Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hello Tessa, we had about five weeks of snow last winter and the previous year the hoops covered with environmesh collapsed under the weight of snow and killed off my overwintering broad beans, so last winter I erected a strong metal tent ( upside down V ) over the beans covered again with environmesh. The tent shape allowed the snow to drift down the sides of the mesh leaving a lighter covering of snow which acted as insulation and my beans survived well, to give me a good crop when the weather warmed again. I wonder if this technique might work well for you too?
I agree with Charles, I have been adding as much organic matter to the soil as possible
I also mulch and plant through the mulch as I am in the water starved south east, my beans are not stressed, tall healthy and no blackfly despite the lack of rain. I am going to remove the tips though to encourage plant energy to go into the beans instead of more growth and as the tips are are clean I can cook them as greens.Ducks are good predators of slugs ! Also if you are going to plant tender seelings lay some old lettuce leaves with organic slug pellets where you are going to plant tender seedlings and catch them before they do any damage. Hoeing any bare soil, will expose and dry any incubating progeny too.
Consider also unusual solutions, I gtew one up and along between tha raised decking balcony struts last year, its only the root that needs to be in the soil! Start thinking vertically and you gain space when it’s limited. A forest has seven layers, from root to canopy. I have also seen them ramble very happily over a mountainous compost heap !
I think flavour depends more on how the strawberries are grown, rather than the variety.
I have grown quite a few varieties, outside in humus rich soil, after a manure mulch in autumn, in the sunshine, they need enough water, but not too much, and they all taste delicious, far better taste than commercial tunnel grown ones, as my friend remarked today.i agree, undisturbed and healthy soil with natural microbes and mycelium produce healthy disease resistant plants, I actually took some soil from a local wild uncultivated area to add to my seedling compost when I first decided not to dig, this
was like a kickstart for more natural conditions, and tiny fungi pop up in many areas of my garden now. Healthy undisturbed soil add in a few of the local flora, a log pile and a pond and all the beneficial insects and other creatures flock in to help keep pests controlled, it takes 3 predators to control one pest. The mycelium extend root capacity, which helps reduce plant stress and disease vulnerability in drought too.