[bobbyt]

Trying to prepare my plot for root vegetable seed planting. It is quite claggy/clay type soil, i have managed to break it down to smaller pieces - about golf ball size, maybe a bit smaller, - I then plan to do small trench with compost and plant seed in that. Problem is I haven't time to do that yet as away for a couple of weeks, should I just cover the prepared ground with black plastic until my return, or leave it open to the elements, in the hope it will slightly improve the soil structure. I have scattered chicken manure pellets on there as well. Any advice/suggestions? Thanks.

[Learnerlady]

Hi,
if it was my plot I would leave covered to try and get/keep the soil warm as think it's unlikely that there will be hard enough frosts to improve soil structure. Regarding adding compost, might be better if you add grit to try and improve structure/drainage instead and check requirements of the individual type of root veg you want to grow. You could start off beetroot in modules (seedling compost) before you go and put somewhere with a bit of protection and I know some people start off carrots and parsnip too so might be worth trying. I'm only just getting success with carrots direct sown into sieved soil with grit in tall container and pre-chitting parsnip seeds before planting into same mix.

[Plot 1 Problems]

My old plot was very heavy clay. Before I ammended the soil with huge amounts of compost and greengrow I used to grow my root veggies by:
1) Using a long spade to draw a long, thin, deep trench by jabbing the blade deep in the ground and rocking it back and forth to make a v-shaped trench.
2) I'd then fill it with cheap compost and pack it in firmly.
3) sow into the compost so the delicate tap roots could grow down quickly without hitting hard clay or stones.

I got decent size parsnips and carrots like this.