Is there a gardening thread already?

Beautiful garden and lovely inspirational pictures!

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Had a really sad day today, Family you cannot change ,but I am so glad of the really good friends I have…My Music is my No.1 Pastime, life to be honest…and then my Garden…It is good to be inspired for sure… :innocent:

Find gardening, or just hanging out in the garden, very therapeutic for sure. Hope you have a better day today!

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Yes never down for long normally…Talked it over,
Husband and myself,we agreed together, that we cannot change what has happened…again…so what you can’t change b**locks to them all…
We pretty much loving our retirement and to hell with any animosity
That was all the weeds fault…little weed…guess nobody remembers the Flower Pot Men and Little Weed…I do and still watch 'em… :innocent:

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So, we’ve just got to the top of the allotment list and saw an awesome plot (good position for sun, a couple of fruit trees at one end). But the previous tenant had got hold of some glyphosate and dowsed it to clear everything off. Stuff is growing on it, so I guess it was a year ago possibly two.

My question is, should we take the plot or is that stuff really bad?

There are other plots but not as good position and very brambly.

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Take the plot with the best position every time.

Isn’t the point with glyphosate that it only activates in live plant material anyway? Should be gone by now.

For both points though the answer is the same: getting an allotment is a long term thing so think long term.

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Thanks, that seems to be the prevailing advice, but read some stuff about it lingering longer than claimed, so wasn’t sure.

Well you always have option of just not eating anything you grow for the first year if you’re really worried. When taking over a plot there’s usually a fair bit of work to keep you busy at first anyway, so there’s no rush.

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We took the plot :slight_smile:

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Excellent! Congratulations.

Now prepare for a fucktonne of hard work in this first year😉

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Just sending the acceptance email gave my back a twinge

I reckon I could find that out

Every allotment site has nightmare weeds like couch grass. Everywhere.

I would agree, however if it is and it’s on one plot then it’s extremely likely it’s hiding in all the others too.

All in the game though innit. Allotments are hard work however you slice it and dice it, and problem-solving stuff is half the fun almost.

The guy in the plot next to Mrs F is an utter nightmare. He’s one of those ones who comes down about twice a year, usually once he’s had a warning letter that he needs to tidy his plot or be kicked off. His plot is totally covered in couch grass, which she finds hard to keep at bay off her plot as a result.

To make matters worse, despite his complete inattention he seems to have some sort of magic horticultural touch. Mrs F grew a load of Brussels sprouts plants this year, under a protective mesh tunnel, and not one of them has produced a sprout bigger than a large marble. He on the other hand plonked four plants in a raised bed and left them to it. We looked on enviously as we harvested ours for Christmas. I went down yesterday and he still hasn’t harvested a single sprout from his four stalks all bowing under the sheer weight of the massive clump of huge sprouts hanging off them.

Bastard.

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I had a shed taken down at the very bottom of our garden a week or two ago, and it’s left a nice little space to do something with. Quite a nice feeling to have a blank canvas (the rest of the garden is quite landscaped/well developed).

I took up the slabs that had formed the base of the shed and the ground beneath is a kind of mix of soil, sand and some rubble. I’ve had a go over it with the fork but I’m guessing I’ll need to put down quite a bit of peat or something to freshen it up. Is it largely just a case of whacking it down on top or does it require some developing over time? The current idea is to have a little vegetable patch down there, but if it doesn’t work out I might just put down some grass seed.

Try and avoid peat if you can - it’s horrendously unsustainable and its farming is destroying peat bogs.

You might find that a raised bed is better than trying to dig everything out and turn it over.

Ah will do, thanks for the advice.

A raised bed is a good idea actually.

Also have a look at the no dig method - Charles Dowding is your man

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