Please convince me not to give up my allotment

[Fillyjonk]

Ok here are the downsides

1. It has terrible, terrible clay soil. It is like mud, really.

1. It is utterly infested with slugs. They even eat the tomatoes.

1. It is halfway up a hillside.

1. It is 40 minutes walk away even before I go up the hillside

I am getting bugger all OFF the plot because a. I am crap at going up there with the kids (no car, 40 minute walk, nowhere to shelter apart from a small shed filled with dangerous implements ) b. slugs

Pros are-I dunno. I quite like gardening, I suppose. Ds loves it, which is the only thing that has been keeping us going.

I am feeling very despondant about the whole thing atm

Please inspire me.

oh yes - planting hostas around the plot or sacrificial lettuces is a blardy good idea - along with the grapefruit.

The raised beds would be a good idea because you can add whatever soil you want to build it up.

BUT it will require lots of work and you might again have to spend money on bringing in topsoil or compost. Is there a zoo/wildlife park near you - rhino shit is suppposed to be pretty great

no raised beds there atm, I had some but took them out because the slugs were living and breeding there.

I want a pond, is that madness with young kids? Was thinking of covering it when we are there-no other young kids on nearby plots

A willow sculpture is a great idea! They've just done these at DD's school!

A pond is a good idea too. You can cover it with a metal grate-type thing - permanently. So wildlife can get in and out but kids cant.

thanks for all tips, am feeling possibilities now

its just looking at my seedings out on the window sill. Last year I looked at just the same row of seedlings, and a month later planted them out, and within DAYS they had been munched. These are TOMATOES fgs, slugs are not meant to like them

I don't mind it being hard, its meant to be hard,it just feels a bit impossible atm

but there are some suggestions here I haven't heard, and anyway, the encouragement is great!

ooh can I re the pond?

How can I do it very cheaply? Do I NEED a proper liner? When you say a grate-can I get something from b&q

Should have a car soon , but it feels WRONG to drive to the allotment. Really wrong.

brb - gotta do bedtime

thanks vvv

have started new pond convo to garner wisdom from experienced pond makers

decoy plants are a good idea. Definitely.

The grate thing - I think if you could go to a scrap yard and find an old gate or something it would be far cheaper. I'm sure you could find something - us allotmenteers are good at recycling . I dont think it's something you could just pick up from B & Q. You can get bespoke ones, but they'd be pretty expensive I think.

You'd probably need some liner, yes. But it's pretty cheap.

Is there somewhere you can put up a notice to ask if anyone wants to share the plot with you? - If your son goes to school, maybe you can ask to put a notice up there for another parent to join you? It might be less demoralising if there was someone else doing the hard work with you.

I think you'd miss it if it was gone.

filly - I am making a pond. I got old carpet donated to go under the liner ( to protect it from stones etc)and I got the liner from freecyle.) Alternatively, a medium pond liner will cost around £35.

By the way, if it's any consolation everyone I know suffered badly from slugs last year - year before last i had courgettes coming out of my ears (painful!) but last year, every single one got eaten by the slimey little feckers, don't take it personally

Obviously last year was a very bad year for slugs with being so wet. Interesting reading though beccause I am considering an allotment...

oh go for it bozza - it's great fun but a big commitment. Grow rhubarb and make yorkshire bellinis from it like I do

I planted some rhubarb in the garden last year and it has just started coming up nicely.

i say, the auto direct (or something) ad to the right of this screen is a bit alarming in the peripheral vision [immature giggle]

ah well then Bozza

Here is Hugh Furry-Whipping-Stick's fabulous
Yorkshire Bellini recipe for you...it's why rhubarb was invented!

Rhubarb bellini

I developed this fruity pink fizz as a way of using up the syrup produced from stewing a panful of rhubarb, as above. It's a wonderful, festive drink. Serves six.

100ml rhubarb syrup, from recipe above, chilled

1 bottle dry sparkling wine, chilled

½ stem forced rhubarb, cut into thin sticks (optional, for garnish)

Beaten egg white

Caster sugar (optional, for garnish)

Pour the chilled syrup into champagne flutes, then top up with the chilled sparkling wine. The mix will foam enthusiastically, so let it settle and top up again. You want to mix the two in a ratio of one part syrup to four parts fizz. To finish the drinks with a bit of pizzazz, dip the baby rhubarb stalks in the lightly beaten egg white and then in the caster sugar to 'frost' them, and use as decorative but edible swizzle sticks.

(Alternatively) use vodka, rhubarb syrup with added ginger and lots of ice for a really nice drink...

Raised beds would be my dream - I live in the Fens and the soil is so clay you could make pots from it. It is just like the clay at school . I only have a small garden plot - about 2m by 3m and that is hard enough!

Forget root crops for now unless you can find a barrel on freecycle - every time I plant carrots they are stunted or attacked by carrot fly.

Try the coffee - I suggested it as I found it a last resort last year and I think it helped but it does not get them all. You also have to put it down regulary, mix it with egg shells as they apparently hate them too.

How old is DS - would he relish a "Slug Hunt"? You could send him off doing that while you work.

This is a great thread BTW, Perhaps it is just me but I find the gardening threads slow sometimes but this has taken off big time

More top tips please

That sounds lovely fmf. Filly how much garden have you got if you do give up the allotment? Otherwise I think the advice would be not to tackle more than you can manage? Do you know anyone who would like to share with you?

Yes, wet weather did make slugs and snails more prolific last year.

Can you give your DS a slug/snail challenge? A penny for every slug or snail he collects on your plot????

If you can get your hands on some second hand scaffold boards and make yourself one, large (say 4m x 2m or so) raised bed. Fill with top notch soil, compost etc and use that for your root crops to save the digging.

With the rest of the plot - put plenty of fruit or permanent veg.

OR

You could try the no dig method?

Oh lots of replies, thanks! Had to go do bedtime also and bedtime here lasts AGES (have a 7 week old which complicates things)

Ok

1. Slug hunt: I am finding the slugs just aren't there in the day. I know they are out there as when I beer trap the plot it is always full-we are talking a 4l milk carton (the ones with handles-there is a clever way to set them up so that the rain doesn't get in). Overnight. So there are shed-loads, BUT not during the day. ALSO I think I have a major problem with slugs IN the soil. Now I am digging quite religiously-each plot gets a dig in autumn, one in spring and one directly before planting, plus compost/manure will be dug in at some point, and I am getting rid of slugs eggs each time, but its clearly not enough.

1. Re the no dig method-now as I understand it, that required rotted down compost? I am working on this but I don't seem to be very quick at producing my own compost, and even if I did it is not enough for the no dig method. I do find the idea interesting, and I kind of wonder if you could just spread a layer of pre-compost on the soil and cover it with black plastic, then dig it in a few months later...That link is interesting though, and does it a bit differently (I have a book I got from CAT years ago, but it all seems very complex in there and this put me off)

1. So I am looking basically for a gate type grate. Shall try freecycle.

1. Don't really get what pond liner IS. Is it a specialist thing? OR will, say a rubble sack do. And if not-why not? This is probably an insanely daft question but does it NEED to be lined? Like someone else said-you could probably make pots out of this soil...

vvv re the raised beds. I really thought that they would give the slugs somewhere to hide (and breed)-I found shed-loads of slugs and slugs eggs when I took down the raised beds. Do you not find this?

oh AND

yes last year was just awful, though its been getting steadily worse. I think I have such a slug problem anyway though that something like this is really disasterous for me.

BUT

Surely this means that there are likely to be EVEN MORE slugs this year? (though perhaps the predator population has also increased...there WERE more frogs hopping around the plot last year)

Oh I might give nemaslug a go, I think

We have an orchard allotment which is great. The kids can play while we potter but it's not a huge job. I've dug a small area this year.
We recently got some chickens at home and needed some wood chip for the run. I rang a local tree surgeon and he tipped his whole truck full on the drive for a tenner. I think he was so glad to be rid of it I could take it for less next time. Within a couple of days it had started to compost - not great for the chickens but will be fab for the allotment!
I've seen ponds made out of baby baths or old children's sandpits. They don't look very natural but bring in the frogs!

filly - it depends on how long you want your pond to last for. Rubble sacks/black sheeting etc will quite quickly crack after a season of forst/freezing etc. Obv any holes, cracks etc will see your water drain away. there are lots of websites telling you how to do one and what to use. I was a bit at the price of liner but I decided I wanted a pond as a birthday pressie. And then, as I said, I got lucky on freecycle,