[Sweet Pea 2]

Hi

I was wondering if you could help me.  I have managed to dig most of my half plot.  It was rotovated by the council, and I have dug most over again to get rid of Perennial weeds, and that bit I am just ticking over by digging out the weeds as and when the come up. And I have planted loads of potatoes and some peas, gralic and onions, and a section for fruit.   But I am now left with a corner that I haven't touched yet, and the ground is really hard, can hardly get a fork in.  Any ideas what is best to do with this section.  I really don't want to leave it like it is, as I will run out of room fairly soon with all of the seeds I have bought.  Also does anyone have any ideas of what I can follow my early potatoes with, for a second crop.

[DD.]

Brassicas like hard ground, brussels especailly so.

Follow early spuds with leeks, or a little later, spring cabbge for next year.

[harrymac]

But I am now left with a corner that I haven't touched yet, and the ground is really hard, can hardly get a fork in.  Any ideas what is best to do with this section.

You could try giving it a good soaking and leave it overnight. It has to be wet enough to get down a few inches though, otherwise it won't do any good. Or you could just wait until you get a decent spell of rain.

[paintedlady]

Or go for a no dig raised bed?  I recently acquired more ground on my big plot (just a delayed marking out of boundaries where I had a shortfall of 60- 70 sq metres to the original measurement) and one of the new beds used to be under the neighbouring plot's shed/chicken run etc which the council only recently removed.  I can't get either a fork or spade in so I'm opting for a no dig bed there this year.  I've never done it before so I've no idea how it'll turn out 

[Sweet Pea 2]

The problem with giving a good soaking is we aren't allowed hosepipes.  I tried last might after we had had a couple of days rain, and it just didn't seem to have tocuhed it.  Still really hard.

[Kristen]

Do you think a self-propelled (i.e. drives the wheels, rather than just the tines) would work? Certainly a mini-tractor rotavator, driven by PTO, would - although it will probably need several passes to get down deep, and will need to move at "snails pace".  Dunno how big a piece of machine you can get in there, or how much budget you would have for hire.

Or a farmer with a plough (or a mini tractor for that matter).  I had the local farmer plough my vegetable patch, and then I rotavated with a mini-tractor PTO rotavator.  Saved weeks of work!

Anything else, like a pickaxe, is going to be a huge amount of effort.