The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Smalltime on March 08, 2012, 07:36:16 pm
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Recently moved house. The raised beds (wooden surround) in the garden have not been used for a few years and I have turned one of them over and the soil is good. Full of worms , no insects really and dark - must have been fed once as the soil up here is normally chalky down.
Weeds and a light sprinkling of grass is covering the rest of them. Can I just turn them over, pull out random weed roots as I go along and then go ahead planting or is that going to cause massive problems later on? Do i need to weedkill the bed before using it or turning in manure etc... ?
No-one else to ask so any help much appreciated. :thumbsup:
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You may find perennials in ther like couch or ground elder. Difficult to get the last of it dug out. I'd take the easy route and weedkill some and dig over others and See how it goes. I was always told to wait a year in a new house before doing anything but never had the patience ::) ;)
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i think what you describe as good soil, is probably just that, a healthy worm population and good colour and text ure would be what your looking for. maybe do a ph test just to see. whilst it wont tell you what nutrients are in it, it will give you an indication of what to do next.
lift the grass and weeds as you go, ive never used weedkiller.
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I wouldn't use weedkiller either but if you are not intending to be an organic grower then you could do that.
The main point of raised beds is to do away with the need for digging (as well as creating a decent thickness of soil on your chalky ground). You will need to dig to remove the weed roots, but not to turn in manure - you have a healthy population of earthworms and this is what they do, turning in rotting plant matter and drawing it deep into the soil, whilst aerating the soil too. Plants need nutrients and oxygen and the earthworms get both to where they are needed, down at the roots. Earthworms also improve the natural structure of the soil by making it crumbly (soil passes through their bodies and picks up mucus on its way and it is this which helps with the crumbly structure) So use a mulch, once you have got rid of the weeds. By mulch I mean a thick layer of well-rotted farmyard manure or compost. Use compost on beds where you intend to sow carrots and other roots which will fork (ie the roots will divide into several smaller roots, which are not so easy to prepare, although just as edible) in manure, and use a thick mulch of FYM for greedy feeders. The mulch will also protect the soil surface from erosion by heavy rainfall.
When you are digging out the weeds, keep your eyes open for slugs and slug eggs (like tiny clear marbles, in groups of 20-30), especially against the wood edging. These are likely to have increased in numbers since the last gardener worked your beds so could do a lot of damage to your new seedlings.
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Great, thanks everyone. Will dig them out and do as suggested (no weedkiller). Thanks for the info. regarding manure/ compost as well. Glad you mentioned it as i did not know root vegetables would fork in manure and I am off out to find a stables that will let me shovel some...erm...manure... this morning to bring back for the garden :D
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If you have hens you could fold them over your beds and let them do all the work for you. Just a basic run of posts and chicken wire with a shelter from sun and rain and put them back in their house at night.