[Bignij]

Newbie ramblings.

Clearing the plot.
I’ve cleared a small section, just so I could grow ‘something’ this year. About a quarter of the plot has been hand dug. I’ve now got small amounts of :- Beetroot, Carrots, Leeks, Peas, Potatoes, Dwarf Beans, Radish, Spring cabbage, Lettuce and some Celeriac that one of my neighbours gave me. Haven’t got a clue what to do with that.  I’m going ‘chemical’ for the rest and I’ve sprayed with Round Up and will cover with tarpaulins and then rotovate. Best way to dig the ‘Virgin’ ground? I’ve tried 2 methods and will wait and see which is the most effective.
Method 1. Dig with fork. Play a type of ‘Sod, keep it uppy’ on the fork until all the soil has gone and you’re left with a mat of couch grass roots, moss and other stuff. This resembles something that Bruce Forsyth would wear on his head. (Sorry Brucie.) Dig over again just to pick up any remaining roots that you may have missed first time. Finally run over with tiller and rake. Leaves soil looking very good.
Method 2. Dig with spade and turn over sod. Chop a few times in situ and leave, pulling out any exposed roots. Dig over again and remove any roots, undesirables etc etc. Again finish off with tiller and rake.
Pros and cons. (In my opinion.)
Method 1 is painfully slow, back breaking work but, and this is purely my instinct, I feel there will be less grow back, so soil is more user friendly earlier.
Method 2 is less work and quicker but I suspect there will be couch grass re-emerging for some while. I’ve applied some of my long forgotten science lessons to the above. I.e It takes a certain amount of energy to get the couch grass out of the ground. Do you put it all in at once? Method 1? Or spread it about a bit, Method 2. Also in Method 2‘s favour is the fact that couch grass is much easier to pull out of ground that has been ‘worked’ a couple of times.
One tip for newbie’s. Before going to your plot and working yourself to a standstill. Make a little list of priorities and what you want to achieve, and STICK to it. When you can see the work stretching for eons in front of you, it’s easy to bit and bob at loads of jobs and achieve nothing. Concentrate on one job at a time and finish it. Then you will see definite steady progress. And finally whatever time scale you put to a job, double it and you won’t be far away.
Random thought that occurred to me yesterday. What did they call House Martins before we had houses? :shock:

[senrab_nhoj]

I did method 2 leaving out the dig over again until the whole plot was dug and then I created my lazy beds....

I got most of the bindweed out that way bar the very end... but that was dug over late in day when it was hailing and I probably didn't do a thorough job as I could have....

... I aimed to do the plot in 6' sections if it was long stint, rewarding with a sandwich or a beer.... or if I had say 20 mins I'd say I would only get one row (4") dug.. and its amazing how that turned into 3 or four rows in  

[Bignij]

one row (4") dug..

What distance constitutes a row? Is it an objective measure?
I was going on a spade's blade depth for one row. No blooming wonder it's hard. :shock:

[gobs]

one row (4") dug..

What distance constitutes a row? Is it an objective measure?
I was going on a spade's blade depth for one row. No blooming wonder it's hard. :shock:

Don't think so, but it's rather long than wide or deep. My height is 3 row 2 spade.

Cave Martin? :?

[Bignij]

I'm sticking with method one despite all the hard work.
Folk keep giving me stuff. :shock:
'Cos I'm such a tight person, I can't say no. So I have to dig some more ground out clear to plant it. Bloke came up with some more leeks, french beans and celeriac today. No idea what to do with the celeriac. :roll:  I cleared another 6 foot and bunged 'em in.
Went out the door yesterday morning, 3.50am, there's a bag of foot high tomato plants on the doorstep. So I had to clear out my 'conservatory'. (see my 'Welcome' thread.) and put them in. So after all the waffling. what I'm really asking is?
What do you do with Celeriac?
And the tomato plants are about a foot to 18" high, a couple of them have flowers, don't know what variety they are. Do I leave the flowers or remove them and hope the plant grows bigger?

[DD.]

Celeriac - 18" between rows, 12" between plants. Keep well watered.

Don't you dare rip the flowers off the toms!

[jacnal]

Don't you dare rip the flowers off the toms!

LMAO   . Don't you dare, each flower gives rise to a tomato if all goes well!

[compostqueen]

I love celeriac but til I had my own plot I'd never even heard of it. It's always first on my list now.  I like to make a creamy soup with the celeriac, smoked bacon and field mushrooms, stir the cream in before serving with a bit of the leafy top  

The tops are full of flavour but don't overdo them  

[Bignij]

Cheers everyone.
Oh and one more thing. I've got a mole. More of him later. I'm off to bed.

[woodburner]

I use method one exclusively theses days BUT only after months under sheet mulch.

[Bignij]

I use method one exclusively theses days BUT only after months under sheet mulch.

That's the next step, but to a more current problem.
Everything appears to be growing, despite Moley's best efforts. Here comes the first problem, again I've looked in the search but cannot find anything definitive. I fear I've sowed all my seeds too close together I don't know if it's 'cos I've got fingers like Wall's pork sausages or just didn't follow the instructions properly. :?
Can your plants be too close together to thin them out effectively?
Or do you just let them grow a bit larger so they can stand a bit more disturbance? :roll:

[Bignij]

No answers, never mind.  :shock:
Further to previous posts, the Couch grass has returned and you can see the difference  on the ground between methods 1 and 2. Method 1 is definitely best despite the work. I've now got  Couch grass growing in the stuff I've planted and it's difficult to get it out without disturbibg the other stuff.  In the method 1 areas, there is hardly any growback and that was dug before the Method 2 areas. Are you still with me? Good.
I've got a neighbour. Their plot was similar to mine they've strimmed it down and rotovated, no weedkiller, nowt. And as yet no covering. :shock:  I sincerely hope they know what they're doing.
When I posted that a 1/4 of the plot was dug, that was over optimistic. Now there's about a 1/4 dug.
I'll try to get some more photos tomorrow as I know you like a good gawp.

[DD.]

Apologies Bignij, must have missed your question amongst the miriad of others. May I ask what seed they are that you are thinning. I don't have fingers, but 5 thumbs, you just pull out what you do want until one stays in! Doesn't matter if it's 1/2" further on, than recommended!

And yes, I think your neighbour will regret the actions unless he snuck some Roundup on then when you weren't looking, or he keeps up the rotavation.

[Bignij]

Beetroot, Radish and Carrot, I think,  I've bunged that much in. I'm praying for an Indian summer. :roll:

[DD.]

Ah!

Despite what the books say, I don't thin these. I try - I said "try" to sow fairly thinly.

I pull beetroot when they are just over golf ball size and don't let them get any bigger. I find that in this case they will tolerate pushing themselves to one side as they grow. Ditto with the radish.

I don't like thinning carrots also, but in this case it's more a question of attracting the carrot fly, thinning will release the carrot smell. I have a barrier up, but the more you attract, the more likely one's likely to creep in through that gap I've missed!

Just do you best if you have to thin - I'm sure the odd one or two will stay put!