Jerusalem artichokes are planted

[watervole]

Richard got the bed for the Jerusalem artichokes prepared while Henry and I worked on the raspberries.  A trench one spade deep and three spades wide, forked over at the bottom and 3 inches of compost added.  Soil returned, growmore and iron sulphate added and raspberries put in. 

We're running out of compost - which we expected.  This is a large plot and we've only 2 dalek bins at home and not all the material in them is fully composted.  Hence, the need for growmore.  If we'd had more compost, I'd have used a couple of inches on the surface as well.  The iron sulphate is to increase the acidity of the soil (which the compost would also have helped with).  This bed was last used for brassicas and it was limed to make it more alkaline.  Raspberries really do like it on the acid side.  I think most of the problems I've had with my raspberries back home (I'd put an LJ link, but finding the relevant post is too much like hard work) may be due to the soil pH.  I'm still stuggling to cure the yellow leaves - with what may be some limited success. 

The bed is now ready for the onion sets.

The soil in much of the allotment is very fine.  It's a joy to dig, but we're coming to the conclusion that it's very low in organic matter.   The previous holder certainly used leaf mold on occasion (there's a pile of leaves in one of the bins), but he told me that he didn't use manure - he wanted to minimise the risk of clubroot on the brassicas.  Brassicas suffer less clubroot in alkaline soil and manure makes it more acid.

We'll definitely be adding manure.  The soil is crying out for organic matter - and the raspberries will enjoy it too.  However, we'll probably need to let it rot down before we can use it on the soil.  We've found a supply on Freecycle so will be collecting some before too long.

We're looking into green manures.  We're going to have to do something or I can see this soil drying up and blowing away in hot weather.  It's mulch (and we just don't have enough material until we get the compost cycle greatly expanded) or grow a green manure.

Anyone care to comment on the best green manures to plant this time of year?  The aim is firstly to protect the soil, and secondly add some nitrogen and organic matter.

Comments

[kerravonsen]

What's "green manure"? (I know very little of gardening; I have a what-is-the-opposite-of-green thumb)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Green manure is plants that you grow for no other purpose than enriching/protecting the soil. Clover is probably the best known example - it adds nitrogen via nodules in the roots.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I'm not great with green manures. We've had good results with phacelia, fodder radish and mustard, very poor germination with alfafa, grazing rye and ... buckwheat? and found that field beans really don't protect the soil overwinter. I think this is the right time of year to be sowing phacelia, but I can check if you like?

Composted green waste from your local community or Council composting scheme is probably the way forward. It's not sterile, but the annual weed seeds are easily hoed off when they germinate, and it's all bulk ...

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Google says it's the wrong time of year for phaecilia. Maybe mustard would be best.

PS. Any chance of a new default icon? Animated ones are horribly distracting.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

Sorry to come in off topic but I tend to regard you as a useful node of eco-sense. What do you make of this essay (http://www.sound.westhost.com/articles/incandescent.htm)?

I must admit that I use CFL's in places where the light stays on for long periods, such as the stairs but not the bathroom where they wouldn't have come up to full brightness before they get switched off.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

The more modern CFLs come to full brightness much faster than the older ones. I have them in my lounge and a second is all it takes for full brightness.

His comment about the cost of light fittings is spurious. I know this, because we had to change the light fittings in our lounge to take CFLs. Allowing for the cost of the fitting, as well as the cost of the bulbs, we still reckoned we'd break even in two years. In other words, the cash saving from the reduced electricity bill is more than enough to cover the cost of the new fitting. We chose quite a nice fitting that takes a circular flourescant tube flush to the ceiling. The tube is daylight spectrum, which would seem to counter another of his comments about the harsh light from flourescants.

However, he is right that many existing light fittings are not suitable - and it would make sense to choose ones that are designed to work with CFLs. I always used well-ventilated fittings from the start as I worked in a lighting department many years ago and was aware that ordinary bulbs need the heat to escape as well.

He's right that you can't use dimmers with CFLs. Personally, I never used dimmers anyway. I have two lights and if I want to dim the room, I switch one of them off.

I suspect he's also right about a potential mercury problem - we really do need recycling facilities for CFLs.

He's talking quite a lot of sense. I only disagree with him on one or two points. Note, that he's basically trying to point out the problems - he isn't saying don't use CFLs. He uses them himself in most places, but he is saying that you should be aware that you need to think about how you use them, and not to assume that they are a perfect solution.

He's coming at it from an engineer's angle and that's an angle that often produces practical insights.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you can confirm the improvement in CFLs switching on. All of mine are over two years old and belong to a previous generation of design, one can take 20 seconds to warm up and that feels a long time.