Being now a dab hand with a mattock....

[trufflehunterthebadger]

I am seriously contemplating investing in a flame thrower for the allotment. Has anyone got one ? One of my colleagues was waxing lyrical about his (he has a smallholding) as if it were the messiah.

a) what do you use the mattock for?
b) what would you use a flame thrower for?

Good grief.

You would have to use it very precisely on an allotment site.

One slip and you've carbonised next door's kohlrabi. And then you'd just have to leave.

could you have a practice run on colleague's smallholding, and borrow his?

I would want to have very good insurance in place before letting loose with flames on an allotment.

What kind of problems do you have on your allotment? Is it couch grass, brambles, bindweed? If so I'm not sure a flamethrower would get rid of them in the long term. They resprout from the root so if you just scorch the top off it'll come back.

We got a couch-grass-infested allotment a few years back - I mean, the topsoil was a solid mat of root - and had it under control within six months. That may sound like a lot, but bear in mind we did it a strip at a time and were planting as we cleared, so it was productive much sooner. We used a mattock and fork.

I'd also be a bit cautious about incinerating every living thing on the surface of the soil. It could have unexpected repercussions on soil quality and structure