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Jerusalem artichokes are planted
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.
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.