My allotment

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My allotment
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wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sat May 16, 20 12:50 am Post subject: My allotment

So in an unprecedented failure to anticipate the future, I moved out of mums house (with two acres) to a newish estate so that I didn’t have to be Jenna’s entire social life, she could go to school on the bus and we could both socialise more (and I wouldn’t have to drive home). Don’t ever take investment advice from me!!

So, having only a small garden now, I thought an allotment would be fun (it hasn’t previously worked for me. I got irritated to death by patronising old men, when I just wanted to get on with things).

Here it was in September.

[url=https://www.downsizer.net/gallery/30197/4D43E6E5-2775-44E4-A83D-D262D73076C6.jpeg]

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And late March (it’s been a sort of lockdown project, even though it wasn’t intended that way)

And last week

I’m really happy with how it’s going, and although enthusiasm has waned in some quarters, I’m sure the strawberries will bring it back.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Sat May 16, 20 6:44 am Post subject:
looks gteat

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28239
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Sat May 16, 20 6:59 am Post subject:
Must be hard to work on that slope!

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15996

Posted: Sat May 16, 20 7:01 am Post subject:
Very good. You have put a lot of work into that and it is looking good.

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Sat May 16, 20 8:38 am Post subject:
Wow, it looks incredible! Looks like a lot of hard work!

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9887
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Sat May 16, 20 10:36 am Post subject:
well done

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46247
Location: yes

Posted: Sat May 16, 20 11:10 am Post subject:
that looks ace, do you have a manure supply yet?

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sun May 17, 20 1:34 am Post subject:
Why have my pictures all gone sideways?! I promise it is the right way up, it isn’t that windy! The site has a manure heap, although it’s fairly small and quite fresh. I bought in compost, which is ok, just a bit expensive. I’m wondering if I can get manure in by the trailer load and just wait.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15996

Posted: Sun May 17, 20 7:12 am Post subject:
If you can you could pile it up in one corner of the allotment. If you put a casing of soil on it, you can also grow things like courgettes and other things that like a bit of heat while it is rotting, but you need to be rather careful to have enough soil on top. There are bound to be instructions on the internet or in books about the exact technique.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46247
Location: yes

Posted: Mon May 18, 20 11:17 am Post subject:

squashes, pumpkins and similar will grow fine if they have a bucket full of compost or good soil in a hole in the heap to get started in.

a few years back i planted into a stalls worth of raw cow deep litter and it gave a decent pumpkin crop(gloria was a bit surprised at the fork and barrow man stealing her floor)

keep it wet.
it will not need feeding like they do in soil or straw culture

if you want huge or "specimen" ones put straw under them but for everyday ones just let em get on with it, by the time they set fruit the manure surface will be ok for them to sit on

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46247
Location: yes

Posted: Mon May 18, 20 11:51 am Post subject:

yet again i am going to speak ~~~~

other fun with manure depends on what it is

i would be wary of horse stable unless i knew they used organic bedding
stuff like oilseed stalks after spraying with "desiccant" and herbicides/pesticides are best avoided.

organic deep litter from a pig pen is better than gold

organic chook is ace but needs processing even if it has straw etc to bulk it out

moo deep litter is good for conditioning soil but not that rich in nutrients.

a mix of the above or separate heaps is a good start.

as a general rule if it is a rich one like chook, ferment it for at least a few months or use it sparingly when turning soils or use it to burn off weeds and feed trees(leave a few feet between trunk and the "inner" of a target)
good in mixture if it is guano but in straw or whatever cover it and ferment it(damp) and use it as a high feed top dressing along the root line of rows avoiding stems and leaves
much as you would fishbloodandbone

moo deep litter, use as a soil conditioner in huge amounts, i really mean huge, make it a foot deep on a poor soil, you can dig some in but just spreading it, planting into it for a year(see pumpkins etc) will give ace results

good horse is mostly straw etc, compost it with everything else in layers , plenty of air, several heaps in rotations is good.
it is better as made compost than direct or fermented

pig pen

where do i start? i will have a think

ps mixture will have a lot of mentions under the dpack brandname

sgt.colon

Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.

Posted: Mon May 18, 20 1:08 pm Post subject:
I laid down on my side and it looks good WW. Get down there and your enthusiasm will soon come back.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46247
Location: yes

Posted: Mon May 18, 20 1:32 pm Post subject:

jema wrote:

Must be hard to work on that slope!

i left that for a bit

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon May 18, 20 3:00 pm Post subject:

sgt.colon wrote:

I laid down on my side and it looks good WW.

Get down there and your enthusiasm will soon come back.

Tis not my enthusiasm that's the problem. I have to convince a ten-ager to come with me!

manure is merely a problem of space, and containment (when being tipped) I can buy it composted, for £80 a ton. I'm on my fourth ton, just putting a good mulch down!

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46247
Location: yes

Posted: Mon May 18, 20 3:21 pm Post subject:
good start dumpy bags are handy, as are pallets and a few nails, for tidy maturing but spread is good.

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