[daveyboy]

1st year under the belt. Thanks to Johns book and this site we have enjoyed some great fruit and veg this year.
My question.
I have three beds, the soil is a little clayey (is that a word?). Anyway, I've decided to forgo the Autumn/winter crops this year to try and get something back in the soil and improve the texture. I'll spread the manure on top - like a mulch - on two (what will be Legumes and Brassicas) and rotorvate in early spring. My question is the last (what will be the Roots) bed.

Is there anything I should be doing for next year? - perhaps Fish, Blood and Bone? - Growmore?
Or should I leave these until early spring? - Or should I leave well alone and see how they get on as the following year it will be manured ready for Legumes, and the Roots will have moved to a bed that has been manured a previous year.

And - when is the best time for the manure mulch? - As soon as /  December? (it will be fresh, not rotted)

Thanks for any advice / opinions

Dave

[Yorkie]

Subject to anything anyone with more experience of manure says, I'd bung the manure on asap - give it max time to start rotting down before it gets too cold.

As for the roots bed, I wouldn't put any type of fertiliser on it now as it is likely to leach out over the winter.  Apply a short time before planting out / sowing (I think) in Spring.

[daveyboy]

Thank you Yorkie for that.
What would you recommend on the Roots bed, early next year?

[zazen999]

Thank you Yorkie for that.
What would you recommend on the Roots bed, early next year?

Roots don't really need much, as they are roots and thus in contact with the soil.

I pop on coffee grounds for the onions and sand for the carrots; and I have thick clay. A good dig over and you're good to go.

[PAULW]

With a clayey type soil I would be inclined to rough dig and leave it in big clumps then spread the muck over this then some of the muck will fall into the voids helping to improve the texture.

[binner]

i was in the very same possition as you last year, clay beds grown on for one year. so for this years carrots and parsnips i split the bed in half, in one end i put just peat for the carrots and on the other just multi perpose compost for the snips and dug it in, worked a treat as i have had superp carrots and just pulled a coulpe of snips today and they are HUUUUUGE

[potatogrower]

rotivate the soil with bags of cheap compost, plenty of manure and sand. that will break up the clay soil. i had the same problem and rotivating helped a lot and since then it has been fine.

best thing to do is roughly break up the clay soil with fork and then rotivate it to break it up, then add your compost, sand and manure and then go over it with the rotivator once again. compost might cost quite a bit depending on the size of your plot.

[binner]

thats fine for all but roots as they will fork, compost and peat will do one decent size bed to give you plenty of snips and carrots

[aelf]

My root beds get a light sprinkling of chicken pellets in the new year (around the end of Jan).

[rowlandwells]

so many good answers to this topic i am in the process of spreading horse dung on the lottie then i will plough the ground and leave to overwinter fingers crossed the ground should break down after winter as my ground is a bit on the heavy side i do set a separate plot out for an onion bed which i will spread fertilizer on and wood ash before planting as a crop rotation  but one plot will not have manure on it because it will be for my root crops i have used chicken pellets but i favor a well balanced fertilizer its  just ones preference but i am very interested what binner said about growing his carrots with peat and compost going to definitely give that a go next season 

[daveyboy]

Thanks to all that answered. Lots of different ideas. I think I'll take a mix of most - light (not much at all) manure, sand & compost - rotivate early and leave it over winter and  then a light sprinkle of chicken pellets in the new year.

Once again, thank you.

 

[binner]

the peat made a massive difference to my soil this year but a lot of people dont like to use it as its a fast running out natural resource, but i did only use one bag and i figured that as my other beds get worked over and manured for other crops i wont need any after this year as the soil should be in good health,
just remeber though, peat for carrots, multi perpose compost for parsnips

[johnfh]

Is Growmore considered a multipurpose compost? 

Can it be used in combination with: Blood & Bone, Lime, Horse Manure?

[binner]

no, growmore is a general perpose fertiliser used to feed your veg plants, it wont do a thing to the soil appart from feed the plants

[rowlandwells]

hi binner i read you comments regarding the use of growmore as general purpose fertilizer am i rite in assuming  growmore is what i call a balanced fertilizer i must admit i used growmore in combination with cattle and horse dung and your saying that's a no no   so do you think one could use a liquid feed say miracle grow or a nitrogen based fertilizer in combination with overwintered manure  ::

i know when i worked on the farm we spread nitrogen based fertilizer on grassland and cereal crops in spring we called it top dressing you could definitely see the difference in places that i missed with the spreader do you think its worth feeding plants using this method or is it best to leave them and let the manure do its job