Garden And Gardener

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Unwanted allotment advice

by Diane - April 21st, 2014.
Filed under: allotment.

Unwanted allotment advice is a common side effect of having an allotment.

weed plotIt can often happen that you end up being offered tons of allotment advice every time you go to your plot. There’ll be some old timer with his flat cap and annoyingly weed free plot who’ll offer you masses of seemingly good advice.

Never feel obliged to accept advice. Listen, smile and nod. Say thank you.
You don’t have to follow their advice at all.

Don’t let them offer to do stuff on your plot unless you are 100% sure you want their help and are aware of all their techniques.

If someone has a weed free plot then there may be several reasons: they might regularly dowse their plot in weedkiller, or used creacote on boards, they might spend 60 hours a week weeding it.

Indications of a healthy weed free plot would be evidence of hand weeding, a full compost bin or three and lots of time spent on site.
You don’t have to have a completely weed free plot though. The odd weed doesn’t hurt, and if you stop them seeding then they provide a green mulch, and compost material. You can use weeds dropped where you pick them as a mulch too.

Accepting produce off other plot holders. Always have an idea of what someone’s slug pellet regime is like. If they turn the soil blue then they probably overuse slug pellets.
Do they use bug sprays? When did they last spray? Many chemicals need to be left on for an amount of time before eating.
Always be aware that you might want your plot to be organic but it doesn’t mean everyone else does.

Do you take advice from people with weed free plots, or productive plots? The choice is yours.