We've been offered an allotment!!!

[HarrietJones]

only been waiting 18months too. Haven't been to see it yet but did pass it yesterday & commented to dh on it being abandoned. 300square metres of weeds is ours!

Going to have a quick look later but we have accepted already as they don't give you long & theyre only open until 12

Not rotavate!? You'll kill yourself digging and weeding.

Nah! Strim, rotavate, apply weedkiller when the new weeds spring up, then leave over winter. Its how farmers do it.

Dh has now put his strimmer in to get serviced !

Been for a quick look & there's two lots on the same rd. Have been back home to compare on google earth & think we know which one now. Going for a walk down tomorrow

MoreBeta - typical man response

she's more likely to kill herself having to repeatedly dig and weed because she's created more weeds by rotavating (see earlier posts on this subject)!

Funnily enough, it was my DH who insisted we rotavate. I was all for a bit of manual labour!

Men!

I have found that the best way to keep weeds under control is to hoe regularly, and to fork over the borders.

you'd be amazed how true the old saying is "hoe when you see weeds and you've hoe-d too late"

you've got to do it say, at least once a week, even if you can't see the weeds, and it'll save so much more work later. :)

another way to keep weeds under control is to get chickens!
(you're allowed to keep chickens on your allotment even if the contract says you aren't - it's the law)

make sure, though, that the chickens are only allowed on the bits you want to weed, not on the good bits - they have a habit of eating your harvest

Yaffle, thanks so much for the link to your blog - it's wonderful! And I even recognised another MNetter on there.

I've had a look at those hoes on EBay and whilst I still have no idea how they work I have every intention of ordering one this weekend when DH gets back and reminds me of the password!

Love the idea of chickens but I'm afraid they wouldn't last a minute around here as we're overrun with sodding foxes (SW London).

Chickens are indeed superb, they cleared a patch for me but shame about the foxes.

Looks like you are going to have to let DH loose with the rotavator while you sit drinking tea supervise and plan.

Foxes are bastards. Sorry, but they are. And if anyone has any (legal) ideas as to how I can stop them screeching below my bedroom window every night I'd be glad to hear them!

And they crap in my veggie beds. Well, not in the beds, but runny ones down the wooden sides. Nice.

DH says he's going to start an urban hunt: people dressed in up in proper fancy hunting gear, complete with riding hats, on bikes, with machine gun, who will ride around London getting the foxes. I pointed out that his balance wasn't that good and that he would fall off if he took his hands off the handlebars long enough to shoot. But apparently he's just going to be the hunt master and will ride around blowing his horn!

yes, foxes are a nuisance. You have to make sure the run is fox proof - normally a 5-sided (4 sides and a roof) made from 1cmx1cm weldmesh, laid on slabs, is sufficient to keep the bastards off.
(and make sure it's lockable too - they are able to undo fasteners)

you are allowed to kill them if they have threatened your livestock.
you just can't hunt them.

They're threatening my mental health and my marriage , never mind my livestock!

yeah, i'm sure you'll be allowed to kill them for that.

I was leaning out of our bedroom window at 3am this morning shouting "piss off" at a fox which was just giving me the evil eye back. I thought: "If I had a shotgun ....". But then realised that if I did try to shoot it I'd probably hit the neighbour's car, or put a bullet through their window or something instead, so perhaps I won't. They are driving me insane, though. It sounds as though someone is being raped and murdered - awful.

pellet gun?

I'd still miss! I might get myself a giant water gun instead.

and fill it with your DH's wee.
that'll stop it.

Id like chickens but prefer them closer to home, we signed the contract today so all sorted. Going to go tomorrow & have a proper look round.
I have the number for the allotment rep, should I give her a ring?

Fab thread. Lots of good tips. We got ours about a month ago. We were only on the waiting list for 3 months. It's full of brambles at the moment. DH is slowly cutting them all down. We're hoping we'll be able to start planting and growing early next year.

I'm really excited about it!!

Harriet - there's no reason at all why you shouldn't keep the chickens at hoem and just take them up to the allotment for weed control (or for an outing!)

You can transport them in a cat carrier. :)

essex - don't cut down all your brambles (keep some well-trained ones around the edge) cos you can use the fruit for jams!

Nowhere at home for chickens:(

Been to have a proper look. Some v well maintained allotments around ours which is knee deep in weeds. Theresraspberries, gooseberries and rhubarb there already. We will move the raspberries as they are in a funny place & not very easy to pick. There's a old ramshackle green house and a cupboard thing which has a cat flap in( chickens?)
Next door has chickens & ducks. Spoke to one man who said previous people started clearing but gave up. Thinking of the cover a load in plastic method while we ge going