This topic contains 11 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by charles 8 years, 6 months ago.
-
Posts
-
Great that you have dark soil and because there are no weeds, a two inch mulch of compost (i.e. well rotted manure) is fine.
I wonder if you need wooden sides, if it was me I would simply make beds with the thin dressing of compost, though that will result in muddy pathways. So you could spade a couple of inches of soil from 18 inch pathways onto what become slightly raised, 4 foot wide beds, then add compost on top of them and some less decomposed organic matter for a path mulch.Yes and to save expense and work, but if you like wooden sides, try some!
Do you have any stables nearby? I have been using stable waste to cover my beds. I let it sit for a while before either planting my home grown plug plants in pockets filled with well rotted compost, or if i am sowing direct (spinach/radish etc) I have been covering the sowing area with just over an inch of well rotted compost. It was a bit of an experiment, because I didn’t have enough compost to cover my plot and funds are tight this year. We get the stable waste for free as the stable have to pay for it to be cleared (they deliver it for free). It sits in big heaps near the gate to our allotments. I guess by moving it by wheel barrow to my plot I am turning it. I have been putting a thick layer on my beds then I let it sit for 4-6 weeks. I have been slowly converting my plot this way since the beginning of the year when I discovered this website. I am getting the best results I have ever had.
Good news from Plot 33 then! I wonder what you mean by stable waste? Writing about gardening is tricky because all these terms have several meanings e.g. is your ‘stable waste’ full of bedding? is it wood or straw or paper? is it fresh or how old? I am curious and suspect others will be.
Whatever, the results are justifying your method so well done!By stable waste I literally mean the straw, shavings and manure from our local stable. It is pretty fresh and steaming when it first gets delivered. The stables dump it in heaps just inside our allotment site. I take it about a week after delivery. As you dig into the heaps you can see bits of ash in it in the middle. The plot holders on my site use it to build compost heaps (which I have also done), Some plot holders use it as a thin mulch on cleared beds in autumn.
After discovering your website at the beginning of the year (and then seeing you at the garden museum in March) I decided to start covering areas with your suggested thick mulch. My plot was very weedy as I had had an accident the previous April and had not been able to tend my plot for the most part of the year. My local authority usually has composted garden waste, but this year it has been scarce for some reason and I have not been able to get any.
I was worried that the stable waste would be too fresh, but in most cases it has worked well. I haven’t grown everything this year as I’ve been slowly converting my plot. I grow my plants at home in module trays/pots and have then planted into the beds once they have sat for a few weeks.
I planted my beetroots straight into the beds and they have done really well. The beans & peas (grown in root trainers and loo rolls) were planted into holes made in the stable waste which were filled with proper compost, I also used this method for courgettes, squash, sweetcorn & dahlias. I have had to weed, but not nearly as much as without the mulch. My plot was covered in couch grass and weeds. I’ve also found that the mulch means that I have not needed to water so much. I am on heavy london clay and the ground without the mulch cracks like concrete/ can dry to dust in the summer. When others have been watering, I’ve been able to plant and weed.
I plan to do some experiments next year between compost and stable waste. I will let you know how I get on. I am planning to visit the RHS London show on 1st Nov. I understand you will be there.
just got back from my plot and realised that i had omitted to mention the great harvests of kale, rocket, pak choy, fennel and other leaves.
Gosh that is interesting. I do not recommend fresh manure because of nutrient leaching and slugs but its been a dry season which will have helped. Certainly if you have good pak choi with mulching like that, well done.
For most of us, using compost is the safest method, however its great that you posted this because it shows how ultimately there is a lot of scope to do things differently, according to materials and time available, weather, soil and weeds etc.
Experimenting next year sounds a brilliant plan and I look forward to hearing more and to meeting you at the Fair on November 1st.Plot33
I’ve done similar to you in our garden and had similar results. I’ve not used it on all beds, but putting down around now for a spring potato planting works well, fresh stuff in autumn over Asparagus beds and rhubarb/comfrey bed also gives great yields.
I”m trying a second experiment this year in putting leaves on top of the bed due to sow parsnip, carrot and onions in the spring. I did a small mini-experiment this year and created a great topsoil for sowing into this way.
I had very good pak choi and spinach sown after 2nd early potatoes (which were grown after over-wintered manure on top), but the turnips sown in the next row were rather too leafy and roots rather too small, whereas growing turnips after kale and beetroot on soil treated 18 months previously with manure was better. No idea why……
Fruit crops did very well with well-rotted manure laid down in February (plum, cherry and pear) – yes it was a great year for fruit, but clearly the manure mulch didn’t harm that.
Compost has done very well for over-wintered cabbage, garlic, leek, beans, celery and parsnip. Onions did fine with nothing added after potatoes grown on over-wintered horse manure mulch.
We all live and learn……..
I didn’t use beds originally,but the compost tended to spill over onto the simple granite paths I made. So now I have 4″ treated boards around the beds, just to retain the compost. It works well and looks neat. My soil is heavy stony soil. All but salsify have done well. The salsify has been a bit pathetic with lots of branching, perhaps the compost was too hot.
It sounds like you have a pretty thin soil Leif, so bed sides do make sense.
Salsify has never grown abundantly for me, and I could accept the small yields if it really tasted of oysters!
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.