The Allotments thread
- Thread starter E.J.
- Start date
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
are there any good (organic/friendly) ways of keeping the slugs down? egg shells perhaps???
trashpony
Hag
Brixton Hatter said:
little pots (1/2 a yoghurt pot does very well) sunk down so their tops are at soil level, filled with ale. The little buggers drown. Not very nice getting them out though.
Nothing else really works ime, except for nematodes but they are fiendishly expensive. Cloches made from empty plastic bottles for young plants are quite good
I have to grow lettuce in a trough above ground - wrap it round with double sided sellotape
Brixton Hatter said:
Various things I've heard include:
Hair (obtainable from a friendly barber) scattered around the plants
Wood ash, ditto
Bran (can be bought cheaply from a horse feed supplier), ditto
Copper tape around pots (expensive?)
Beer in pots - or in a pop bottle with the top cut off and reversed - they can crawl in but not out, bit like a lobster pot.
Grapefruit halves, cut half down on the soil (won't kill them, will attract them for disposal).
Bernie Gunther
Fundamentalist Druid
We have a pond with frogs, that seems to work very well. Wish they ate snails too though.Brixton Hatter said:
i have heard that slugs hate garlic oil. Haven't tried it yet but aim to this year - just get a bottle of cheapo oil and put some cloves of garlic in and leave pref in a sunny place for a couple of weeks, then sprinkle about your tender plants. will report back on how it works.Brixton Hatter said:
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
thanks for the anti-slug tips people. 
i have pretty much finished my digging now... and with this warm weather all of a sudden, it's almost time to start planting. "better too late than too early" my dad reckons with planting - there could still be frosts now, but conditions are certainly better than a week ago.
can anyone recommend a good organic fertilizer? i'll probably just pop down the garden centre and get whatever they have, but if you know of anything, pls let me know
i have pretty much finished my digging now... and with this warm weather all of a sudden, it's almost time to start planting. "better too late than too early" my dad reckons with planting - there could still be frosts now, but conditions are certainly better than a week ago.
can anyone recommend a good organic fertilizer? i'll probably just pop down the garden centre and get whatever they have, but if you know of anything, pls let me know
Hi Im new to this allotment lark...
I finally got a phone call having been on the waiting list for ten months which I suppose is not long for London Zone three and got told that there were empty plots.
Great you say... then comes the sting they are totally overgrown.... and in need of chopping down and burning... Not seen the plots yet but apparently other people have been by and walked away and not wanted them....
Any tips?
Should I post photos and a blog?
What do people think?
Could I write a book about the allotment that refused to clear?
I finally got a phone call having been on the waiting list for ten months which I suppose is not long for London Zone three and got told that there were empty plots.
Great you say... then comes the sting they are totally overgrown.... and in need of chopping down and burning... Not seen the plots yet but apparently other people have been by and walked away and not wanted them....
Any tips?
Should I post photos and a blog?
What do people think?
Could I write a book about the allotment that refused to clear?
Rohen said:
Hi there.
I was totally new to allotmenteering when I took over my (half) plot that was 25% waist high grass and 75% waist high (or higher) brambles. It can be bloody hard work, but it's worth it. If it's grass or 'soft' weeds, buy or rent a petrol strimmer to ease the work (they can be quite cheap to buy and are great for keeping your paths trimmed later on). However, brambles may be best cleared (and the roots removed) by hand, which takes time and a fair bit of elbow grease.
The good news is that if weeds are growing on it, then the soil is good for growing vegetables!
My biggest tip would be: Don't try to clear it all at once. You'll knacker yourself out and have nothing to show for all your hard work, other than a briefly clear patch of mud before the weeds start taking over again. Clear it one 'bed' at a time, and plant something as you go (potatoes, onions, radishes, pumpkins, whatever). That way you can see that stuff is already growing, and it gives you the boost you'll need to keep clearing space - especially when you see how fabulous your own produce tastes compared to all that shop-bought stuff! Any allotment association worth it's salt will see that you're making steady progress and not expect you to raze everything to the ground immediately. Everyone else started from scratch at some point.
Also, take a chair down with you, and a flask of tea/stove and kettle etc so you can have a sit down and a rest every now and again, and appreciate the bit of land you've got to play with. Take an extra mug and offer a cup to a neighbour or something, great way to get chatting and find out what grows best, what they've tried but didn't work etc.
There are plenty of websites about for help and advice. I would recommend Allotments4All as a good Forum of nice people who have lots of advice for beginners. Also sites such as the Gardener's Almanac can tell you what to plant and when.
Good luck with it all!
fractionMan
Custom Title
I've just found out I'm now fourth in the queue!fractionMan said:
Yay etc.
radio_atomica
mrs vole the vet
I made a raised bed and planted my potatoes this evening 
(with my super assistant killer b)
(with my super assistant killer b)
