So one of the absolute perks of my new job is the fact that I
have money now and can actually afford to budget a set amount each month for
the allotment. It’s not lots but it’s enough to get me enough to work with or
on for a few weeks. I have been buying lots of wood to build up the depth of my
raised beds – Plot 31 floods quite bad and it is on clay, so I really need to
be growing well above the water table.
I amused myself by building up my two largest beds. They are
both 6ft square – this was done purely so I didn’t have to cut wood shorter – I
am lazy. The first bed has had two new courses of gravel boards atop the
current one (which is basically sunken into the ground, so none existent) and
the other bed had one new course, but I then painted the first course to match.
These beds are now 6ft square and about 12” deep.
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| Ta-dah! |
The plan for them now is to line the bottom with cardboard -
this will suppress weed growth by blocking out light, and also gives the
wormies something to munch on, - and then fill them with compost, dirt and chicken
poop. I have been reading a lot about No Dig Gardening, inspired by Sharpen Your Spades on Instagram – I am very jealous of his soil condition!! These two
large beds are going to be both my no dig trial, and my Square Foot Gardening
trial beds.
So for no dig, you basically… don’t dig. I spend a lot of
time every winter digging, turning, breaking up and weeding all of my beds. It takes
ages and it knackers me out and does my back in. It also seemingly hasn’t done
much to improve the soil. Over the years I have tried digging in compost, ‘soil
improver’ (weed seed city), and sand to improve drainage. None of it has
worked. The plan is that I can get enough compost from a variety of sources to
fill these huge beds mostly to the top (about 1-2” shy of the top) and then
each year I can just add new, fresh compost to the top and let the worms and
beetles and other small critterbugs do the job of turning it over and aerating
it.
For the square foot gardening I am going to mark the top
edges of the gravel boards every 12” or so, then lay some twine across and pin
it in place to make a grid of 6 x 6 squares on both beds. I will then plant
crops within these squares, quite tightly packed, which will maximise my use of
space, reduce weed growing areas, remove the need to hoe, and hopefully make
for a very productive small space. I am going to grow things like carrots,
parsnip, radish, beetroot, chard, spring onion, lettuce, and then maybe a
courgette in the centre 4 squares surrounded by marigolds, because pretty!
The next task is finding enough compost (and money!) to
fill both beds…………………………………
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| "I know there's food in here somewhere, hooman!" |
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| My first queen bumble of the year - a tree bumblebee |
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| Blue tit |
