Sunday, March 3rd, 2002
Good three hours work today. The sun was shining, but with no warmth in it yet; a bitter cold wind in from the north west.
Still, spring has sprung, and many of the old lads were in. Lots of news to catch up on - Leslie has done a remarkable job clearing out the old army recruitment caravan which serves as our "hut"; repaired the roof and the window, covered the floor, and cleared years of stacked rubbish. We'll have to remove our muddy boots before going in!
He's also dug over a couple of neglected plots for a couple of the less fit tenants. He's pithily and forcefully bitter - on hearing of Leslie's work, one of the two had answered "You can do the .... you want." Everybody relishes a story of a curmudgeon, and Leslie has to repeat it several times.
Another topic to relish - the price of seed packets. Netto's have them at 28 pence, and that starts us off on a conversational contest. Who will get the last word - the seed packet nobody can beat? Davey does. A packet of Tumbler tomatoes cost him almost £2.50; once home, the packet contained eight seeds. Angry concensus settles on the accepted fact that you could buy a year's supply of tomatoes for that price in Tescos.
And finally, best conversation and longest of all, the history of kids coming in and vandalising plots and sheds, and stealing tools. Lots of old stories chewed over again - but nothing very much recently, apart from the barbed wire repairs to the perimeter fence being torn down the day Brian and Leslie did the job.
Anyway, I tore myself away - and got stuck into forking over the bed for the shallots, and getting them planted. I am impressed with the quality of the soil under the alfalfa green manure I'd sown in September/October. Beautiful, rich, crumbly, with far more worms than uncovered beds - and perfectly moist (by that I really mean dry, compared with other beds). No digging necessary - just a light forking to lift the plant cover and get a new compost heap started. Yes, gentle reader, I am a convert to green manures - but do try different ones to find what works best.
And a bit of "remodelling". I'd cleared several square yards of decrepit compost heap and rubbish last year, to reclaim a wasted corner. But I'd not realised how much of a mound I'd left - so I trimming the top of the path there by about 6 inches, and packed the turves on the new compost heap; it looks respectable now. All it needs is the nasturtiums!
Best bit of the afternoon? Sitting in the Lion and Lamb, ears tingling as circulation returns, and a pint in hand. Well deserved.
Thursday, March 21st, 2002
Weather's been a bit difficult the last few days. Bright and sunny all day; but just as I get home from school, it starts to rain heavily. I've managed three sessions, getting the brassica and potato beds ready.
Now I am no scientist - but I've got eyes to see. I am fascinated to have tried four different ways of preparing/protecting soil over the winter alongside each other - and to go back and read what I'd read back in September!
This is where I have to admit to a little bit of cheating - I used Roundup on one bed. The bottle SAYS that it will kill weeds; that it will biodegrade on contact with the soil; that it will not harm living organisms in the soil. That's not what I've seen!
- Green Manure - in a bed cleared of vegetables
- Weeds - only a light covering; smothered by alfalfa, sown in October and allowed to grow over winter.
- Worms - loads; several per spadeful.
- Heavy weed ridden clods - none; all broken down.
- Soil quality - a beautiful, crumbly tilth, dry enough to plant in immediately.
- Work load - the bed needs to be cleared of perennial weeds early autumn, so heavy work for a new bed; light work for an existing bed; and very light in springtime.
- Plastic Mulch/Cover - light black plastic laid in late September over plot used for potatoes.
- Weeds - lighter growth smothered, but perennial thistles and couch grass only weakened.
- Worms - "enough"; one or two per spadeful.
- Heavy weed ridden clods - several; some breaking down.
- Soil quality - a crumbly tilth, but not as good as under the alfalfa.
- Work load - if you are able to use a thicker mulch cover for a lot longer than 4 months, the work load could possibly be very low; however, when you only have the winter season, it's a lot less work than weedkiller, only slightly less than digging and clearing well in autumn.
- Roundup weedkiller - on two patches, both new to cultivation, one dug over in spring, the other "virgin". Weedkiller applied in September, weeds "killed", then dug over.
- Weeds - the smaller weeds gone; but the tougher growth of thistles and couch grass recovering fast.
- Worms - one, in digging 5 square metres. More worms around the edges - possibly starting to recolonise from unaffected areas?
- Heavy weed ridden clods - loads. Thriving couch grass root mats - lots, and already springing healthily into life. From a 10 square yard area, I'd to lift 6 barrow loads.
- Soil quality - cold, wet, sticky, clay-ey clods.
- Work load - medium (spraying and digging over) in autumn. Very heavy in spring - nearly 5 hours on the same 10 square yard area. Added to that, pulling out couch grass roots from a cold, sticky, wet soil in a cold easterly wind is . (deletive expleted).
- Horse manure + digging in autumn - manure applied as a mulch in spring, and in October (same time as weedkiller plots) dug over.
- Weeds - looked very similar to the weedkiller plots, on the surface.
- Worms - loads; several per spadeful.
- Heavy weed ridden clods - a few, but obviously rotting well (1.5 barrow loads of "undigested" from a 10 square yard area).
- Soil quality - a good tilth, almost as good as under the green manure; it was much better last year, with horse manure applied in the autumn.
- Work load - medium in autumn. Only one hour and a half on a 10 square yard area in spring.
I don't care what the bottles or the books say. I could understand using a weedkiller as a shortcut, IF it really did work better, and IF it actually saved me work. But when the trade-off between my principles and "practicality" means hours of unnecessary grubbing around in cold, wet, muddy soil, with bare fingers, on a cold March evening, - well, I have several suggestions as to where the producers may put their weedkillers!
For a new bed, digging and adding horse-manure in spring, and turning over in autumn gave me the best results (not as good as digging and cleaning, then mulching with horse manure - what I did last year).
For existing beds, clearing, sowing green manure, and a light forking over in spring, gave me the best spring soil, a load of compost for the heap, for a minimum of work.
Tuesday, March 26th, 2002
Beautiful weather yesterday and today - got the Pentland Javelins earlies in, with a lot of help from the children. Tamanna had cut her mum's lawn, so we had grass-cuttings for the bottom of the trench. I know I'm supposed to earth them up gradually over the season, but it's never seemed to be a problem earthing them all up at once with compost and soil.
And I've got the onion sets in as well. What a world of difference preparing that bed - 30 minutes forking over, compared to the several hours on each bed last week.
Almost all the plot holders have been back in since Sunday - signs of digging and clearing all over the place, and we're all catching up on news. Particularly good to see Karl back - he's in his eighties, and far and away the best gardener of all of us. Infuriatingly good, for what appears to be a minimum of work!
There I am breaking my back, turning over the potato beds; every square yard dug, I'd have to stop and straighten up. Glance over, and I'd see Karl, (still?) leaning on his spade, passing his hand across his head under his flat cap. But he's managed to get several yards dug since my last glance! My tiny square looks puny. Never any effort, or sign of speed, but he goes through his plot like a knife through butter. And all I ever see, is him leaning on his spade! Good luck to him.