This topic contains 12 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by ElleGee 6 years ago.
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Sounds alright although I am surprised you have not been building slugs under your straw in the damp winter conditions. I found it worked well to use compost mulch, would remove straw perhaps to paths, depending how much is there, before spreading the horse compost, then hoe as soon as tiny weed seedings are visible.
2-3in is good, say 6cm. Put the earth on first.
A promising outlook for you.On cats, I find the best way to keep them off is to lay bird netting on top of the ground.
I’ve been “no-digging’ in SW France for four years using cow manure with great success. I’m in the Périgord Noir ( near Sarlat) When I started my raised beds I really struggled to find ‘bonne terre’ A neighbouring farmer offered me as much manure as I was prepared to dig from his winter barn and I’ve never looked back. The first year I piled in a huge quantity of it in to fill the beds (probably 50% manure!) and mixed it in with the poor quality soil I had. I had the most amazing crops!!
Now I use Charles’ method of laying a thick mulch of manure on the beds in autumn. I just spread it on roughly and by spring even the big lumps break down easily. I give it a cursory rake to smooth it out a bit, then plant straight into it. It works really well! I use nothing else – no fertilizers etc.
The manure is sometimes quite lumpy, other times it has lots of straw. Depending when I collect it, there is sometimes some fresher stuff mixed in with older, but I just use it as is and it works fine.
I don’t add any other mulch during our hot dry summers.The first year I only got the raised beds ready in June, so I landed up planting immediately into the manure which was dry and clumpy too. I broke it up by hand (it was quite a task!!) into smaller clumps and then forked it into the minimal amount of soil I had in the beds. It has been much less work in subsequent years when I put on a thick layer in autumn and I don’t fork or dig it in at all.
I don’t know about your area, but we often get a late cracking frost at the end of the April, so I don’t plant anything tender (tomatoes, peppers etc) until the first week of May. I find Charles’ sowing timeline is perfect for our climate.
I’m attaching a photo to show how my potager looked last summer only with the manure feeding the soil – no additional fertilisers. I am really thrilled with it 🙂ElleGee, what a wonderful garden and thanks for sharing your success, so glad it’s all come together. That blue sky makes me nostalgic, so grey here this spring.
My successful garden is thanks to you, Charles! Your books and web information have been an invaluable resource.
ElleGee, what a FABULOUS potager!! Just shows what hard work and perseverence can do; thank you for sharing such bountiful inspiration. A virtuous cycle via Charles and his generosity too 🙂
And PouleChick too, good luck with your venture, sounds great!
Best wishes, RuthJust out of interest Ellegee, how many cubic metres of compost/manure did you need to set up initially?
Also what is the total area of your beds? Looks around 100sqm, maybe slightly less.
Fantastic garden though……
Thanks for your interest and encouraging comments!
The raised beds total about 42sqm. I probably put about 50% manure in when I started, so roughly 4 cubic metres. Each bed is 120cm wide and 20cm deep. I’ve added another photo to show you a better view of the beds.
I also have what I call “the pumpkin patch” which is an additional area of about 60sqm, divided into 4 sections in which I rotate potatoes, pumpkins & squash, onions, sweetcorn in each quadrant each year – this frees up the raised beds for planting everything else. We have a superb climate here (summers can be very dry though) for growing everything outdoors, so I don’t have a greenhouse or tunnel.
I’ve enclosed an aerial photo to show what it looks like – you can see how hot our summers are from the dry grass in the orchard!
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