Grow Your Own Magazine

I have taken on a very disused plot that feels a little overwhelming at the moment. I've been growing veggies for quite a few years in my back garden and now finally have an allotment but blimey, it's so overgrown I don't know where to start.

I've decided to only clear and use a small section at a time and cover the rest with an old tarpaulin I've commandeered and old bits of carpet so at least it looks better even if the roots are doing their worst underneath. The whole area is covered in couch grass, raspberry canes and horsetail so I've got my work cut out. When I went to view the site the guy told me it was a lovely quiet spot on a summer's evening, I couldn't help thinking, not when my three children (all under six!) turn up!!

I'm kind of looking forward to the challenge and have bought some potatoes, garlic, sweetcorn and broad beans, not sure that I'll have chance to do much else this year. I wish I could just rotovate it and have done but I know that's the worst thing I can do, it's tempting though.

I'm looking forward to picking everybody's brains .

MBJ

mbj, nice to meet you

Sounds as though you are pretty organised for a first timer, well done, there is lots of useful advice on here and loads of knowledgeable people to help, unfortunately I'm not one of them

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....me either!

welcome mbj, I have heard that spuds are good for breaking up the ground. Be careful with old carpet as they're made of all sorts of nasty stuff that might get in your soil.

Try growing some french/runner beans too - they are so easy to grow up a cane wigwam - doesn't take too much effort.

Hello MBJ, glad you've got your allotment. I agree with small blue planet about the carpet. They can be full of all kinds of chemicals. Better to use black polythene. I see you have horsetails and they are very difficult to get rid of. If you try to dig them out there are always little bits of root left. Don't know how you feel about weed killer. I have some horsetails in one small area of the garden. I can keep them under control with weedkiller. It works best if you bruise the plants first - stand on them or hit with something. Maybe some one else on the vine has an eradication method for them. Happy gardening.

Come on then substantiate the carpet comment please.

You have them in your house?
You lie on them?

You breathe in any fumes they emit, any particles they might shed.

I heard that one council (Bristol I think) was banning them from allotments and seem to remember that one reason was they could have stuff in them you might have walked in such as tarmac, well b***** me theres a whole street of it outside the house and where does a sizable proportion of the UK's rain fall on?

All things in proportion.

Do not use a foam backed carpet as the foam does degrade into your soil, but woven wool or nylon types are fine, when they degrade you van take them up the tip without leaving stuff in the soil.

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I don't have carpets in my house and if I did I woudn't lie on them,eat them or eat what came out of them. Looks like common sense to me.

We have carpets - we lie on them, sit on them, walk on them, do other things on them ... but we don't eat off them - we use plates.

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Potatoes only break up the ground because of the work that goes into growing them!

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As for old carpets and what you do with them, well most are not made of nice natural fibres, and I was only going on something I'd previously read (can't remember where). Along with the fact you can no longer buy foam-backed carpets (for reasons related to what they give off when they break down according to a carpet seller) - most people when talking of old carpets don't differentiate types.

I have been told not to use old carpets because they contain chemicals which can be washed into the ground with the rain. Now I don't fancy eating vegetables and fruit that contain these chemicals but it is up to the individual to make his/her own mind up on the issue. Anyway I think they look dreadful on allotments.

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I know all those horrible swirly 70s patterns clashing!

Also, you have to take into account the chemicals that were used to dye them. Surely this will leach into the ground if the carpet is left there for any length of time.

Not to mention the Chemicals that are used to clean them! Also they are sometimes treated with Chemicals to keep Moths & the likes down. But to get things in proportion I've got some on my plot thats been killing a patch of Bindweed ready for planting this year.

A case of do as I say .....

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I know! I do take exception to Axeminster on an allotment, I much prefer Wilton .

Blimey, I've started something here haven't I . I've also read not to use foam backed carpets to cover ground because of chemicals but the carpets were already there and I suppose it's laziness and lack of anything else big enough at this point that's seen me using it so far. I agree black polythene would be better and when I get round to it I am going to buy some and use that instead.

As to them looking awful on an allotment site, I'd personally prefer to see the back of a suitable carpet covering up weeds than a patch of nasties all setting seed and drifting onto my site. Glad my allotment site isn't that posh .

Crikey - I thought the whole idea of an allotment was to grow better quality veg for less money. I have been organic on my plot, but if you have rampant couch grass or anything alse as determined then old carpet does the job. If you want to be really padantic on the carpet question surely black polythethene is a damn site worse for the environment when you include the manufacturing process. Surely recycling is better than another trip to the tip?

Hi Caroline, welcome to the Vine.
You can get Black Polythene that will break down & rot after 12 months now. It is designed for horticultural use but costs a fortune for someone like me. I agree with the recycling Idea but sometimes you have to admit defeat & just take stuff for disposal.

Knowing the potential problems with carpets I always reccomend that folks use the black plastic that is used on Silage pits ( second hand is OK) . But I made the choice to use the carpets myself ( I suppose it's a hang up from work where we have to consider health & safety first) Also I'm not totally organic, I have to resort to some sprays to control things like White rust on Chrysanths which is hard enough to contain if you use sprays, the only non chemical control is a bonfire!

We pays our money & takes our pick

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

what would happen if you spilt rhubarb schnapps on the carpet? A critical mass? The China syndrome?

Maybe if you spilt rhubarb schnapps on the carpet you would be close to eating it as a terrible waste if you dont lap it up. I agree with the look of the thing - not nice which every way up it is, plus it is like wrestling with an anoconda trying to get it up when it is soggy and stuck with mud. Inherited some when I took over a plot. Dirty, smelly and generally not nice. The slugs seem to love it though.

Janette

I covere a patch of my allotment with carpet in Jan & it has been the best & easiest bit to dig so far. I have rampant couch & although the council weed killered & rotovated the whole plot the weeds still came back just as bad. I have transfered the carpet to the next patch to try & kill off some of the green.:0

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I also have just taken on an allotment with rampant couch grass. Although I intend to cover half of it with black plastic, I have dug 4 raised beds that I would like to grow in this year. What can I do about the b***** couch grass please!

Hi Stuart welcome to the grapevine. The only way I know to get rid of couch grass is to dig it out. Making sure that you get every single little bit of the root out or else it will just grow back.

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hello stuart, couch grass and every other known weed was in our negleted plot 3 years ago. start small with the cultivation. Buy as much polythene as you can or borrow it, weight it down well, and before you dig, once the weeds have gone pale and limp shear off the thatch that is on the surface and rake away as much as you can. Burn it so seeds cannot come back into cultivated areas. Then take a garden fork and lift each clod carefully, this helps to keep the roots whole, sift it through fork and with much aching of the back remove as much green/yellow/plant stuff and root as you can. Cover it over when youv'e finished digging and when you come back to it pull it through with a pronged cultivator tool adding compost or rotted manure as you go.
When you sow or plant hand pick out any rogue weeds and root and then keep on top of weeding by hand or hoeing every time you look at your plot.
After a year it gets easier and then you hardly see any nasties.
Keep unused areas covered until your ready to tackle them, that way you know weeds are being thwarted even though you hav'nt got to them yet.

1 years seeds 7 years weeds - well thats what my dad always said. I'll let you know in 4 years time co s thats haow my lottie was Stuart! if you keep turning it ouver you'll soon beat it. I read some where that if you keep mowing it it weakens it as well, don't know if it works. I prefer the Black plastic method.

Spuds are a good pioneer crop as you dig to plant them, dig to earth up then dig to harvest them. But I guess you don't really want a lottie full of spuds!

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/