Green Waste
What to do with it all?
Compost on plot
Bedfordshire compost bin offer
Building your own compost bin
Bag it and remove. If you bag it in strong plastic bags, it can then be taken off site for disposal.
Burn it
Bonfires are discouraged and given the proximity of the housing you can understand why. So let’s not annoy the neighbours.
Basically anything that would in the past have been put on the bonfire now needs to go in your domestic green bin
Biohazzard
Anything the books tell you to burn should not be put into the compost bin but taken home for the green bin. This includes diseased plants, potato and tomato waste, couch grass, bind weed and dock.
Useful advice : Biosecurity
Water Supply
It is in the interests of all of us to use our water supply wisely so fit a water butt or butts to your shed! On average 56,000 Litres of water falls every year on a half plot so why not collect some of it?
Water is a precious resource which you realise as soon as you have to carry it any distance!
To quote from the DEFRA publication “A Plotholders Guide”:
“An accessible water supply is essential. The allotment authority should ensure every plot holder has access to a mains water supply and that it is easy for elderly and disabled gardeners to use it. “
A good heavy watering is about 22 litres per sq metre/4 gallons per square yard, so that’s a lot of water. The NAS have this advice on water.
We are very fortunate in that both Town Council run sites have mains water supplied to water troughs for much of the year. The water is turned off when there is a danger of frost.
To augment the mains water supply many plots have water butts filled from shed roofs. To find out how to install gutters on a shed, click here. It saves carrying water cans all the way from the watertrough. One full water butt (190L) can supply around 21 9L watering cans.
Central Beds Council have a scheme for buying cheap water butts & compost bins