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So we can look forward to the total non use of phones, tablets, laptops for 24 hours-wonderful way to save the planet.
Not too late to sow more, especially for outdoors growth.
I suspect your toms would stand total submergence in water for 24 hours, the aphids won’t.If you can manage the logistics, take both! How you use it will depend on the state/age of material.Certainly cow manure from a winter lairage, often cleared in early autumn to accomodate the cattle in the approaching winter will be a sound proposition as it will likely contain a high proportion of straw as well.A blend will not matter, and may have differing minerals and trace elements.Even horse manure with a shaving , woodchip or sawdust bedding will compost in time.
The potential danger of aminopyralid is greater with horse manure Although its tricky to trace the source of hay, if you can find a cattle farmer who grows his own winter forage, he will know what he has used. Silage is made with a range of broadleaf herbs as well as grass, therefore risk free.Such a source has the kit to deliver, its a ‘beer’ thing!! I realise the benefits of life in a rural area.Dwarf French beans, planted now under the runner bean stick row, may be sufficiently fleeced/sheltered and forward to crop before the runners shade them out. Otherwise, radish, rocket,mitzuna, ‘spare’ onion sets to produce salad onion…somebody else’s turn.
Beg to suggest it would be the ‘fresh’ rather than the ‘manure’ that may cause issues . Fresh manure would release ammonia which could scorch leafy crops.Once composted (rotted 3 years?) sufficiently it has lost most of its ammonia gas and should be ok. I plant out with a trowel* and have not noticed a problem.
* clay soil is still too tight for the dibber, but is getting better.(4th season)“Cleansweep your advice is thorough but I don’t agree with your “four areas” categorisation. My work goes against traditional rotation, not that it’s invalid but it makes too many assumptions.
Or you could justify in your piece why you say that. It’s not something I consider in planning a plot.”
Apologies, Charles & elenorwalsh
My thoughts were to encourage the new gardener to get on, get some areas productive, to reward the initial enthusiasm, and to provide planting space for a variety of crops initially, that could be expanded. I agree that rotation is less of a priority, described elsewhere as ‘fine tuning’, that is my approach.
CleansweepYes ,
you could but,
it might be better to start another planting elsewhere before hand to give continuity of supply. There are only a few crops which will reach maturity more than once in a growing season, radish definately, spinach possibly, but mid season plantings often go strait to seed.
The principal of rotation year upon year is to avoid any pest or disease that a particular crop may be susceptable to, being already present when you plant out. Repeated growing in one place may deplete minerals necessary for that crop.These are technical considerations which may be heeded, but realistically, they should not be given too much influence on your choices. Treat them as ‘fine tuning’ once you succeed in general crop production.
Problems tend to be from the unbiddable sector :pigeons, slugs, butterflies and moths, the odd rabbit, too many b****y voles, all of which are not location specific.
Personally, I tend to replace cleared rows with the next quarters plantings, broad beans with leeks, potatoes with autumn sown overwintering salads, peas with brassicas, etc. and rotate annually, four crop types- based on legumes-leaf-fruit(curcubits)-root.
Best of luck, please report succeed or fail!
CleansweepI expect if you were to tip the tray out you would find a mat of roots at the base.I think you may have started them too soon, or should have planted them out 2 weeks ago if conditions were fit.
Basically they have done well, with the provided conditions but I feel, have outgrown their surroundings, depleted the compost and are now responding to the stress by a last ditch attempt to seed before its too late!
Spinach is especially prone to this, some varieties will bolt almost while you watch. Suggest you harvest the good baby leaves,to take some crop for your efforts, and maybe sow more outdoors now.Not thought to be correct.
In UK climate, the sun is unlikely to raise the temperature under even a black polysheet to the required temperature to sterilise a soil profile, many organisms are mobile and can retreat.Similarly, a buried seed cannot (unfortunately!)be killed. If youve ever visited a forest fire site after the first subsequent rain, you would realise nature will return.
I would not personally lay any plastic as a long term remedy, but it can be a useful control tool.First, clear away any debris, broken glass, bricks, bicycle frames, scrap plastic etc.
Survey the covering vegetation. Mark out any thing of value-fruit bushes, raspberry canes just emerging. Ask your neighbour if there might be asparagus.
Try and establish whether you have just
a)annual weeds and grasses, or
b)whether its really neglected, with nettles/docks/small trees,couch grass, ground elder, bindweed, marestail.(potatoes,carrots,
Initially find (four) areas which could be described as a)
these could be hoed or mown, covered in cardboard then compost and planted. This would be a start for this season. Four areas ideally. 1 each for (according to your requirements)
leaves(salads, spinach,chard etc)
roots (potatoes,carrots, onions,turnips,radish etc
legumes(beans,peas, perhaps sweet corn
fruit (courgettes, melons,tomatoes, cucumbers etc
Once these are established ,but not necessarily yet planted because of frost , you can look to gradually reclaim areas identified as ” b).”
If you have time , you could mow these early to restrict them seeding, and keep them in check.
Cover with cardboard and compost as before. You may not get 100% control in year 1,but by excluding light, green plants cannot thrive, and will, eventually, die.Large , woody roots need to be removed(BY DIGGING-!!)
Good Luck, please post progress reports and photos.
Cleansweep
This will enable you to increase the size of the productive patches progressively, and create the basis of a rotationNeeds to be frost free . Watch out for the coming week if you are in S England!!
Known to be toxic to dogs if quantities of beechnuts are eaten, especially the husks. Less concentrated poison than acorns. I have not heard that this tree has any direct effect on crops, other than depriving them of water, nutrients and light. Any competitive species is unwelcome at close proximity.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, I believe all will be well. Without the knowledge of the site, its history, the country its in, the weather the last few months one cannot be emphatic but just try it. Here in N E Hampshire, when I started from scratch in March 2016.
The first bed was dug, picture attached.(‘all enclosed’) .It nearly killed me!.
The effort of that led me to explore no-dig’ as an option.
The second bed was created, on mown pasture, covered in cardboard boxes laid flat, composted manure and planted in one weekend, with lettuce plants. They thrived. I survived.
I attach second photo of the ground prior to that .Now you’re above my pay grade!!
You need to see the doctor!
See Dr Elaine Ingham
here:
Emphatically, no till!
The structure of your soil, the profile that supports your turf, the biology of the soil are all the right way up, why confuse it.
Suppress the grass,ie mow it, blind it, stop it growing by cutting off its life support (light)
Add the compost to feed the microbes that feed your (future) plants.
Plant.
Your soil will contain diverse seeds from previous seasons. Only those near the top will grow, its proportional to their size. Why would you want to bring up all those from lower levels?.Just weed ,if necessary ,the surface as your crops develop. You may need to extract a few larger emergees from the lower levels (such as docks, sprouting acorns,suchlike) initially.
Trust me-it works.
Cleansweep