[gemando]

I'm in Durham (UK) and it's been wet for months here so whilst I've been able to clear off most of the vegetation and weeds (there's still a bit more to do), I haven't been able to do any digging! It's clay topsoil to about a spades depth with a stiffer clay beneath. Do I just have to wait until the soil dries out a bit and keep weeding it in the meantime? I'll also need to dig in my compost, but I know carrots and possibly parsnips don't like freshly composted ground, so should I just dig the ground over for those and leave it at that?

The images (thumbnails below) should show my plot, my plan and vegetable list (ignore the plum tree; it's already in), which has the earliest planting as rhubarb for this month or next. After that it's march/april onwards. I'd need to double check on the seed packets themselves for the specific varieties but I seem to remember march/april being the earliest. I am planning on spacing out my sowings over the range of months though. The garden planner I used said the last frost date is late April for around here. The space where the rhubarb will grow was double dug over with compost last year but as it will be in there long term I think it's best to redig and add compost this year, double digging again?

This is only my second year so have barely any experience and whilst I've tried to look online I can't find much advice on what to do when the ground is wet. I did want to dig it over this weekend as we're getting a frost next weekend so I wanted to take advantage of that but with the constant rain we've had I'm guessing it's too wet. Although I wasn't sinking much when I was weeding yesterday.

The back half of the plot never got weeded and dug last year (it hadn't been used for at least a few years before that) so that definitely needs doing.

[Yorkie]

I wouldn't worry too much.  It's been incredibly wet and your soil is probably too wet to do much with it for quite some time.

Mine looks like yours and whilst I could do some weeding on it, the soil will cling to the roots, the hoe won't cut the roots off, and it's just not worth the effort.  Particularly if the soil is sticking to your boots - that's an indication that you'll do harm to the soil structure by walking on it.

If you've double dug the rhubarb area once, I'm not sure whether I'd feel the need to do it again if you think you did an OK job to start with.  I'd probably delay planting the rhubarb out until the ground is a little less wet than it is at present - it might be OK in a few weeks though.  Avoid planting out if the ground is frozen or waterlogged, is the main rule of thumb.

The last frost date for us is generally viewed as the end of May.  I'd be surprised if it's earlier for you in Durham.  I don't plant my parsnips until April, and non-hardy plants go in in June, having been started off on windowsills in late April / May (they get too leggy if I start them too soon).  I don't put spuds in until April-ish either (second earlies).  The risk of them coming up and then being nipped by frost there, although I do confess I like to do it on Good Friday for sentimental reasons.

[gemando]

All the weeding I've done recently was one section that was covered in grass, which I half pulled up by hand. Soil was definitely sticking to my wellies; I didn't notice until I went to take them off and there was lots of mud clinging to them! I'll hold off the rest of the weeding then. I doubt much more will grow at the moment anyway.

Might just dig in the compost then to a spades depth, save myself the effort! Rhubarb has always been in that bit and has done well I'm told, and it didn't appear to have been double dug before. I'm not really sure when to get the Rhubarb either. If I get it online it needs to be ordered by the end of January, and I presume they will send it out straight away so I'd have to plant it fairly quickly, but chances are it will still be wet early February. My boyfriends dad (whose garden it is) just said they might be able to get some crowns off a few people they know as he thinks the £5/crown I can get it for online is expensive, but one of them we wouldn't get until July...which he said would be fine for planting in July and harvesting by the following spring/summer? I was under the impression it just gets planted in the autumn/early spring though? I need to go and see what my local garden centres have for sale.

I didn't look into the frost date that much. I think the nearest place it has data for was newcastle, which was April. I can change it if I need to though. April was the earliest I was planning on doing any outside sowing. I was hoping to raise as many things as possible in the greenhouse/conservatory before planting outside, as I discovered last year I'm not very good at differentiating young seedlings verses weeds!

[Christine]

The space where the rhubarb will grow was double dug over with compost last year but as it will be in there long term I think it's best to redig and add compost this year, double digging again?

Nah just dig in some well rotted manure. My rhubarb didn't go in after double digging and it's fine. I'm just up road from you in Northumberland.

This is only my second year so have barely any experience and whilst I've tried to look online I can't find much advice on what to do when the ground is wet. I did want to dig it over this weekend as we're getting a frost next weekend so I wanted to take advantage of that but with the constant rain we've had I'm guessing it's too wet. Although I wasn't sinking much when I was weeding yesterday.

The back half of the plot never got weeded and dug last year (it hadn't been used for at least a few years before that) so that definitely needs doing.

Leave the digging - it's too wet. I'm on clay too and know how you feel. Get yourself looking for well rotted manure or compost and dig that it a couple of weeks before you plant out. Get some of the plot planted and then get along with the uncleared area when you have time and crops growing.

[Yorkie]

I'm not really sure when to get the Rhubarb either. If I get it online it needs to be ordered by the end of January, and I presume they will send it out straight away so I'd have to plant it fairly quickly, but chances are it will still be wet early February. My boyfriends dad (whose garden it is) just said they might be able to get some crowns off a few people they know as he thinks the £5/crown I can get it for online is expensive, but one of them we wouldn't get until July...which he said would be fine for planting in July and harvesting by the following spring/summer? I was under the impression it just gets planted in the autumn/early spring though? I need to go and see what my local garden centres have for sale.

If it's not the right conditions when you receive it, either leave it in the pot it comes in or, if bare rooted, you can bung it in a pot for the time being.  It won't hurt.

I would advise not harvesting the rhubarb in the first year in any event, and only a little in the second year - it needs time to build up the roots, which are the storage organs of the plant.

See the main website for lots of info on growing stuff, including rhubarb
http://www.allotment-garden.org/grow-your-own/rhubarb.php

[gemando]

Thanks Christine. There's two horses renting out my boyfriends parents field so might go on a manure hunt soon. Will just have to find somewhere to store it so it can rot down a bit. Although the horse poo is never collected so might be able to find some rotten bits lying around.

I would advise not harvesting the rhubarb in the first year in any event, and only a little in the second year - it needs time to build up the roots, which are the storage organs of the plant.

That's my plan but I suspect boyfriends parents will just harvest whenever. I did point out to them we'd have to wait a year when we were talking about the crown we might get in July and he thought it would be fine by the spring/Summer which would possibly be less than a year. To be honest, if I'm not paying for it myself I might just leave it up to them. If they won't heed my advice/ the advice of the Internet then that's up to them! Unfortunately they're the sort of people who are always right and know it all...

[Aled]

I am in exactly the same position gemando, just watching the weather and waiting!
Cheers
Aled

[8doubles]

If you can find one a ditch rake/fork is a handy  tool to have as it allows you to dig the top 10cm of soil while standing on a path , stepping stones or planks . 
Not as good as proper digging for deep growing veg but it does fluff the soil up and let it dry up a bit !

http://www.get-digging.co.uk/Crome2.jpg

[azubah]

I have had my allotment for over 20 years and this is the first year I have not got it all dug over ready for the spring. Let's hope for some dry weather and frost... but not too much frost!

[18Forts1999]

I'm also on clay in mid- Derbyshire which is wet and cold. Today I cleared the rest of the Brussels and spread manure all over the bed and will let the worms do the digging. I have had my plot for four years now and apart from the first good dig (which was done by someone else!) I have not dug at all apart from when harvesting. I spread lots of manure in autumn/winter and then compost throughout the year and it seems to work for me. I have also covered three of the  beds this year with tarps. which I am hoping will warm the soil and maybe dry it a bit, although today when looking underneath one I found holes in the soil against the boards and have come to the conclusion that I have created a cosy home for animals- maybe rabbits.

[gremlin]

Hmmm. My usual dilemma at this point with my clay soil  is

a) leave it undug so that any more rain will not soak in,  and runs off or evaporates from the puddles on the surface

b) try and break the soil up into big clods so the air can get into it and dry it out quicker......but then if it rains the water soaks in.

[gemando]

Thanks everyone! I think ive chosen the wrong couple of years to start a veg patch!! Last summer was poor up here.

[New shoot]

Thanks everyone! I think ive chosen the wrong couple of years to start a veg patch!!

It's only early January yet, so it was a shame your first summer was a bit of a damp squib, but nothing to worry about this year yet IMO 

My plot is clay and a sullen wet lump of clay at that with all the rain    I dare not walk on it or even attempt working the soil.  As soon as it dies out, I'll start digging the bits I need first for early crops and the rest will follow when I can.  For big stuff like squash, I may even just do a token effort at clearing the ground where they are actually going in and work out as they grow 

We have had winters like this before when you despair of getting anything done, but plants want to grow and given half a chance, they'll overcome most things 

[Aled]

A bit of dry weather on the horizon, so may be in with a chance during the next few weeks.
Cheers
Aled

[ptarmigan]

I'm on really heavy clay and have raised beds and never dig.  Just spread compost, seaweed, cardboard etc on the plot over winter and it gets dragged down and rotted down by the time I come to sow.   

My problem is its been too wet and horrible here to even get near the plot!