[gardgydja]

I´ve got my plot dug over, and my very kind FIL offered to drive me to pick up some "free compost" that I´d heard about. Needless to say there wasn´t any where it was supposed to be, so that was a bit of a disappointment. No problem, we phoned up the city office (they have no free compost but helpful ladies working the switchboards) and found out where the cheapest stuff is to be had. We can go out there tomorrow and buy some (one ton of garden compost for 120 sek) but it will be a job getting it to the lotty with no trailer! What frustrates me is, all around Malmö is nothing but farmland, but as far as I can tell it is impossible to phone up a farmer and get a load of well-rotted manure delivered for a fair price. My lotty needs muck. The soil I´ve got is fine, but lacks organic matter. I just need MUCK!! Who would have thought it would be so hard to get your hands on it? I´ll gladly buy this cheap compost if nothing else is available but for crying out loud. Where I grew up the farmers would nearly pay you to take their old manure heaps off their hands.

My stuff wants to be planted!

*bangs head in frustration off seedling trays*

[richyrich7]

This can be a problem for us all, I've started using green manures lot less weight to carry  

[Alex 98]

How long is your growing season compared to ours?
And waht are you growing thats different to us in blighty?

Alex 98

[noshed]

Try riding stables - have the police got horses?

[gardgydja]

I can get manure from riding schools, but it´s fresh. FIL doesn´t want it in his car, lol and anyway I would need to let it rot down for a year. We will start with the green compost, and hopefully next year I will have my poo contacts sorted out!

The season is starting now-ish and runs until October, if we are lucky. I suppose it must be similar to Glasgow latitude. We are supposed to get a hot summer this year and others at the allotments have warned me that the soil (as is) dries out very quickly. It is very well draining and fairly sandy. The one before me on my plot didn´t put much of anything in, I have been told. So I took that as a direct order to get lots of muck on in if I plan to be in with the in crowd.

I plan to have a herb bed with chamomile, dill, chervil, fennel, tarragon and parsley. (the other half plot I rent has thyme, rosemary, oregano, chives and I am to help myself) I plan to have peas, beans, and french beans, spinach and ruccola, broccoli and broccoli-raab, winter squash and pumpkin, chilis and peppers, plum tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, various root veg, fennel, wild strawberries and whatever flowers will sprout around the fence. And comfrey for the green compost.

So far all that I have in are the wild strawberries. They came with the plot! I have seeded my herbs and broccoli and they are all ready to go out to the plot, except the comfrey. Not one seed has germinated!
 
I have taken a few pictures of my naked plot and will take more as we go on. I´ll let you know how things fare here in southern Sweden!

[Trillium]

With the price of fertilizers rocketing worldwide (due to high oil prices), a lot of farmers have gone back to using their manures and simply won't part with what they get for free, and usually in short supply for them.
If you can get any fresh stuff, get a vinyl dustbin with a lid, which should get any muck home cleanly with almost no smell.
Any seaweed if you can get it would really boost fertility and humus, same with shredded leaves (in fall).
Until then, green manures are your best bet and possibly waiting until next year to plant most of your crops.

[DeadlyNightshade]

Anyone in Co. Tyrone wanting an unlimited amount of fairly well to completely rotted manure?

Unfortunately you will have to lift it yourself (which I am doing in fertilizer bags bit by bit in my car

It actually is partly rotted into the finest crumbly soil you can think of (had to do a right bit of investigating to find the right spots in the massive heap though)

[gardgydja]

I´m glad to think that the farmers might actually be using it themselves!

Today we go out compost shopping. An environmental engineer friend (she has lots of Green Mafia contacts) of mine has put the word out I´m on the scrounge, and another friend has recommended I buy cow manure compost from the garden centre for the meantime, as well as the cheap garden compost from the tip. It will all get sorted.

FIL says no manure in his flash car no matter what its in. So when the time comes I will speak to others on the allotment and see if anyone wants to share a big rental van perhaps. We don´t get deliveries of stuff from the council here; everyone is on their own. Maybe I should try and organize a yearly delivery if others are interested!

I have all the time in the world to play on my plot. I am trying to stay positive. As other folk have said, it isn´t a race.

Just get so irritated when I know what to do but can´t get the stuff!