Hello, I'm a dandelion.

 

A lot of people call me a weed but I'm a friend and come to help you!

When you see me, remember that I'm the ONLY one who wants and can grow in that particular spot. Because:

Either the soil is too compact / hard / stomped and I want to loosen it for you with my roots.

Or there is too little calcium in the soil - don't worry, I will replenish that for you with the dying of my leaves.

Or the soil is too acidic. But I will also improve that for you if you give me the chance.
Or a mixture of the above reasons, of course. 

I'm here because your soil needs my help so best you let me grow without disturbing me! When everything is fixed, I will disappear again, I promise!

Are you trying to remove me prematurely with my root? However meticulous you are, I will return 2x as strong! Just until your soil is improved.

You can even tell by my growth at which stage my help is at. If my leaves are flat on the ground then I'm far from ready but if they all reach up then I'm already a long way on my way.

Something completely different is that I am 1 of the first bloomers in spring so I will announce spring / summer for you.

During the day when it's hot, I open my flowers but in the evening when it cools off I close them again quickly. In fact, if it's not hot enough during the day I won't open them at all!

My flowers are the first food for insects after hibernation and unlike most other plants, I have pollen AND nectar, not merely one OR the other! And I am generous with them! 

My flowers are even delicious for you people by the way, did you know? I used to be called ′′honey (or gold) of the poor′′ because my flowers are so sweet in e.g. jam, sauce or salad! The internet is full of recipes - check them out.

But wait until the end of May or later before you start picking and even then, don't pick everything yet! The biodiversity and bees will be very grateful!

Weed Identification

 

A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place". Examples commonly are plants unwanted in human-controlled settings, such as farm fields, allotments gardens, lawns, and parks.

The term "weed" has no botanical significance, because a plant that is a weed in one context is not a weed when growing in a situation where it is in fact wanted, and where one species of plant is a valuable crop plant, another species in the same genus might be a serious weed, such as a wild bramble growing among cultivated loganberries.

In the same way, volunteer crops (plants) are regarded as weeds in a subsequent crop.

Many plants that people widely regard as weeds also are intentionally grown in gardens and other cultivated settings, in which case they are sometimes called beneficial weeds or wildflowers. 

The term weed also is applied to any plant that grows or reproduces aggressively, or is invasive outside its native habitat.

Not being able to get to my allotment for four months during the first Corona Virus wave, my plots are covered with weeds, and it occurred to me that I could not identify many of them and wanted too and to find out the best ways of dealing with them and should they be Burnt, taken from the plot, safe to compost directly of did they need to be dried or drowned before adding to the Dalek Army? 

The intention was to make a post using a table with a small photo and the plants name, what it's also know as, a few facts and then a link the the RHS or other source of more information.

The problem is that Google now own Blogger and are re-engineering also know as "fucking up" the editing software that was already naff. Tables were in the beta that we have been using before the forced move over to the new platform, but suddenly it's gone! 

So until it returns and hopefully in a functional way and without having to program in HTML my solution has been to upload all the photos to my Facebook and put the information and links there. 

I have shared this with all the gardening and allotment groups I belong too so that people can access until Google sort out the Blogger editor and I can do it directly on here. 

Information Sourced from a number of pages via a google search for "weed identification UK" and books I have, a few listed below. 

DK Allotment Handbook Pages 239-239 Gallery of Weeds

RHS - Identify Common Weeds (20 Number)

Practical Home 36 Common Garden Weeds

Perfect Ground Solution - Weed Identification

 

Weeding & Composting

Not the usual view of the allotment as I don't often include the building behind because for at least the last four years it has been a building site. My plot neighbour who has taken the areal views for me lives in the top floor flat behind my shed and greenhouse on plot 1 (the left side).

    

This photo is looking just at plot 1 and the Dalek army along the path between plots 1 & 2 and the most of today was spent cutting back and up the comfrey bed and the grapevine and filling to the brim the Dalek on the right by the path into plot 1A. 

I was going to remove the grapevines last year and only actually got around to removing two of the 3 plants. The result was that the remaining vine has gone mad and into catch up mode and has taken over the wall behind the greenhouse on Plot 1A, but the bindweed has also stated to cover it as well as the leaf bins. 

Once I had filled the Dalek I started clearing the Bindweed from Dalek No 1 that needs relocating with the others and pulling the bindweed off the two leaf bins. More time and effort is required to clear all this bind weed away from along the wall and on this side of the plot, but I'm happy with what I managed to get done today in a couple of hours, Rome was not  built in a day.   

Photo on the left is the 17th July and that on the right is the 26th July just 9 days in the ground and a little rain and the difference is size and growth can be seen. 

What's also noticeable is the amount of weeds coming through the additional holes. I didn't get around to removing these  weeds during this visit and that means they will need to be dealt with on my next visit when they will be at least twice as big. 

What this is telling me is that I need to make some squash specific planting membrane sheets up that only have the two holes for the two squash plants each end in each corner and a watering hole in between them for a pop bottle with pin holes so that I can water at depth between them.

As my available time to get to the allotment is reducing as my wife needs additional care I need to find as many ways as possible to reduce the need for weeding and become more efficient. This is another reason I'm looking into hydroponics and in particular the Kratky Method as what I could do this with less frequent watering visits during the summer growing season.

Weeds, Weeds Everywhere! 

Because of covid-19 and four months of relative neglect of the plot there are weeds everywhere that need to be dealt with. On plot 1 I have Marestail also known as Horsetail or that bastard stuff that has been around since prehistoric times. You can't really dig out or chemically treat it, you just have to keep pulling it up and keeping on top of it and hopefully over time it will reduce in strength and dissipate a little. 

What I didn't know is what a lot of the other weeds that are growing are called and more importantly it occurred to me that I don't know which ones can be safely composted and which ones (apart from Marestail you should just burn).  

Thus having photographed these weeds I have set myself the task of identifying them, with the aid of fellow allotmenteers on Facebook Groups of course and producing a reference guide of some description. 

Quick footnote, Rain most of yesterday and over night, yes it was wet, yes I should have worn boots and not trainers that got wet in the toes, but it was fantastic just to get away from the house and the same four walls for a few hours. I saw and talked to people other than my wife including my sister-in-law who hopefully we can socialise with again once we stop shielding next month.