Yet another vegetable garden post.
Well we had an old overgrown pile of fym and number one son gave it a shake with a digger and left me with a pile of stones, weeds and very well composted dung that I thought would be perfecto for filling big pots/baths/fish boxes,,,, and my potato growing bags.
After all I have watched enough archaeology programmes like Time Team "anyone for a badger pasty and a bottle of Scrumpy?"
Oh and there is the one's with Alice Roberts in it, Is it Britains Biggest Dig or something? I know how to sieve stuff and make lovely friable soil. Alice is like me she likes Heavy Rock music, likes digging and sups fine ales. Well I do when I go to Blighty. Alice is also a lot more clever than myself. Who isn't?
Not a work of art: The Gardener lost his gloves but finds his yellow wellies!" I took off my gloves to take the photo.
I have started filling those potato growing bags which I bought at a carboot sale last year, remember? Eight inches of lovely friable compost. Must go to my German garden centre and beer providers and supermarket and look for some seed potatoes to grow in the polytunnel with the torn plastic cover.
Have you planted any 'indoor' spudatoes yet? Another vegetable gardening post soon.
Joke: Did you hear about the Greenkeeper who use to pour whisky on his golf greens so his grass came up half cut!🤔
Friable soil? What the hell do you want to fry soil for? I would happily fry eggs and bacon but I would never consider frying soil. I must admit that the soil in the barrow looks lovely. Our soil has too much clay content.
ReplyDeleteHar Har Har, fried soil. We have that in Australia every summer.
DeleteOur soil is also very heavy YP. They are slow to warm up but at least they keep the nutrients more than sandy soils do. You just have to make the best out of a bad job and try to improve the soil structure every year. A few dry weeks would help enormously but it's a very mild and wet climate over here in Ireland.
ReplyDeleteF used to try and sieve soil here but it was like pushing putty through a hairnet - or it had set so hard you could only slice it up with a sharp shovel. Heavy clay here too and you are right, we can only endeavour to improve soil structure with lots of organic matter.
ReplyDeleteHi Tigger. Yes you can only sieve soil when you have dry conditions. A lot of veg growers go for raised beds to improve the drainage and they warm up quicker. When I had my allotments in Blighty I once made a raised carrot and parsnip bed out of 2×2 paving slabs stood on end and filled with sieved river sand (builders sand can have salt in it) and sieved topsoil. My wife's carrots and parsnips were whoppers like horticultural show exhibits.
ReplyDeleteP was sieving soil during the summer months. He got some good soil for growing and also a good pile of small stones to add to the gravel drive that is constantly being washed away in the heavy rain. Two birds with one stone.
ReplyDeleteGravel drives can be a gardeners nightmare JayCee. They wash away and soon become full of weeds. I don't like using weedkillers and my drive is full of grass and some weeds but I can live with it. It's the countryside after all. It would be great to get it tarmaced but that can cost an arm and a leg or kings ransom. The old estate gardeners of long ago use to sieve mole hills soil and use it for potting compost. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteFunny joke :) I planted my sprouting potato in too much soil and didn't leave enough space for topping up as the stems grow, but it isn't a proper seed potato, so even if I only get a few spuds I'll be happy. I might try proper potato bags next year.
ReplyDeleteI have planted ordinary shop bought potatoes and got a decent crop from them River. Potato bags are very good some people even use old tyres stacked on top of each other and fill them with soil.
ReplyDeleteI tried the tyres once when I had a decent sized garden, they got too hot in our Australian summer but I did get a great crop from the compost heap which was under the shade of a tree.
ReplyDeleteHot climates do make things difficult to grow vegetables River. I went to England in August and a lot of allotments and lawns were burnt up. 33 degrees was too hot.
ReplyDelete