Penelope Else

Not that I'm aware of, but one of my local allotments get deliveries of council woodchip - and sometimes more than they can use - it might be worth schmoozing your local allotments to see if you can access it. I personally organise private tree-surgeons to deliver to another allotment - some are glad to have a local place to drop. And/or chat to your council tree-surgeons about where they send their chippings.

I have 3 three plots at two different sites in south London UK. They have all sorts of rules about maintenance, which I skirt - just about. They know I'm a bit of a mad scientist, trying growing/eco experiments each year.

ECO-BEDS
Anyway - where I am the main challenge is slugs, which is an unfortunate combination with biodiversity.  Healthy undergrowth = slugs by the kilo and zero surviving veggies nearby. So, next year I'll be setting up all my plots as Eco-Beds (my random name for them): the clear-earth veggie-growing area will be surrounded by planks (laid flat), which will be surrounded by the kind of habitat beloved of centipedes, beetles, leopard-slugs, toads, frogs, and planted up with wildflowers and edible perennials. Concentric rectangles. There will be several of these Eco-Beds per plot, creating a habitat network across the plot.

The idea is this: any slugs that want to live near my veggies so that they can visit overnight and munch will have to co-exist with all their predators. If they come as far as the planks, I will find them in the morning, chop them up and spread amongst my plants (a highly effective distraction for slugs). In the meantime, all the wildflowers will provide predators for the miscellaneous other pests.

This year I've been doing eco-beds Lite - mainly the planks and the chopped slugs on beds up against overgrown areas. So far, extremely effective, so I want to take it to the next level. I do talk permaculture with neighbours there, but few are interested. I'm hoping that a demonstration will be more effective, especially with all kinds of changes coming re fertiliser and bans on slug pellets!

Hoping I'm not off-topic here, but **I** am my best poultry as far as slugs go. I'm on an allotment site (UK), so no animals allowed - and barely a predator in sight despite my best efforts at biodiversity.

A pair of scissors after every rain shower and at twilight for a few days will hugely reduce the problem - with the additional benefit that slugs are more interested in their slaughtered colleagues than the most stressed and 'eat-me' of plants. I was appalled by how many huge slugs (Spanish, probably) were sliming around the site after rain, but I reduced their impact on my plot to almost nothing.

You can extend the system, too: plant your seedlings, lay wooden planks or similar around the bed, do a thorough slug-hunt around the bed, cut them up and leave scattered around the seedlings. Next morning, lift up the planks, find all the slugs (slugs like to live close to their food), repeat. The slugs will be too interested in the slug-buffet to notice your seedlings.  

Quick edit: And strawberry plants will host dozens of the little darlings, so check any nearby ones, too. And/or use them as a bed border instead of planks

I've found my serrated old breadknife to be my favourite weed-killer lately, as I'm attempting to do no-dig on some serious couch grass/bindweed beds. I cut plants off just under the soil surface, repeatedly, and keep it covered with thick cardboard in-between times.  I think over time it will exhaust the rhizome/tuber/root#s energy reserves and I can start planting having not disturbed the soil at all.

Do any of you have any tips for preventing feet (and specifically toenails) from getting clogged with dirt while gardening? I know some of you favour the barefoot life, but it's not for me!

It doesn't seem to matter how many layers of socks I wear inside my wellington boots, I still end up with ground-in dirt from toenail to heel, and it's quite a contortion exercise to clean.

Thank you for the responses so far -

Wayne: in the UK, allotments are sites of about an acre or so, split up into individual plots of 40-250sqm separated by narrow grass paths. Locals rent these plots by the year for a cheap rent, and are expected to keep them productive and not too weedy. Some have slightly raised beds, most are flat.

Burra: slugs - yes and no! I've found that providing habitat for the slugs is also providing habitat for their predators - my patience has paid off. It was a little tedious for the first couple of years, mind- lots of collecting by hand. But now there are beetles, centipedes, leopard slugs and frogs all living up close with the pest slugs. (I'm working on the hedgehogs.) All the slugs and their eggs are disappearing. But your point has provided me with one of my explanations, thank you! Thank you for the book reference too - I'll certainly promote that.

Casie: yes, it's a work in progress... My list was a bit of a brain dump, and I'll be looking for ways to join them up inspiringly. I very much like your summaries, and will follow your lead! I see your point about it not suiting every garden, though as we're all on one site we all have the same issues, none of which need serious digging once cleared at the start. I may downgrade the 'no need to dig' slightly, though.

I've recently - and unintentionally - become leader of my local allotment site in south London - which is a largely urban area with quite a few parks and allotment sites. As allotments go in England, it's pretty relaxed, but I am very keen to push it further in a biodiverse, permaculture direction.

So, for 2019 I'm compiling a list of eco-friendly things allotment growies could be doing that would actually result in less work/more success for them. Some of the old guys love a good dig and I'm not going to interfere with their little pleasures, but I'm trying to prevent the new youngsters from unthinkingly following their lead.

Here are some thoughts so far, in brief:
1. No dig: you simply don't need to dig, and digging is bad for soil structure and soil life - so ultimately bad for the plants. Plus it just means more weeds.
2. Mulch/chop and drop: helps prevent weeds and is a fertiliser. No need for a compost bin.
2. No chemicals/fertilisers: not needed and bad for eco - and humans
3. Plant some of your plot with perennials - they're efficient
4. Biodiversity: let nature sort out most of your pests for you. The more you interfere, the more you'll have to interfere.
5. Slugs (our biggest pest): hand-pick + scissors + habitat for their predators. Pellets are eco-bad.
6. Polyculture: confuses the pests, and the plants enjoy company
7. Wildflowers/herbs: plant as many as you can - attracts pest predators and confuses pests
8. Winter habitat: don't clear the plot, leave the dying wildflowers and piles of stuff for the wildlife, plant green manure
9. Patience: be patient and observe - your new eco-system will take a couple of years to come into balance
10. Water: soil is not polystyrene, it's alive, and the more plant matter in it, the better for how much water it can hold.

You probably have many more! I'm trying to distill it into Top 10 things. What are your favourites, and what would be your main message to connect with their thinking?