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If you have three or more blackcurrant bushes pruning is easy. Divide them into three groups, eg every third bush or any other way. First year after fruiting cut the first third down to about three inches, second year the next group and the third year the last group. In the fourth year start at the beginning again.
you could use straddle beds. These are usually 2 feet wide and as long as you like.
sow long rooted radish in rows. When nearly mature hoe the tops off and sow rows in between and do the same.As the roots decay you will be left with soil that has been broken up.
Check out Singing Frogs farm on you tube.
A good idea is to plant maincrop first or at the same time as earlies. This will give them a few weeks more growing if blight strikes. Try Orla, a few years ago they were sold to me as earlies, then they went to main crop.
The normal way to plant leeks is to make a hole and drop the leeks in. They are not back filled but watered in and soil is washed down to fill the hole. Use a bulb planter as deep as you can.
Hi Don
most people that use soil blocks have found a better quality of seedling. In a plug tray if the seedling are not pricked out early enough then the roots start to circle. While in a block they are air pruned when they reach the edge and start to fill the block.Hi Don a soil block contains more compost than plug trays so they can stay in the block longer if necessary ,without any detriment to the plant.
I have been using them for years. they have many advantages. Roots are airpruned so build up a very good root system.
with soil blocks you rarely cover seeds. Advice is to cover brassica seeds but I never do and germination is good
Hi Beverly Potatoes do not need chitting. There is an advantage to chitting first earlies as it helps them to harvest slightly quicker. But there is no advantage in chitting others. The only advantage that can be gained is to plant late varieties before earlies. It gives a better chance to be in front if blight strikes.
Compost tea is not made to be a fertiliser. It is brewed to add beneficial insects that are supposed to aid in disease prevention. I have had a few discussions on american sites as they think the way we brew with a sack of manure in a barrel is wrong. They couldn’t understand that we were making a fertiliser not brewing microbes.
J.M.Fortier book “The Market Gardener” is good on planning and layout. There are videos of his talks on you tube.
Hi Plantmark Seed compost needs very little nutrition in it so peat mixed 50/50 with vermiculite or perlite would do well. You can add the compost to make it into a potting compost. Also add some blood fish and bone.
If you read the Market Gardener by Jean Martin Fortier, he proposes putting compost on half of his land each year. He divides his crops into heavy and light feeders and only puts compost on the beds for heavy feeders. He uses minimum tillage. He reckons the cost of buying in is low compared to the amount of harvest that he makes.
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