New allotment land

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Permalink Reply by Gary on March 17, 2010 at 6:44pm

Hi Ronald,

Potatoes sound like a pretty good idea providing the ground does not stay waterlogged as you my find they rot before you get a chance to dig them up at cropping time.

I'd start straight away of some sort of large scale composting and get as much organic matter into the soil as possible.

My Best advise is not to try and do it all in one hit, Clear a patch really well and plant something.. anything but do plant. This way you will get at least some crop from the ground. This way you can take your time over the rest of the ground without killing yourself trying to clear the lot in one go. Hey if it takes a few seasons but you are still getting something out of it in the process it can't be all bad.

P.S You might want to try runner beans if have some kind of support as they love moist ground plus they have nitrogen fixing roots which can only help to improve your soil.

Gaz.

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Permalink Reply by Ronald Muckleston on March 17, 2010 at 7:39pm

Thanks Gaz. Have found my drainage ditches have worked well and ground slowly drying out. Needed two spade depths though! Have cleared sedge/reed grass lumps from half my patch and today finished first turn-over of soil without getting half a ton stuck to my boots for once!
There are still a lot of roots to be cleared out, but weather permitting I hope tomorrow to get a sort of level on the ground, clear some more of the weeds and create a few beds ready to receive some compost.
Yesterday a couple of ladies came to see their plots and were amazed at the difference - they had been somewhat daunted by the sinking feeling they had when they last visited in November when we gained access. This time they could trudge freely through the reed grass, and are much happier - all my back breaking work seems to have been worth it.
As you say small doses is best. I am really pleased that the hard work of drainage ditches around the whole site is paying off.
I've got enough potatoes to plant once the patch is ready - two different varieties. Thanks for idea about runner beans. I'll try some, but they will need sturdy support as we get very strong winds down here in North Cornwall.
Ron

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Permalink Reply by Neil J on March 20, 2010 at 12:39pm

Hello Ronald,

Firstly when you make your paths avoid using gravel on them. You will find it a great pain around your beds, especially with sticky soil. It will accumulate on your boots whenever you walk from bed to path. If you wheel the wheelbarrow around with sticky mud on it, the wheel will become a huge ball of mud and gravel.

Aim for something like bark chips or even chipped wood. The latter is often available from Tree Surgeons where they clear branches from jobs, and it's usually cheap.

Have you checked your pH. Being wet with reed type grasses could indicate acid soil.

If worked properly clay soils can be very productive. You will have to aim to get as much organic compost or well rotted manure into the soil as you can.

Many years ago when I was first starting out I wanted to grow a bed of heathers. The soil in the garden was sticky clay made worse by the top soil having been removed. I dug masses of leaf mould into it and added a couple of bales of peat (that was in the days before the ecological demerits were known). Soil that took some hard digging with a spade could be dug with a hand trowel in just 18 months.

If you are using the trench method of digging your soil, don't throw the manure or compost into the bottom of the trench and then cover with a spit of soil. Either will end up just sitting at the bottom of the trench entombed by the clay and will have not broken down or even been reached by growing plants.

Instead throw the compost etc against the wall of each spit of soil. This will ensure that it becomes mixed with the soil where it is needed the most and plants will benefit.

Really bad sticky clay soils can have coarse sand mixed into it as it is dug. This will mechanically separate the clay allowing it to drain more and making subsequent admixing of compost/manure easier.

Are you going to grow using a bed system or flat plot? Beds will ensure that the soil drains well and also avoids the need to tread over the growing area which can cause bad compaction on clay.

Neil

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Permalink Reply by Ronald Muckleston on June 16, 2010 at 7:57pm

Well, six months in and the potatoes are growing well, peas stunted but pods forming, broad beans coming up from direct sow seed as well as from greenhouse grown. Parsnips, fennell, cabbages, broccolli (the real stuff - not calabrise) and carrots all coming along quite well BUT the drainage ditches worked so well I've had to water. The rather prolonged dry spell coupled with wind has really dried things out - including my water sump that I dug just in case of need!
On part that I had rotavated and covered with weed suppressant fabric the sedge grass is growing back with a vengence despite being chopped up and dried out! More digging to look forward to.
I took some photos to include with this, but something has gone wrong with SD card and cannot retrieve them, so will try again at the weekend.
Thanks for your advice guys.
Ron

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Permalink Reply by Neil J on June 18, 2010 at 8:11am

--------Nice going, Ronald,

The allotment is doing well for the first season. Tough ground such as you have takes a bit of working to get it right. Time will tell though it will get better and better.

What you have to aim for now is to add as much organic matter as you can to the ground which will open up the soil and increase the fertility.

Keep us posted.

Regards,
Neil

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