Wildlife friendly allotment

[Susie]

Does anyone else have an allotment they are trying to run along organic and wildlife friendly lines? I would love to hear how you are getting on.

[Fireweed]

Gosh, Susie, I'm surprised you have had no replies to your post. I'd like to know about this area too, since I've put myself on the list for an allotment - when I will actually get one, living in a city, is anyone's guess.

Can you tell us a bit about how you manage on your allotment?

[Susie]

Do you live in London, Fireweed?

Are are long waiting lists here too, not like it used to be with plots standing empty and over grown as I remember some years ago. I suppose that the resurgence in interest in allotments has to be a good thing. I hope you get a plot soon.

I guess the secret to a successful organic allotment starts in the soil.

[ron1863]

My grandfather lived in Glasgow and had an allotment, which he worked on daily when I was a boy in the 60s. At that time every allotment was taken and there was a long waiting list for one. In the late 70s and 80s there were only a few allotments being used. Nowadays it has gone back to being what it was like in the 60s with every allotment being worked and a long waiting list.

[Susie]

There seems to be a thread about this already in the tree house. Perhaps we should adjourn to there.

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...e-patch-3.html

[Carl]

I haven`t even been able to plant anything yet still clearing mine up, got alot of couch (i think it`s called) grass roots under the soil, and so i`m going through it just double digging it to get rid of the roots and then i`ll start planting.

But yer i thought about doing it,more for the endangered type animals.Thought about putting a hedgehog house thingy down there but it ain`t suitable.

[ron1863]

Originally Posted by Susie

There seems to be a thread about this already in the tree house. Perhaps we should adjourn to there.

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...e-patch-3.html

I think that is a members garden thread Susie, allotments are slightly different

[Picidae]

Ironically, my Mum has had an allotment for many years. Last year, she had an official warning from the Council that her allotment had weeds and was too untidy and since there was such a long waiting list, she should comply by the rules or loose the allotment! Everyone else's allotment consisted of neat rows of cabbages and a few square patches of neat 'florist' type flowers. Mum grows a vast diversity of traditional English cottage garden plants, along with usual assortment of vegetables but has it intermixed with wild flowers, a few brambles in one corner, lots of lavender too. She uses entirely organic methods. We drafted a rather strongly worded letter suggesting that East Sussex Council might ''reconsider'' it's narrow minded and antiquidated approach to bio-diversity in an urban environment!

[Jez]

Hi Susie,

I started something similar in the treehouse!

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...ble-patch.html

But don't wish to spoil your thread, I suppose I can post in two

[smartie]

We're managing our allotment organically, but are at a very early stage and so unable to offer much advice. Happy to share successes and failures as they occur, though

When we took over the plot at the end of last summer the soil was very impoverished. When we dug it over we didn't see a single worm I'm glad to say that the introduction of lots of garden compost and some manure from the local organic farm has changed that and we now have the beginnings of a thriving ecosystem in the soil.

I must admit I'm a little less wildlife-friendly on the allotment than I am in the garden. A lot of cabbage white caterpillars met their makers last autumn when we picked them off most of the brassicas (I did leave them a couple of cabbages) and we net against pigeons or we'd have nothing left to eat!

We're about to put in a tiny pond as we've already seen some frogs about, and are encouraging the "right" kind of birds with hanging feeders. I've also been propogating cuttings of lots of my nectar-bearing plants to plant round the edge of the allotment in the spring to encourage bees and hoverflies.

My next door neighbour at the allotment seems to be an expert on companion planting so I'm going to pick her brains on what she finds particularly useful. She's been growing organically for the last 20 years so should know a thing or two.