[Axe]

Still soaked through in stanley, so mines getting a full cover of rotten horse manure (all free thanks to a local stable), then getting dug over in feb/march, that is when i can be bothered to barrow half a tonne of manure, half a mile per time lol.

[gemando]

Yeah I think I might do the same. My riding stables will have some I'm assuming,although if it's from mucking out the stables it has straw in; will that matter?

[andimac]

Gemando,

One suggestion about your perennial weeds: rather than just throw them away, you can get some benefit from them by drowning them in a barrel/bucket/bin for a few weeks or months (just to make sure they're dead!) and make some liquid feed. After that they can go safely on to the compost heap.
There's plenty of info on it online and probably here too.

[snow white]

Its been dry here for four days so I have been digging the last two.    Still a bit sticky, but may not get another chance.  All I have to dig now are my squash and runner bean bed, and the last two rows of my potato bed.  And that can wait a month or two if necessary.  Hopefully we will get a bit more frost, a week or two of dry weather then I can fork the manure in as well.  Always at the last minute.   

[Axe]

Yeah I think I might do the same. My riding stables will have some I'm assuming,although if it's from mucking out the stables it has straw in; will that matter?

i wouldnt advise using fresh manure, you need well rotted, at least one year old (old school rule, if it steams its to fresh), have a word with the stable and get them to point out the old stuff (generally from the back of the pile), hope this helps, dont worry im brand new to all this too so we are learning at the same rate lol

[8doubles]

Yeah I think I might do the same. My riding stables will have some I'm assuming,although if it's from mucking out the stables it has straw in; will that matter?

i wouldnt advise using fresh manure, you need well rotted, at least one year old (old school rule, if it steams its to fresh), have a word with the stable and get them to point out the old stuff (generally from the back of the pile), hope this helps, dont worry im brand new to all this too so we are learning at the same rate lol

I believe that a bit of unrotted straw is good for clay soils , helps with the drainage !
That is of course if you can get on the ground to dig it in !

[Gillykat]

I'm new to allotments too as I only got mine on 22nd February 2015.  Fortunately it was previously owned by a guy who looked after it well but it was still a HUGE learning curve for me as I've only grown flowers in the 40+ years since I was a bairn!  I had some successes and some failures but it was so much fun which is all that counts!    I'm itching to get going but will be holding off for another few weeks yet I think...possibly even as late as Easter which is third week of March as I want the soil to dry out as much as possible.....and there's nothing needing to go in before then TBH. 

My plot was only fit for growing rice two weeks ago *5th January* but we've had a few non-monsoon days since and it's improving bit by bit.  I got half dug over in late October then it seemed to be raining every time I had a day off work so I didn't get the top part finished but once things start to dry out and warm up it'll only take a couple of sessions to get it sorted. 


 

[azubah]

I had a look at my plot today. I haven't been there for a few weeks due to the weather, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that almost no weeds have grown. I was expecting it to be a lot worse due to the mild weather.

[grendel]

I wait for a good hard frost, then take the rotovator to the plot before it thaws, then the ground is frozen rather than waterlogged, turns over easy and the cold kills the roots of the weeds turned up.
Grendel

[Aled]

Still to wet here.
Cheers
Aled

[8doubles]

I wait for a good hard frost, then take the rotovator to the plot before it thaws, then the ground is frozen rather than waterlogged, turns over easy and the cold kills the roots of the weeds turned up.
Grendel

A lot of old timers would be puffing on their pipes and saying " you don't want to be doin that boyo, your digging the frost in ".

[mumofstig]

you don't want to be doin that, your digging the frost in

If I'm honest, that is what I thought - but didn't like to say so 

 

[8doubles]

you don't want to be doin that, your digging the frost in

If I'm honest, that is what I thought - but didn't like to say so 

 

Pipe going ok ?

[mumofstig]

  Luckily I took one puff on a cigarette, at 13, and gagged so never smoked again, and that includes pipes 

[grendel]

Ah but then I dont particularly listen to the old timers, I have the cold corner anyway, hedges to the east and south that shade the plot from the morning sun.