[Azazello]

Hi

I have the afternoon off and am going to a couple of jobs at the allotment.

First job is to sort out the new strawberry beds at the allotment.

The plants will go in a couple of weeks on reasonably good soil. Would well-rotted manure and fertiliser (Gromore) be overkill? I know you need to stress a plant a little to get flowers/fruit etc. so I don't want them too well-fed.

Second, I'm thinking of putting my onion sets in too.

I have lots of very well rotted manure in bags. Would the onions suffer by going straight into a soil that has manure added, even if it is well-rotted? Last year didn't really happen because of a new baby and I can't remember what I did the year before!

Grateful as ever for any tips or pointers you good people may have.

Az

[Hamani]

for the Strawberries:

If you've got good soil I wouldn't improve it anymore (it'll just lead to large but weak growth), just give them some potash or tomato feed once they start fruiting. Then once they've finished fruiting cut off ALL the top growth and sprincle with growmore. This will allow them to bulk up nice and healthy before winter, ready for  next year.

For the Onions:

Again, I woundnt do anything yet. They tend to grow quite well in bad soil anyway. Once they start bulking out in summer feel free to give a little sprinkle of growmore to help, but otherwise they shouldn't need much.

Save any compost, manure, etc ... for really hungry crops like beans, brassicas and cucurbis.

- Gary.

[Azazello]

Thanks Gary, seems like sensible advice!

[Totty]

For the onions, just top dress with some BFB and rake in before planting the sets. It's slower release than growmore and you won't need to feed again at all if its on reasonable soil anyway.

Totty

[Azazello]

Thanks Totty.

[mumofstig]

Just don't use BFB if you have foxes around, or they'll dig for ages trying to find the buried dead thing 

[Azazello]

It's weird stuff - it's made from sand eels (and other stuff) isn't it? Bad news for sea birds.

To be honest, I'll prob stick with Growmore. It's difficult to make an ethical choice when it comes to fertilizer.

[pdblake]

Just don't use BFB if you have foxes around, or they'll dig for ages trying to find the buried dead thing  

That explains the ruddy gert hole I found the other day

[JayG]

Agree with Mum - BFB is irresistable to foxes round here (I've had to stop using it.)

Pelleted Chicken manure occasionally causes similar problems, although they do seem to learn quite quickly that it's not quite what they were hoping for gastronomically speaking. 

Although sand eels are almost certainly being overfished, I believe they are mostly used for fish oil supplements and for processing into animal feeds rather than fertilisers.

Seaweed and home-made fertilisers like comfrey tea are the only products I can think of that are probably both ethical and sustainable, the others depend somewhat on your own point of view about such matters.

[Rexmundi]

I just bought a 14kg tub of BFB.

Does anyone know if it will also be irresistible to my collie dog?

The veg patch covered in horse manure is already quite an attraction! I wonder how attractive it will become with BFB.

Tony

[mumofstig]

It doesn't seem to attract the attention of Daisy the Airedale from the plot nextdoor