Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => General Gardening => Topic started by: AndyRVTR on February 12, 2017, 17:46
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Hi all, I have a new plot which has had a very large tree in the past and now I have a massive tree stump left in place.
Needless to say, it's going to be too big to remove so it will be left as a permanent fixture, roots and all.. question is, what can I do to that area.
I've attached a pic, the stump is in the bottom left corner of the plot next to a great mound of soil that's been left by the previous tenant which I will end up moving, the stump is approx 30-36" in diameter.. any suggestions?
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I can't see the stump in the picture but I have 2 tree stumps in my garden which I will be adding mosaics to as seats for my kids :lol: if it's too big use it as a table? Or I might be tempted to add a bug hotel to the top of it and have it as a wildlife patch. If it's permanent might as well make it useful
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As you have all that soil heaped there, is it worth enclosing the stump and the roots in a raised bed and filling in over it? You could grow herbs, which can cope with shallow soils, have a wildflower bed or even plant a pumpkin in the corner and let it scramble over the whole area.
If the stump is covered with soil, it will rot away that much faster :)
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Can you not hire a stump grinder? I've no idea what the hire charge might be by the way. The guy who felled a troublesome tree in our front garden used one to take it to about 8" below soil level and we just planted over the top of it.
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If you can't turn it into a feature drill loads of holes into it then build your compost heap over the top. Use plenty of the compost accelerator "Ammonium Sulphamate" as you build your heap, and after about 5 years use the compost and dig over the rotten stump.
From my understanding the chemical is only licensed as a compost accelerator so to stay on the right side of the allotment committee, leglislation, and board mods you have to be making compost if you are going to use Ammonium Sulphamate, and if your heap just happens to be over a stump then that's serendipity.
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Level the top off and stick a big container on it !
Carrots up away from carrot fly , strawbs at a good picking height , trailing squash or outdoor cukes or many other things
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Drill 8mm holes in the sides and solitary Mason bees will probably use it to lay their eggs. Masons are non-agressive and virtually stingless but are good pollinators, particularly early in the season when poor weather stops honey bees flying.
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Could you lower the height of it & put your shed there?
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Had a good think about this one and I've decided to just tidy the area up and turn it into a wild flower area.. thanks for all the suggestions everyone..