The lower path 8/8/10
Reverse view of the same path 19/9/10
(just look at that path)
I may be a bit slow on the uptake but I discovered this year - when I went to buy some - that sodium chlorate has been withdrawn fom sale under an EU directive.
OK it's got its downside: It's a pretty poisonous substance. As a white crystal it doesn't look too different from sugar! Mixed with sugar it makes a highly flamable material, lethal if packed into a drainpipe or beer keg. One can't help wondering whether this aspect, rather than the toxicity, is the reason for the eurocrats getting together and banning it. The story put about is that run off can cause the material to travel through the soil. I don't like poisons, but they have their place - on paths.
Or just mow the grass and have a lawn/path?
ReplyDeleteI hear what you say, Sue. If I've got two hours to spare for the plot I don't want the first one to be spent trimming the paths. The upper path is grass and will remain so as the roots help keep the path from collapsing into the plot. There is a communal petrol strimmer... but it is often in the repair shop, the petrol empty - requiring a round trip to the petrol station, or it just won't start! Added to this grass travels onto the plot and points are deducted at inspection for failure to keep your paths tidy!
ReplyDeleteBack at home the weeds on the fravel and between slabs around the house have also grown back in record time. My beef is that all the alternatives are branded and therefore more expensive whereas the generic product was cheap. I suspect the chemical companies were full square behind the ban.
Dear Mal. You could try covering it with Terram, a heavy duty geotextile. Excluding light is a good way of killing weeds, but I'd put down some slug pellets first
ReplyDeletePoints deduced at an inspection - have you the Mafia running your site? How often are you inspected? Our allotments' officer is the complete opposite which is just as bad - plots can be two foot high in weeds for a year and he doesn't say anything!
ReplyDeleteWe got some of the geotextile stuff from a nearby firm for our site and although it is better than the thin stuff - weeds eventually seem to get through or even seed on top of the fabric - it is really heavy to drag about too.
I have a bark path one side...not by choice mind you...it was put there by a previous owner and is very weedy so I am tallyho with you Mal..the other side is grass which isn't great but I have to admit to never having actually seen a plot inspector and having a great friend with a petrol strimmer who goes over it for me....I think the only way to totally get over the weeds is a concrete path..pricey though!!!
ReplyDeleteFlame thrower, hmmm...
ReplyDeleteWell burning the ground is an option. Throw down some bone dry straw, or during the season strimmed grass left to dry into a pile. It burns like tinder, and providing you use enough, will scorch the ground before self extinguishing. Keep in a controlled area.
All the best, Craig over at Dykesedge Allotment :)
Too right Sue! (Unfortunately my neighbour has set himself up as the Don of Edinburgh (and Scotland) allotment associations. So far his biggest achievement has been to "ramp up the rents" to £100 a plot but he has declared war on dirty plots now. Some people don't know how to enjoy their retirement!)
ReplyDeleteThanks Izzie too for the ideas. With the winter slowdown I'm going to give this some thought and have a strategy ready for spring. BTW, I do possess a butane gas 'flame wand' but it is so pathetic it doesn't get used. It might be more useful for glazing a creme caramel
Appreciate your comments too Tany and Craig - They just popped up when I posted.
ReplyDeleteCraig - You can't be expected to know just how wet it gets here! But I like the idea - (and I better keep a careful watch the fire doesn't spread to my good neighbour's shed!!! - poor joke I know after your experience this year, Tany)
Cut up the turf (nice loam for next year), line with a weed sheet thing, and use gravel. I would suggest old bricks (that's what I'm doing, but then I have old bricks aplenty) but it depends on how much you care about the path!
ReplyDeleteI used to be chair of our association although our site is council run so no real power there just an advisory (dogsbody)role. I resigned as i was subjected to abuse due to the rumour mill spreading lies about so called intentions. All I tried to do was get plot holders to lock the new gates to try to make theft and vandalism less easy. Your Don would get a rough ride on our site as we have a plot holders mafia. I'm glad I'm out of it as you say life's there are better ways of enjoying yourself!
ReplyDeleteHi Iggy. As it happens I have a collection of a couple of hundred bricks.... but I have other plans for them. Watch this space!
ReplyDeleteSue, I bet you never advocated rent rises! Ours is a council site too and when the Edinburgh Federation of site Associations put up the proposal the Council said: Yes please! As a result the sites are going to be a net profit generator for the Council from next year. I went to the AGM this year to see how these things are decided. Very depressing how few people attended. As the rents had already been set for the next five years there wasn't much left to discuss.
Au contraire Mal. We were in talks with the council about self management - their side of the bargain was to set the site up so it became a flagship site - new fence, communal area, communal classroom etc and we then would manage no rent increase but all our rents would be spent on the site (large expenses would still fall to the council e.g. water pipe problems etc) and at some point we may have been able to reduce from £60 a plot, but after the 'trouble' this all folded up. I guess the council could have decided it was going to cost them too much so I have my suspicions about how the 'trouble' was set in motion!!
ReplyDeleteMy poor Dad has seen so many of his favourite gardening chemicals outlawed by the EU! And he had a whole cupboard full.
ReplyDeleteWe have a flamethrower. It's about 400 years old and looks as if it will explode at any minute, but it's a precious gardening tool. When (if) it's dry.