollo rossa which was very old seed and hardly any of it germinated. The mixed lettuce has done so well that I thought it worth sowing more between the 2 rows of beetroot.

Having done that and watered the hotbed and potato buckets (all of which are under cover) I chopped some more leylandii and dug up some more horsetail roots from the tunnel, and then it was time to go home. Took some rhubarb with me for tea - this is shooting up and now has some really thick stems (and several flower spikes which need cutting off).

[Penellype]

Gorgeous day and nothing much doing at work meant I could spend several hours at the plot

Went down early and tipped last night's rain water into the water butts then opened the covers over the hotbed and potatoes and checked the seeds for germination under the fleece. No sign of parsnips but 2 carrot seedlings have appeared. I decided that the fleece was probably sheltering slugs, so I took it off and made a net cover out of debris netting and blue pipe hoops similar to the one over the cauliflowers.

Collected a jam jar full of slugs and snails for the chickens. Weeded under the hedge - mainly speedwell, which is already starting to flower, then chopped up some of the leylandii and went home for a bit.

After lunch I took the turnip seedlings down and planted them in the corners of the cauliflower bed. Although they were only at the seed leaf stage, these were sown in half loo-roll innards, which are already disintegrating, and I thought they would be best in the ground as soon as possible. I put a ring of plastic bottle with copper tape round each - this is working well so far for the cauliflowers.

Spent a good hour digging horsetail roots up from the tunnel then removed as many visible horsetail shoots from the raised beds and paths. The wretched things haven't taken long to find their way through the heavy duty woven plastic weed suppressant on the paths. All I can hope for really is that it slows them down a bit.

Finally trimmed the longest bits of grass round the edges of the plot. I have some shears designed for this job (the blades are at right angles to the handles) but it is hard work and doesn't do a great job. A while back I was looking at a battery powered strimmer/mini mower/edger which I almost bought but decided to see how things went first. After today's attempt I decided I probably needed one. You know what's coming next...

I picked some spinach from the hotbed and went home to order the strimmer from Amazon. It's out of stock and they don't know if or when it will be back. The only places I can find one are on ebay (I don't have a Paypal account for complicated reasons so I can't get it from there) or to order direct from the USA. I'm now wondering if they have stopped selling it because it actually isn't very good. Maybe I should get a manual push mower (much cheaper anyway) as I am rather scared of power tools, but I am not sure it would cope with the uneven ground.

Some photos of progress, showing the top net back on the tunnel, the new net over the carrot bed, peas planted under half of the pea netting and growth in the hotbed:







Even the beetroot on the right is growing quite nicely!

[1Bee]

Following advice from Grapes, I use a push mower, cheap and cheerful from Wilko, I think. Much to my surprise it's still going three seasons later, in spite of being bashed around on very uneven ground. It's quite hard work when I'm trying to force it to cut bits of the path that are at an angle or bumpy, but otherwise surprisingly easy. And of course it collects lots of lovely grass clippings for mulching.

I have certificates that tell me I can use chainsaws and strimmers. But I loathe power tools, have nowhere to store them, and don't want to do the maintenance.

[Jungle Jane]

Theres this cordless strimmer from Argos it has a 35 min run time & looking at the reviews shows you how much battery powers left,that would be handy

Buy Spear & Jackson S1825CT 25cm Cordless Grass Trimmer - 18V at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for Grass trimmers and accessories, Lawnmowers and garden power tools, Home and garden.

[bikermike]

I have enormous beetroot envy Penellers...

If buying a cordless tool, remember that batteries are a big chunk of the cost, so have a think if you are likely to buy any other cordless tools and pick a product that is part of a range. I bought my (Bosch) cordless strimmer as it matches my cordless drill, so I can now have a lot of strimming time thanks to two usable batteries. (I'm now looking to buy a jigsaw from the same range and I won't need to buy a battery).

What kind of battery is it? (I can't see the thing). I'd only go for Li-Ion - they are so much better than the previous technologies.

[Penellype]

I have enormous beetroot envy Penellers...

If buying a cordless tool, remember that batteries are a big chunk of the cost, so have a think if you are likely to buy any other cordless tools and pick a product that is part of a range. I bought my (Bosch) cordless strimmer as it matches my cordless drill, so I can now have a lot of strimming time thanks to two usable batteries. (I'm now looking to buy a jigsaw from the same range and I won't need to buy a battery).

What kind of battery is it? (I can't see the thing). I'd only go for Li-Ion - they are so much better than the previous technologies.

The tool I wanted was made by Worx - I have a Worx battery mower at home, so I was looking to share batteries. I am inclining towards the push mower though, as there are not huge amounts of grass to cut.

[Penellype]

A dull, windy and at times damp day, not at all inspiring for getting things done outside, so I spent much of the morning sorting out stuff in the garage. Went down to the plot at lunchtime and spent an hour or so weeding and digging out horsetail roots.

I was going to go back later but when I got home I found my computer had crashed and it was soon clear that this was pretty much fatal. The thing will reboot, but it soon crashes again with a memory problem. I've been expecting trouble for a while as it has been rather wobbly, so I have everything safely backed up. So instead of more gardening I had a trip to PC World. Typically they didn't have exactly what I wanted and had to order it, so I will need to go and collect it tomorrow. As work is computing and I can't be without a machine, I have a spare one which I am using at the moment, but it is old so I can't rely on it for long.

[Penellype]

Just a couple of quick visits to the allotment today as most of the day was spent collecting and attempting to set up my new computer.

Opened the cloches first thing so that the potatoes and plants in the hotbed didn't cook. Collected a jar full of snails which were congregating on the rhubarb leaves as well as the tunnel mesh. Also fitted another clip to the tunnel door so I can shut it from inside as well as outside.

Went back at lunchtime and spent about 1/2 an hour digging out more horsetail from the paths and tunnel. Watered the potatoes and hotbed and checked the seedlings, which are still vanishing, presumably due to slugs and snails. Found 2 adult vine weevils near the shed - not a good sign. Those 2 have been squashed but I suspect there will be plenty more.