very dry raised beds on allotment

[PJ]

The raised beds I made in spring on my new allotment are terribly dry (and its a 100 metre round trip to the watering point!) – top layer of about 4″ of kind of dusty “compost” which any watering drains straight through. I inherited the patch in spring – the soil had been covered with cardboard and a tarp since autumn. I dug out the perennial weeds and laid abouut 5-6″ of compost on top and planted onion sets in one bed – doing okay (not wonderful) but starting to yellow. And carrots and beetroot – then resowed in June and July after they got eaten when I was away – so they are stll small and there is quite a lot of bare topsoil. When I water (aiming for a soaking of each bed), it goes straight through the very dry top 4″ layer of compost. I’ve now mulched with a layer of Humix (a mix of mushroom compost, manure and peat) covered with comfrey leaves. And with newspaper on top of that for the onoin bed. Is there anything else I can do to try to help moisture retention?! All looks pretty dry and desolate at the moment and no worms around, not surprisingly. Advice would be appreciated! (This is my first go at no-dig gardening on an allotment so I’m guesisng it may take a while to build up good soil structure but it would be great to be able to save this year’s crop if possible.)

[charles]

 Sorry you are having such problems and I am afraid there is no rain in sight for quite a while.  Gardening is not easy, look at the difference with last year!

I suspect you have some rather woody green waste compost? Once dry it is indeed difficult to wet and needs a lot of time to soak up moisture, such as when it rains. It sounds like you have done a lot to conserve moisture, and don’t worry about not seeing worms as they migrate downwards in heat.

It shows the advantage of starting early, especially with green waste compost which needs to be in place and fully moist before the end of March. I made a bed with some in February, swet compost on wet soil, but the onions are much smaller than in the next bed which is cow manure and soil. Also the green waste compost is good when used as 50% of a bed-fill with 50& manure.

If rain is forecast any time from end July, it is too late for carrot & beetroot but be ready with seeds of spinach, rocket, kale, spring onion, oriental leaves. 

 

Another watering question, from a gardener who is on the mentoring course:

"What are you watering? I understand you don’t water anything apart from watering them in and your lettuces . What are you doing now we have not had rain for so long?"

Well I am doing some watering,  mostly of lettuce to encourage it to flower later rather than sooner, as well as give more leaves. Recent plantings of lettuce are good to water every three or four days to keep them growing fast.
Tall peas appreciate water because of their high number of leaves, making them transpire more, and watering helps them to crop for longer, as well as giving juicier pods. Today I watered celeriac, celery and also some leeks I had planted and watered in a week ago. More veg would enjoy water but it is expensive and plants such as Brussels sprout seem able to go semi-dormant for a while, not for too long to be sure. I am watering some courgettes which are near a cherry tree, little and often so the tree can’t grab it all.
I am not watering winter squash or climbing beans, not yet anyway. Onions are alright because so close to maturity. Parsnips are sending down a deep tap root so leave them be, but carrots wil swell nicely if watered.

In greenhouse and tunnel it is every two days at the moment, far more than usual, because of this unusual weather – not only the hot, bright sun but dry air and we have a wind almost every day.

 

 

 

 

[bessiemessage]

Thanks Charles,
Nice to read what you said about the brussel sprouts, mine looked a bit stunned and not doing anything at the moment. However I am getting loads of fantastic leaves, tomatoes are flowering and growing, my pumpkins, squash are producing well. They are starting to walk at a rapid rate! Slug population down.

I am in my first year of no dig on the field allotment site. due to low funds have opted for just manure. I put massive amounts of well rotted manure ( as per Charles recommendations)on my beds direct on to cardboard on grass. I have found there is actually lot of moisture underneath the crispy first layer of manure when I planed out some winter brassicas last night.

Have heard there are some thunderstorms around hope they arrive here in Somerset for a good soak.

[Author]

Posts