[Snoop]

Does it heat up the soil a lot? I could probably use quite a bit of it throughout the summer too, especially if it reduces the need for watering (I water using watering cans - very laborious!). Melons and squash come to mind as suitable crops, as well as the brassicas,

but why not try mulching instead?

Thanks for the info, BabbyAnn. I've tried mulching, but didn't find it very successful. I've used straw and it gave me a number of problems: absorbed a lot of the water I was hoping would reach the plants; stayed damp and caused fungal problems; encouraged helpers and me to water very near the stem to ensure it got through, meaning water was concentrated in a very small area and plants tended not to develop a decent root structure; and finally it got washed away. I also found it encouraged a thriving insect life - snails and slugs and spiders, including a tarantula that I only just missed putting my hand on when weeding... Rather put me off!  Perhaps I could put down weed membrane and cover with something that might aid temperature problem. Will ponder further on the problem. Thanks.

[devonbarmygardener]

I have two thoughts on brassica beds.
Firstly, if the bed is dug over now, which is what I do most years, there is a whole Autumn, Winter and Spring of rain and pestilence to firm the bed down well enough for the firm bed needs of brassicas come planting in April/May. In my experience, 7 or 8 months of settlement is plenty enough. If the bed still feels too spongy come March, turn it into your favourite pathway for a couple of weeks... that will soon firm it up. The real big thing to avoid is to dig the bed in the Spring a few weeks before planting..

Now if the bed is empty overwinter then I dig it over then, but I also did everything over a few weeks before planting in the spring and I apply granular lime to my brassica beds. I never have a problem growing brassicas.
I have very 'normal' soil though - neither clay, nor sandy - just normal.
But that's what I've always done and I've never had a problem

[Kristen]

I don't find watering with a can difficult - if you pour it on the membrane it runs around on the surface and settles in a low spot, and then drains through eventually. But what I do is to water to the base of each plant, where there is a gap (or an X cut) in the membrane, and then the water goes straight through the gap (and to the base of the plant )

Once the plants have formed a dense canopy then I don't think the membrane will have any further heating effect on the soil, as it will be mostly shaded by the leaves of the crop above it.

[beesrus]

Beesrus, what do you do for your autumn and winter brassicas? Do they go in after something else? In my case, I was thinking of putting some in after broad beans and peas while the others would go in a bed that had not previously been used that season.

that's exactly what I do if I'm planting cabbage like January King, along with PSB ... put into the used up broad bean bed that empties just at the right time, usually the first aquadulce beans that over wintered the year before and usually finish cropping end of June. If there has been no chocolate spot disease on my beans, I chop the stalks off at ground level, leaving the nitrogen rich roots where they are. I ease up any big weeds that have grown among the beans and then hoe the top inch or two, raking in a lot of chicken pellets.
Other Winter brassicas I use like kale are pretty tough and easy to grow in any case, and have a wide period of planting times.

[Snoop]

Thanks again, everyone. This has been a really useful thread for me. I'd never have thought of weed supressant membrane, Kristen, and now I've even found someone driving over to Spain who says they'll bring some for me. So perfect. I reckon that for this year at least, I'll dig up the beds this autumn, work in loads of muck and a bit of ash and let them settle. With any luck, I'll have some membrane by mid spring, so I'll put that down on the unused bed to keep the weeds down at least before planting up and the other bed I'll sow some beans in. What I might then do is try a half and half method of growing some of the brassicas in each bed through membrane and some not and see what happens.

Fantastic help and advice all round. I now have a plan, which is a good start.

[sunshineband]

Lots of information in this thread, and I enjoyed reading it through.

I also have the raised bed/lower path style of plot, and try not to tread on the soil in them. It is alluvial clay and it has taken masses of organic matter and the removal of a small mountain of stones to have something resembling the crumbly soil we would all love to have.

The one exception is when I plant brassicas: I tread the soil firm before planting them in their final positions, as I have found that cabbages do not made solid hearts and cauliflowers and sprouts refuse to perform otherwise, as it is so windy they can rock about in the ground.