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Hi Kevin,
Thanks for sharing this. I will have a go shortly to try and protect my greenhouse winter greens. Have you tried it yourself? If so, how efficacious is it?
Thanks
NeilHi Paul,
On our allotment side of about 80 plots I’ve now trained 5 other people. 3 of them all work full time and they would all have given up (or had their plot taken from them) if it had not been for no-dig. Most of our plotholders who are working people just do not have the time to do traditional digging / weeding.
We split plots up into smaller sizes and see how folks get on with them first. We also shiup in large quantities of woodchip for free to help with mulching significant areas.
Plastic is used quite a bit by us. if a plot is vacated, we cover it so the brambles do not move back in and the plots stay relatively weed free.
BR
NeilHi Marcy,
Sounds like a really interesting project. It will take a thorough comparison to prove the benefits to those who doubt. I am sorry I assumed you are in the UK.
I guess the best veg for trialling would be those you eat a lot of. One thing I have found is that an excess of things like cabbage and cauliflower means that they often do not get eaten, so I would concentrate on those things which store well such as potatoes, carrots, parsnips and beetroot. I would try some leaf veg as well just to see the difference as those mentioned before are all root crops.
How much rain did you get during June, July and August this year?
BR
NeilCleansweep, you are way ahead of me, but that was my plan. Please could you comment on the progress of your crops this last year. Really interested to know…
ThanksHi Marcy,
It would be useful to know your context. It would be a different proposition between, say, West of Scotlant and East Anglia, as to how dry you are or whether you can put enough water down!
There is a garden called Glenwhan (https://glenwhangardens.co.uk/) in the South West of Scotland where parts of the garden are only a few inches of peat over solid rock. This could be equated to by compost over concrete. However, that part of Scotland receives a LOT of rain ….
My response would be suck it and see 🙂 !Hi Guatum,
Interesting to think an idea has travelled sound the world so quickly. Benefit of internet I guess.
I think most people would be reticent to make any suggestions to you as India is such a huge place with desert, tropical, temperate and significant cultural differences across the subcontinent. Also the resources available are very different.
It would be useful to know what your seasons are like. Temperature, rainfall, predictability, soil type and crops required etc all make a big difference.
BR
NeilHi Sean,
I am a big advocate for woodchips, but only between the beds on paths. See my last post on ‘reconceptualising no-dig gardening…’
I had a hunt through the RHS pages and they tell us that ‘The RHS do, however, recommend that basal parts of trees infected with honey fungus, Phytophthora root rot, or parts of trees infected with stem diseases such as verticillium wilt or coral spot, are not used, to reduce the risk to plants.‘Notice it the quote that it is only basal parts of the tree donating the chippings they are talking about. Unless you are really unlucky and the tree surgeon has been doing stump grinding, I thinky you would be very unlikely to have problems. To my mind, the spores for honey fungus and the like are constantly about us, and if they deign to take hold on your plot,(as they did for fzjohnson) then they will.
As a by the way, my treesurgeon delivered a lorryload of bay tree leaf and branch chippings which had been on the back of his truck over the weekend. When he tipped it out, the temperature was already up to above blood heat, showing how quickly it had started to rot. It smelt divine too!Tony P,
Hi, I am going to try and overwinter my bell peppers this Winter. How did you get on with doing so last year..
I guess the questions are: Is there any improvements in production compared to freshly raised plants and are they any earlier?
I feel that any way of overwintering plants can only reduce the annual bottleneck of very full greenhouse staging each spring so my plants are going to be healed in in the greenhouse border until May next year….Good idea, lining to keep in the moisture. Thanks Charles.
Makes me think of your ethos of learning the principles so they can be applied in different scenarios…
BR
NeilHi Charles (et al),
I’ve just reread what is on the site and watched your video again. I wonder whether the following may help.
I’ve got a 2 bing system at my allotments and the older bing has been maturing compost for the last 9 months. It was a reasonable mixture of brown and green, was turned about April and watered as it was way too dry (London weather), and had been sulking, but fortunately started to heat up after the turn. It then went up to 60ish C. After a dry May I capped it with a good 3″ layer of well rotted horse manure which had a fantastic population of small red worms in it. My theory was that it would help the heap retain the moisture which this summer did its level best to remove. Thinking about it, I wondered if the worms would work downwards as the heap cooled, would spread bacteria and promote soil biodiversity which hot compost may have killed off. I’ve not seen any literature about this. My heaps are exposed to the elements and made of the ubiquitous three pallets and a removable fourth side. There is no top.
So the question is… do you think this is a worthwhile move, or was it just occupational therapy for me?
PS
I have broad shoulders so can take criticism 🙂Thanks for the reply Charles. I tried sowing Early Bird 2 weeks appart and they matured at exactly the same time.
My question would be.. Is there a late variety?
I tried one (forget which) branded as mid season, but it was only a fortnight after Early Bird…Hi folks,
I’ve not been touched by this issue personally, but it has made me change my practices.
Horse manure is an important resource to me as I live in London and it is the only manure I can find inside the M25.
Though this will not suit everyone, the method I have adopted is as follows….
step 1. Ignore all manure offered by the main roadside. It is usually fresh as there is a quick turnover and usually is 50p per bag.
step 2. Drive around and find stables which are on roads not frequently traversed by the public. The stables here are keener to get rid of manure and thus do not charge.
step 3. Find the stables where you bag and collect your own. Here I select from the back of the pile where some grass or other weeds has started growing.So far I have not been troubled by Aminopyralid symptoms.
Best regards to you all….
NeilfrazermWhen you read of the medicinal and practical uses of mares tail one Almost (note the capital) wants to try it!