The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Bert on June 05, 2013, 08:42:16 am
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What the hell do I do with this? :roflanim:
(http://i1345.photobucket.com/albums/p671/Bertmull/image_zps01e1135e.jpg) (http://s1345.photobucket.com/user/Bertmull/media/image_zps01e1135e.jpg.html)
This is my new veggie garden. As you can see it has been neglected for a while.
Any suggestions welcome, I was thinking napalm :-J
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;D
Can you get hold of a whole lot of farmyard manure, or even old straw? I would cover the beds in a deep layer of one of those, then an occlusive cover over that (black polythene?), well held down, and left for a year. That would mean that by next spring you would have workable soil with easy to dig out perennial roots but those mats of weed would be gone. Because it's already divided up into beds, you can choose one or two to work on this year, but do the same to weaken the weeds while you start at one end.
It looks as if you have rush in there too so you will need to adjust the pH. I don't like beds as it gives places for slugs to hide and allows weeds to creep in or under the boards. I would dig out a footwide area of turf all around the beds and fill the resultant ditch with gravel.
It looks lovely and I'm sure you will make a beautiful veg patch there :garden:
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I feel your pain, my veggie garden was full of nettles, hogweed, wild raspberries and rose bay willowherb when we moved in. i have removed a mountain of weed roots from 4 beds so far and have 2 to go. getting there :)
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Hmmm, they have certainly been neglected. I think FW is absolutely right when she says to cover with manure and black plastic. In the past, I have mucked out my goatshed straight onto raised beds then, in the spring, dug holes which I filled with compost and planted in those. The ground was always very fertile and the weeds were kept down. With the quantity of weeds you have, keeping them covered for a year is the best thing and make sure the layer of compost/manure is very deep.
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My veg garden is a field, the soil is clay. I am learning how to deal with it. Remove turf if possible, well in your case weeds. I am now using old feed bags to surround beds and try to keep some control. Where I did put a good layer of manure last autumn I was pleased to find how busy the worms had been dragging it down and helping to break up the soil. If those beds were mine I'd start by trying to clean up one and feed it well and cover the rest with any material which will kill the weeds. If you can get muck by the trailor load you will not regret it.
Is yours clay as said you have rush, one big mistake I made the first year was digging swimming pools for the veg, no drainage. I now have drainage channels out of the bottom corners of all beds and any trees I plant have deep channels leading downhill, I have to check that I have dug far enough as in some places the run off backs up to the roots and then I dig a longer channel.
Good luck. I am currently digging my new brassica beds, the first trench was pretty good but the one I have nearly finished is mainly clay, I have been removing some and burying the turf(luckily mainly dead due to some good muck) adding lime and then cross my fingers.
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Seaweed, lots of it ;) Or hops from a brewery. Or farm muck. Or all three, covered with plastic or old carpet. By next year it will be brilliant. And dig over the easiest one now so you have something to play with this summer. It looks great to me :thumbsup: . 45 years since I was last on Mull - I'm quite green.
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Thanks everyone :thumbsup: there is a defiant theme to all your answers and I like it. Have started on one bed and have my runner beans,peas,lettuce and cabbage in the bit I have weeded. When I have finished the other half it will have my sprouts, broccoli ,courgette, squash , pumpkin and more lettuce in it. All that will make the bed a nightmare for rotating next year but I don't care, my poor little veg plants have been in small pots for far to long they need a bit of space.
Thanks again and if anyone wants to come and help you are more than welcome ;D
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Now a holiday on Mull is something I would like but I suspect it would be more work than holiday. ::)
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Once your beds are cultivated and manured the soil will loosen and almost fill the raised beds .. you can grow most crops in 6 inches of raised bed laid on a weed proof membrane that breathes .
You might find " The Berkley 18 day hot composting method " ( google it ) very useful to get your compost ready for planting up your over wintering garden .
I've been using it for 18 months and it's far superior to the old stack it high turn it once if your feeling like it and come back in spring .
You can compost anything that has ever been growing as a plant , animal or fish so it leaves you with a massive spectrum too consider.
We not only use garden and kitchen waste we also put in cooked and uncooked meats bones fish etc.
We don't usually put fats in it for they take a bit longer to decompose
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This is what it looks like today. Hopefully you can see a difference :fc:
(http://[IMG]http://i1345.photobucket.com/albums/p671/Bertmull/image_zpsc4fd59e2.jpg)[/img]
(http://i1345.photobucket.com/albums/p671/Bertmull/image_zpsc4fd59e2.jpg)
Not got any manure on the beds yet. That will be happening very soon I hope. I've got my carrot seeds under the cloche, there are tomatoes growing next to all the canes, the other end of the bed is my runner beans and in the middle fighting for space is cabbage, peas, broccoli, sprout, courgette, summer squash, and pumpkin. I nearly forgot there are a few lettuce in there as well ::)
Not a lot of space for any of my plants, but still lots more than the 9cm pots they were all in .
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I've just been informed by the other half ( when he had stopped laughing) that spell check has yet again made me look like a t**t :-[ .
Thanks everyone :thumbsup: there is a defiant theme to all your answers and I like it.
That was supposed to say definite not defiant. Sorry :eyelashes:
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The difference I can see is that one photo was taken in the winter and one in the sumer..... amazing how quickly the summer has arrived. Ten days!!! Miraculous :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:
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Great progress - keep it up :thumbsup:
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What a stunning backdrop to look at.... good luck with the veg plot :thumbsup:
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That's amazing progress :garden: How industrious you are :trophy: Your beans are taller than mine, and they are in the tunnel :o
I agree about the view too. I spend too much time looking at our view, but yours is truly stunning - I would never look away.
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Picking up on something that Fleecewife said, what do rushes signify in the garden. I have loads , does it mean the soil is acid?
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Damp maybe?
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Ha ha that would follow Dojango, i do live in a bit of a bog!
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That looks good Bert,
Rejuvenating a garden that's been reasonably well dug in the last year or so is a dam sight easier than having to carve one out of land that never been bothered with for decades that's for sure .
Did you find any serendipities hiding in the beds?
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Picking up on something that Fleecewife said, what do rushes signify in the garden. I have loads , does it mean the soil is acid?
Acid, damp and poorly drained ie the bog ;D - tends not to have many earthworms unless you lime and drain.
They are starting to appear on the little bit of our land which is clay soil, after the wet years we have had recently. Our tups are eating them :sheep:
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Looks like that you have been very busy ! I guess the odd pause and lean on the shovel to look at the view kept you going and full of enthusiasm ( I wish I knew how to activate the spell check too >:( .
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When you do a reply and go to click on Post, you'll see the spell check near the Post button.
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I think you have done really well (does the OH now how a spade and fork operate - or only if they are placed either side of his dinner plate :roflanim:) and I admire your enthusiasm.
Personally I can understand why the beds became overgrown in the 1st place as with that view to gaze at I don't think I would ever get much work done either, the previous owner must have been more of a daydreamer than a doer maybe ?
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Thanks for all the encouragement :thumbsup:
The view dose get a little distracting at time, it's just something I'm going to have to learn to live with :-J .
It is what I've always wanted, but now I have it, it's all a bit daunting . I will be asking for lots of help and advice.
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You'll soon get used to it - the work not the view. that will be forever changing.
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Been a busy bee then.