Soil & Compost
No very clear dividing line can be drawn between a “manure” and a “fertiliser”. Broadly speaking the term “manure” is used by gardeners to denote the bulkier soil foods of organic origin, such as dung, leaf mould, compost, spent hops, etc; while “fertiliser” is taken to denote more concentrated forms of inorganic food such as Sulphates and Phosphates.
It may be well to consider why it is necessary to apply manures and fertilisers to the soil... read more
Best time to start? Definitely autumn or early winter - give yourself plenty time to clear and prepare beds for the new growing season.
Know your soil... The simplest test is to pick up a handful, and press it into a ball.
If the ball simply falls apart in your hand, you have a light sandy soil, which will warm up fast but drain fast; easy to work, it will need organic matter (manure) to help the soil hold water and nutrients better.
If the ball holds its shape and sticks together, you have a heavy clay-type soil, which will not drain easily. This will be slow to warm up; hard to work, but full of good plant nutrients.
Make the nutrients available by adding organic matter (manure) to increase the air in the soil and help drainage; a good soil is somewhere in between these two, with a good balance between sand (helping drainage), and clay (holding nutrients in the soil).
Adding manure and compost can alter the acidity of your soil - it is a good investment to do a pH test, even with a cheap kit from a garden centre.
Add lime to bring your soil back to a healthy level for your plants - it's best to add lime just before you plant brassicas, as it also helps controls club-root.
Green Manure Don't leave patches of bare soil for weeds to take over... Try a few of the green manures available, early September is the best time to sow green manures.
Unless you have heavy clay soils or intend to spread manure on your plot, you don't need to dig over your plot in the autumn but follow the last of a crop with a green manure.
Green manure will hold onto soil fertility that would otherwise leach out by the winter rains. In fact, sowing green manure such as Winter Tares will also fix nitrogen from the air.
Green Manures suppress weeds so you have less work to do... They also help improve the soil structure. In the spring, you just need to dig over and allow them to rot down for a few weeks.
Green Manures are a very easy way of maintaining soil fertility and a healthy soil structure and well worth experimenting with and available from King Seeds.
Comfrey (best to get the variety Bocking 14, which will not self-seed and become a weed); is excellent in compost, and as a green manure.
Fill a bucket with comfrey leaves (or nettles), cover with water, and leave to stew for a few days.
The foul-smelling liquid makes an excellent plant food. Leave it for 2 to 4 weeks, and you will have a very potent concentration which should be diluted with at least 10 parts water.
One of the best green manures for winter growth is Hungarian grazing rye. It continues to grow slowly, in cold weather and should be around 15" tall by the spring from an early September sowing.
Not only will you have a lush mass of foliage but it also produces a mass of roots that will provide humus for bacterial breakdown.
It may be well to consider why it is necessary to apply manures and fertilisers to the soil... read more
Best time to start? Definitely autumn or early winter - give yourself plenty time to clear and prepare beds for the new growing season.
Know your soil... The simplest test is to pick up a handful, and press it into a ball.
If the ball simply falls apart in your hand, you have a light sandy soil, which will warm up fast but drain fast; easy to work, it will need organic matter (manure) to help the soil hold water and nutrients better.
If the ball holds its shape and sticks together, you have a heavy clay-type soil, which will not drain easily. This will be slow to warm up; hard to work, but full of good plant nutrients.
Make the nutrients available by adding organic matter (manure) to increase the air in the soil and help drainage; a good soil is somewhere in between these two, with a good balance between sand (helping drainage), and clay (holding nutrients in the soil).
Adding manure and compost can alter the acidity of your soil - it is a good investment to do a pH test, even with a cheap kit from a garden centre.
Add lime to bring your soil back to a healthy level for your plants - it's best to add lime just before you plant brassicas, as it also helps controls club-root.
Green Manure Don't leave patches of bare soil for weeds to take over... Try a few of the green manures available, early September is the best time to sow green manures.
Unless you have heavy clay soils or intend to spread manure on your plot, you don't need to dig over your plot in the autumn but follow the last of a crop with a green manure.
Green manure will hold onto soil fertility that would otherwise leach out by the winter rains. In fact, sowing green manure such as Winter Tares will also fix nitrogen from the air.
Green Manures suppress weeds so you have less work to do... They also help improve the soil structure. In the spring, you just need to dig over and allow them to rot down for a few weeks.
Green Manures are a very easy way of maintaining soil fertility and a healthy soil structure and well worth experimenting with and available from King Seeds.
Comfrey (best to get the variety Bocking 14, which will not self-seed and become a weed); is excellent in compost, and as a green manure.
Fill a bucket with comfrey leaves (or nettles), cover with water, and leave to stew for a few days.
The foul-smelling liquid makes an excellent plant food. Leave it for 2 to 4 weeks, and you will have a very potent concentration which should be diluted with at least 10 parts water.
One of the best green manures for winter growth is Hungarian grazing rye. It continues to grow slowly, in cold weather and should be around 15" tall by the spring from an early September sowing.
Not only will you have a lush mass of foliage but it also produces a mass of roots that will provide humus for bacterial breakdown.
| |||