30th October:
Before
Words of wisdom. I have been growing veg and flowers for a while now but always love to talk to fellow plot holders and gather any advice or ‘old wives’ tales’ where I can. Now dear reader, I must tell you the sorry tale of Millie’s plot – It is covered in mare’s tail. Now as any established plot holder will tell you, mare’s tail is the kiss of death to anything that you may want to grow. Don’t believe their haunting stories. We can win this war. Now, mare’s tail is beautiful. It has gorgeous bamboo-like stems and gorgeous fluffy leaves, but don’t be fooled, this is completely invasive and will produce more stems and roots at the speed of light. I was always told that the only way to destroy this is to continuously dig the area and this I have dutifully followed with varying results.
Today a fellow plot holder tells me that by putting grass cuttings over the top of it completely suffocates it and it dies. Now I have no lawn to cut at the allotment and only a pushbike to transport cuttings so, I go home vowing to happily google away a few hours. Dah Dah a solution – and one that I have been using to stifle other weeds for so long – and incredibly easy. Stifle any light and it will stop producing. No, surely it can’t be that easy. So, I have decided to dig out the mare’s tail then cover with black plastic as I go, therefore giving it a double whammy. I will keep you posted.
Now I must conclude this week’s post with a glorious achievement. The first raspberry bushes are planted. They are yet to have their support frames to climb on, but they are in the ground with weed fabric and paths around them to hopefully keep the weeds to a minimum. I don’t think I can ever explain the joy of a first path going down, no matter how small. Paths are the most underrated things on an allotment but the most important – how can you harvest your produce if you can’t get to it? Until next week.
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