Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi all new to this forum and also the delights of growing plants from seed this year, just thought I would say a big HELLO to you all and also ask a question if I may?

We got such a thrill from growing our own plants from seeds this year that we thought why not try getting an allotment, needless to say we walked over to one site today and walked away with a few freebie veggies from the lovely guys there and our own alloment.

Now the allotment is covered in 5ft high nettles and we really don't want to use anything other than an awful lot of hard work to clear the site into a workable one. Is this possible or am I thinking out of the box so to speak?

I must add I love nothing more than weeding decked out in my gardening clothes and my trusty knee pads on so much so I can spend as many as 4 or 5 hours at it so as you can see I'm not afraid of hard work.Hel.xxx.

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Hi Hel, welcome to you.

You have a big job ahead of you, but determination will win out. All the best with your new allotment.

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Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
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Wow, how easy was that - I've read about peeps on here waiting years to get a lottie, lucky you!! The only advice I can give is to repeat what was said to me when I got my overgrown plot a few weeks ago - take it one bit at a time. If you're not keen on using chemicals to clear the plot, cover it up with thick black plastic to supress the weeds, and just uncover a bit at a time, clearing it and preparing it for planting. I decided that I would spray my plot as it seemed huge to me. I did that a couple of weeks ago, then I've covered most if it up and have just finished digging, raking and planting out two beds. At the moment I'm spending about 3 - 4 hours two or three days a week there, but there are a few on my site that only come down at the weekends and their plots look lovely. Good luck with yours

Thank you mcsee I hope to get started real soon.Hel.xxx.

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Hi, Helofadigger, I'd always suggest going to your lottie several times in awful weather, even if just for a few minutes. That way you'd identify areas that were exposed to the wind, are prone to waterlogging, allow frost pockets to form or become shaded when the sun is low during the winter months. And I'd wait until you knew all that before putting out anything permanent like fruit bushes.
Good Luck with it, you're not too far from us and I can tell you that, weather wise, the wind is the biggest problem.

Hi Hellofa...

I can concur with the wind issue; it dries up leaves on toms and beans a treat.

I would also bung into the equation using cardboard boxes to smother weeds, we get ours every time we go shopping; about 6 to 8 each time. Pop onto soil and bung either a brick to keep it down or soil from another part of the allotment to cover it and you can plant straight through into the ground below. Sure, you get some weeds come through the holes but it seems to be working.

The other thing is don't panic. It can't get any worse if it is already covered in nettles.

We first of all covered ours in weed fabric, the good thing about that stuff is it stops the soil drying out and makes it much easier to dig when you lift it off. We also race to the lottie after a really good shower and dig for an hour or so whilst the ground is still wet and thus softer.

Good luck and well done on getting one so quickly.

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Andrea :wavehello

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Thanks guys for the lovely welcome.
Novice Gardener I won the allotment by flirting an awful lot with the guys and needless to say they were a pushover lol it just goes to show what a cheeky smile and little chat will get you these days, thanks for the black plastic tip.

Anyway we know its not the greatest plot on the site it gets waterlogged at the lower left hand corner quite badly in winter and some of the guys told me 'don't take it lass there're better ones than that on here' but I like to prove myself and I really don't mind hard work as I said before.

I know at least one of the old timers is giving up his plot next year but I wouldn't dream of jumping into his shoes and have told him if it gets too much for him I'll do the weeding for him so he can keep it going, as I'm sure he loves the social scene that the allotment gives him and he really is a lovely chap too.

Zazen I used that cardbaord idea on gravel areas in our own garden before I laid membrane down on top of it but I never thought about using it on an allotment so thanks for that tip. ;o)Hel.xxx.

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Hel, just a thought about the bit that gets waterlogged - could you maybe build some deep raised beds - say about 3ft deep and put in a good layer of gravel to help with drainage??? Dunno if it would work or not, just an idea I just had

Hello Hel, and welcome to the Vine. Lucky you to get an allotment so quickly.
I understand your wish not to use chemicals - I try to avoid it myself, but if you have a big patch of nettles you might want to spray them once to get the ground ready for next year. (Nettles give in very easily)
Also you might want to leave a corner where nettles are free to grow - butterflies depend on them for breeding grounds.
Whichever, enjoy your lottie and happy growing.

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

I must add I love nothing more than weeding decked out in my gardening clothes and my trusty knee pads on so much so I can spend as many as 4 or 5 hours at it so as you can see I'm not afraid of hard work.Hel.xxx.[/quote]

hey you can come over to our plot and help out lol

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Hi Helofadigger and welcome to the wonderful world of allotment gardening. I'm not a great fan of using weedkillers but if you have a big problem then maybe you would be justified in using some Glyphosate. Personally I would strim the weeds down to the ground and start digging. Don't try and do it all at once. When I got my allotment I worked about half of it in the first year and then brought the rest in to use in the second season. This gave me the satisfaction of having some veg in year one and being able to plan the plot layout without rushing. Good luck!!

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Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it.

Hello and a warm welcome to the vine Helofadigger! Sounds like you're well pleased with the new plot, as you should be! We faced a similar challenge to yourself when we took our first plot on in September 2006, weeds, brambles, mares tail, nettles, thistle, couch grass and bind weed, some of it to a depth of 8'! We too decided that we didnt want to use chemicals, and as it was already too late to plant much (cept for overwintering onions and garlic), we set too by clearing the plot of everything that was standing, then double digging the whole plot to remove as many of the weed rotts as we could, covering the bare soil behind us with weed control fabric and black plastic to prevent new weeds coming up! It worked really well for us, and although we do still have some persistant weeds, its not too much to keep on top of! There's a thread we started about clearing our plot here
Newbie seeking advice / opinions / help! Possibility of an allotment!
Perhaps using this thread to show us what you've been up to will give you a good way to measure your progress, plus of course the encouragement you get on here is absolutely proceless!

Good luck, take it little and often, enjoy it and remember, its not a sprint, but a jog, steady and persistant wins the day!

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Suzanne (aka Mrs Dobby)

'Garden naked - get some colour in your cheeks'!

The Dobby's Pumpkin Patch - a blogspot work in progress!
Last updated 26th November2008 - more new piccies!

the bottom of our 2nd plot was absolutely covered in nettles when we took it over,as the roots are bright yellow fairly easy to see them to get out.we were told by several p
eople that a lot of nettles is a sign of good soil,so if that true it mightn't be all that bad!
Good luck & Happy weeding!

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Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx

My goodness you are indeed a very friendly lot lucky me!

Novice Gardener I have been told that the corner is really unusable when it gets waterlogged in winter although I was wondering if I might be able to grow comfrey there does anyone know if it likes it's feet in water so to speak?

Dinky_Doo me thinks you will have to join the ever increasing queue for my weeding skills, but it was worth a shot!

Gwyndy as my beloved has taken early retirement and I'm a kept woman we have nothing but time on our hands and gardening is one hobby we both love doing together, I imagine it will be hard for us to take things easy but we want to do it right the first time round.

Mrs Dobby how wonderful to know someone has done something similar and that all your hard work has paid off already after only a couple of years, I'm in no hurry to plant things as yet as I have my pots to grow some veg in at home but I am eager to start digging over the lottie! Thanks for the link I'll check it out .

Andi & Di I have heard that too so maybe it's right lets hope so! Thanks again guys for the warm welcome.Hel.xxx.

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Hi
And welcome
I've got a waterlogged corner and while I'm trying to dig in as much compost etc as possible, I've found the only way to use it is raised beds. In the summer they're good for any crops that won't overwinter and want lots of depth and water ie sweetcorn and tomatoes and then in the winter I cover with compost and leave them till the summer again and use the raised beds that don't get waterlogged for overwintering veg.
Re the comfrey, have got some growing on the margins of this area and when we have continuous rain this bit gets waterlogged too, that seems to grow very well and there's a jostaberry that was in my plot when I started right in the middle of this area and that thrives.
However I suspect that the waterlogging on our allotment site is due to breakages in drainage pipes that the council do nothing about and perhaps the jostaberry got its roots down before the problem was as it is now.
Sue

Hi all just thought it would be nice to show how we have got on in our very first week as newbie allotementeers!

Here's what it looked like last Monday before we started work as you can see we had to deal with 5ft high nettles that just seem to get bigger day by day!


Here's another shot of our plot it's 75ft x 40ft and has been unloved for many years, you can just see our new 'neighbour' Ray's plot which is pretty tidy and almost 3 in 1 although there are 3 of them tending to it!



This shows you the progress we have make in a week, we have done everything by hand and I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see them myself just how big nettles roots grow there are just monsters!



This next shot shows our first bed it's 32ft x 15ft just got to dig it over a few times more and away we go.

As you can see from the pictures it's not the greatest plot on site in fact I think the guy in charge look at us and thought they're young'uns and can cope with the work involve although others have told us that the guy should have given us a far better plot as there are plenty free.

Our plot is sloping and has a couple of trees down one side that makes the soil very dry along that edge although the rest of the plot is quite moist and right down at the bottom of our plot it gets waterlogged in winter or when it rains heavy like last year so we are going to burn our stuff down there and leave it to nature after that.

Sadly the work down at the alloment it a little too much for Bob so I now have to retire my loyal friend 'The Whip' But Bob does do a fine job at clearing the tops for me and keeps me company although I'm sure he's just making sure I don't run off with the lovely guys down at the alloments! Hel.xxx.

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wow, well done! I know how hard a slog it is digging up nettles (my plot had been neglected or about a decade when I got it last november so I have plenty of experience of that..) My first thought when I read about your waterlogged corner was, could you put in a small pond/ bog garden? getting a few resident frogs in and providing a water source for other bug eaters like hedgehogs would definatly help with the natural pest control

hi there and well done it looks amazing! if you get nettles back though save some as it's good food for your plants. bung a load of them in water and leave to make nettle tea. it's really smelly but diluted your plants will love it.

Thanx guys.

Becca great minds think alike Bob was taking about doing just that the other day and I have to agree with you both having a pond area will indeed bring the good guys into our plot and help keep the nasty ones such as slugs etc. at bay too....well one can hope!

Maximillian I think I'll stick to getting rid of all the nettles if I can and use the comfrey to aid the plants as I'm really getting sick of the sight of nettles I can tell when their gone I will be one happy camper that's for sure! Hel.xxx.

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