More from the Allotment!

Here’s an update on what’s latest at our allotment in Fernbank. We continued to clear the two 10′ x 12′ plots. The photo shows that the top plot is cleared and the bottom one is half-cleared. To clear these plots we have to cut off with a spade 2-3″ of compressed couch grass and roots. This is hard work and time consuming. The slice of grass, roots and some soil has to be moved to near the fence at the top end. Once the top is cleared the soil is dug over. The objective here is to clear the top layer and expose the soil and remove all the couch grass roots. The digging over exposes the soil to the air and wind, which will help to kill off the roots. We also bought some plastic that’s designed to put over the ground to kill off the grass and roots. The next steps are to finish off the remaining half of the bottom plot by removing the top layer and turn over the soil. Next, we lay the plastic over the two plots and weigh them down with the sods we dug up and this will help to kill off the remaining couch grass roots. We will lay out any remaining plastic near to the two plots to help start the process of killing off the grass in that area. Now the Grumpy Vegan can understand why people use chemicals!