| Author |
Message |
nigel
Moderator
Joined: 13 Apr 2005
Posts: 2418
Location: Skåne, Sweden
|
 Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:22 pm Post subject: Why oh why.. |
 |
|
I've started work on the veggie beds and I really wanted to do it properly, so I've been marking out 15' by 30' beds and double digging them. It takes me 3-4 days each and I need a rest in between. I have literally lost half a stone in the last two weeks (OK i had got fatter over the winter). The ground hasn't been dug or ploughed in years and has had horses running on it and poaching the ground, it's so compacted it's like bricks in places.
I keep thinking I should relent and just run a rotovator over the whole thing but I know that doing it by hand allows me to weed as I dig and is how it should be done.
| Quote: | | One years seeds is seven years weeds |
Is what an old gaffer used to tell me when I worked in garden centers. I just keep telling myself I'll benefit in the long run. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
CP
Moderator
Joined: 13 Apr 2005
Posts: 15436
Location: Hampshire
|
| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:27 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Keeps you fit Nigel!  
Just think how satifying it will be when it's all finished. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
fairislefaerie
Joined: 12 Mar 2007
Posts: 542
|
| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:27 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Nigel
My veg garden is equal to 2 acre's...
But I cheat where i can & use the wee tractor & plough ha !
But, i still have over 1/2 an acre which has to be hand dug & I always double trench to do a good job of it.
Angela |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
nigel
Moderator
Joined: 13 Apr 2005
Posts: 2418
Location: Skåne, Sweden
|
| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 2:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| fairislefaerie wrote: | Nigel
My veg garden is equal to 2 acre's...
But I cheat where i can & use the wee tractor & plough ha !
But, i still have over 1/2 an acre which has to be hand dug & I always double trench to do a good job of it.
Angela |
you must be as fit as an ox  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
kated
Joined: 01 Nov 2006
Posts: 1844
Location: norfolk
|
| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 2:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Come the autumn, cover your soil with layers of newspaper, as much as you can get. Water the newspaper liberally and then cover it with compost and chicken manure (you do make lots of compost don't you?)
Voila, your new garden will not need much if anything to get it up and running in the spring.
Kated |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tony Sirett
Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Posts: 997
Location: Carlton-in-Lindrick
|
| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:44 pm Post subject: |
|
|
 not able to do any digging at all, which is why i am on very friendly terms with a tyre place down the road, have over 200 tyres in the back garden and made raised veg beds out of them, have got potatos, carrots parsnips, peas, radishes, letuce, strawberries, runner beans oh and some tomatoes in the green house but again in tyres |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mcleod-girls
Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Posts: 1345
Location: Banff, Aberdeenshire
|
| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 6:12 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I thought there was some nasty that leached out of tyres? I'm with you on the raised bed system though, with lots of chicken manure ... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Register
Log in
