[Zak the Rabbit]

Hello All,

Im back on the plot after a week in the sun in Mallorca...

Im going to open a new patch up for next years potatoes, should I fork in fresh manure to rot down in time for planting next year? My compost bin system isnt up to speed yet so dont have enough compost for the job, but im sure one of the local stables would be only too happy for me to cart off a barrow load of horse muck.

The same goes for me rhubarb, should i just chuck a heap of horse muck on it?

The soil in the new patch is a sandy loam, pretty devoid of humus. Never been cultivated at all. I dont really want to have to fork out for bags of well rotted manure from the garden center ( about 2mile away theres a pile of well rotted manure about 100tonnes i would guess, i wonder if i could nick some when there not looking. Dont know which farm it belongs to)



Martin

[muntjac]

go to the nearest farm and ask if its thiers and ask if you can have a trailer load it will cost about £30 for a couple of tonnes , and yes put it in trench digiing as you go a barrow to a yard . what you dont use put in ur bins ,why steal it  when its dirt cheap .

[GrannieAnnie]

And just chuck it over your rhubarb Zak and let it have a nice warm smelly bed for the winter!!!! lol

[Zak the Rabbit]

thats what i was thinking!

and dont worry Muntjac, i wasn't really going to pinch it.

Getting a big load is a problem for me - i'm growing at the bottom of the garden, no lotty yet (working on it, see my blog) so cant pile too much up.

So, if im getting this right - the spuds want a good load of well rotted dug in, but the rhubarb can have a heap of fresh piled on it?



Martin

[GrannieAnnie]

My friend gave me some rhubarb August last year, and as it was in a new position and wasn't very big, I just piled a load of chicken manure over it and left it all winter, then come spring, all the new little rhubarb stalks popped through the poo!!!! and it gets the goodness seeping into the ground everytime it rains!  I didn't dig it in at all!

[muntjac]

thats right martin mate ..i just chuck my chicken cleanings on my rhubarb ,sticks  like 2 x 4's i has  

 well just ask for a small amount that yopu can handle martin im sure they wil just tell ya help yaself ,, return the favour with a few veggies

[Aidy]

My first question is what soil type do you have, I have a very sandy soil and if I put my muck in now it would be all washed out by spring, I do two things, first clear the area of weeds etc and then I put a load of fresh manure on top and leave it until about Feb, then I dig it in, this wont provide a lot of nutrients but it does add humus to the soil, about two weeks before me tats go in I dig the trenches and put the rotted stuff in.

[muntjac]

manure every year one portion of your ground with any bulk material you can get horse / cow manure   .if you see a pile of top soil free  grab it .friend had a bungalow at humberstone fitties ( near cleethorpes) and he had pure sand the only thing that would grow was geraniums .he watered every day .he then covered an area of abourt 10 sq yards and just dumped in loads of manure grass clipings top soil from the roadworks etc and within 4 years had a plot of some 40 sq yrds producing excellent crops he stil had to water well because of the sun and wind up that way , but as i say he just fed an area with bulk material every other year in rotation .hope that helps .note if you put a note up asking for old growbags .on the front of your house .that may help as well

[Zak the Rabbit]

thanks guys,

its a sandy loam, the whole area is a little sandy, its an ancient flood plane of the trent/ouse system, but i have good evidence that this part of the garden had a shed on it in the past and the sand is from bedding under slabs.

Its not so much the soil type, just simply that theres practically no humus in it. Seems it had a shed on or something for years then was left to grass over. Ive marked it out, its 16ft by 10ft, which is as big as i can go because of the fruit trees and the wife.

I know Fitties well Muntjac, i spent my childhood holidays at the caravan park next up towards Cleggy, South Beach i think it was called then. Not much would grow, but many of the older residents lived all summer in the vans and had got quite a range of flowers around them.

Never thought of old growbags, i'm going to ask the local shop if i can put a card in the window, the farmers pop in there (until recently next door to it was an agro machinery shop, shame thats gone) and im sure one of them will be helpful


Martin

[muntjac]

thats great ,thought i was a lot more sandy .but the medicine still applies mate .
bung loadddds like a barrow to a yard of manure in now but dont plant roots ( carrots etc ) next year .that will fix it up ,
i suggest you double trench dig it  with 2 layers down ) as the ground wil be well compacted  after such a long time in the dark.
but i am sure next year you will get a good response from the soil with non roots. you could grow your roots in growbags and  containers ,hope that helps
regs karl