[JohnParticipant]

Hi Stewart

The intention of the post was really about whether or not it was possible to ‘grow your own’ nematodes rather than buying a pack as Charles has done when he has had a slug problem.

So I should now like to ask two questions.
1. Is the watering on of a nematode solution effective at killing slugs?
2. Is the home-brew method a viable alternative to buying a pack of nematodes?

The effectiveness of any nematode solution seems to last only six weeks so my guess is that there in no long-term residual effect. Toby Buckland, who wrote the article, is a professional gardener who had a high profile when he presented Gardeners World on TV.

John

[JohnParticipant]

Hi Charles and Stringfellow

Thank you for the advice. The deep sowings have not shown at all but surface sowing has been successful, with germination after about 10 days. It’s exciting to see tiny green shoots with the seeds on top like mini lollipops!

John

[JohnParticipant]

Hi Don

Thanks for the woodchips comments and those about the photos/plot. Let’s hope I can actually grow something! In a few weeks am going to a day-course at Charles’ smallholding and I am sure it’s going to be inspirational.

John

[JohnParticipant]

Hi All

A few people have suggested adding cardboard to the compost heap and I am now adding cardboard from home to the fruit/veg waste to take to the heap.

What about WOOD CHIPPINGS? There is an endless supply on site, brought in by tree surgeons and some are quite small (the chippings that is!), about 10x10mm. I am aware that chippings use nitrogen from the soil to break down if applied directly as a surface mulch, but wonder if they could be added to the heap , say 40% of the volume, where they would have a year or so to break down.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful suggestions.

John

[JohnParticipant]

Hi All

Don
I feel sure that any waste from the plot, as well as minimal amounts of cardboard and veg/fruit peelings from home, will make a compost of sorts, even if it it doesn’t meet the required ratio of greens and browns. Before retiring to a flat without even a window box I had an acre of ornamental garden and, for many years, I ran a grass cutting business and had enormous heaps of grass cuttings which, as you can imagine, were a squelchy mess. However, after leaving them for a few years, I spread the slightly less squelchy mess on the borders in winter and it was surprising how it changed once exposed to the air. I guess this mulch was about 95% grass clippings so I won’t use the word ‘compost’, but it was certainly effective at feeding my soil and garden plants as well as keeping weeds at bay. It must have been manna from heaven for the worms as it soon disappeared into the soil.

Pete
It was great to read Pete’s comments, particularly those in the other thread quoted above. I’ll certainly be trying the annual grazing rye that Pete mentions. I wonder if Pete’s experience is in the UK? My plot is in sunny Exmouth.

John

[JohnParticipant]

Hi All

I am learning to play trumpet and my trumpet forum has distinct ‘schools’ of thought, each based on a different trumpet guru, all quite different but aiming for the same end result. I have discovered that gardening is just the same! There are double diggers, single diggers, no-diggers, green manurers, composters, row planters, block planters, raised bedders, etc!

This discussion has been of great benefit to me. I should like to ask Don to give some detail about ‘if you need material there are much better ways of accumulating it’, bearing in mind that I would like the plot to be as self sufficient as possible, rather than importing lots of material. This is one of the guidelines for ‘best practice’ for organic gardening.

If I had bins full of compost I would not have a problem, but I doubt that the waste just from harvested crops can give sufficient compost to give the annual level of composting that Charles suggests, hence my interest in green manure. Cropping it, rather than digging it in has the dual advantage of bulking up the compost heap and not having the 2-4 week delay before planting following crops.

I will trial it and let you know the results.

John

[JohnParticipant]

Hi Don

Thanks for your comments. I did find one entry for Jan 29 15 where Charles had experimented with mustard green manure. He states “I think there will be almost no green on the stems by early March, when I shall rake them off to compost. Then I need to spread this year’s compost”.

My problem is that I have no compost to spread so I would like to ‘grow’ compost to spread later. I also don’t want to dig in the green manures on the no-dig beds. I also plan to grow comfrey as a crop for the compost heap. Ideally I would like to be able to reduce inputs, namely the farmyard manure, that are not generated from within the plot. I am new to the no-dig approach so am I barking up the wrong tree?

John

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