Topic: best way to improve my poor soil, now I've dug it?

[anthea]

Hello all
I wonder if anyone can give me advice about best next steps towards improving my soil and keeping relatively weed-free until next spring?

I got my half-allotment in April, and obsessively dug the less-weedy and partly covered half until it was clear enough to plant seeds. The crops haven't been very healthy and it seems that the soil, though quite clayey, has been overworked and underfed.

The other half of my half allotment was covered with dock, bindweed and couch grass and I've been even more obsessively digging that, excavating roots, and now it's nearly clear.

I don't aim to grow anything over the winter, I'd prefer to improve the soil, but hope not to let too many weeds grow back while I'm doing that.

Can anyone suggest please, what next?

Some options I've considered, but don't know how realistic, are
(1) Horse manure (I have access to some, but it's fresh). One book I've read says fresh manure is fine, if you spread it on, cover it with straw (I'd have to buy some) and just leave it. But everyone else seems to say the manure should be well-rotted. Any views on that please? (Or I could spend more time searching for rotted manure).

(2) Other option I'm pondering is green manure. Should I do that right now, leave the horse manure to rot, dig in green manure in a couple of months and spread horse manure then, when it's a bit older? would  that make sense or would it be overkill?

(3) Also not clear about covering the soil. Attractive idea, because of keeping weeds from re-growing, but would I cover it after spreading horse manure, and if I do, will the soil still get same chance to improve?

[cambourne7]

I am adding spent hops to my beds along with horse manure and thats about all.

[dtw]

I would make a heap out of the horse manure, as there is quite a while before the next planting season.
You can spread it and dig it in then.
One of the reasons for rotting it down beforehand is that and seeds eaten by the horse
that aren't killed by the digestive process will germinate and (usually) you will get a lovely
lush grassy plot. :o
The high temperatures in the heap will kill off any seedlings that do germinate.
Make sure you cover the heap in plastic.

Cover your ground with weed suppressant plastic, the one with the tiny holes in.
Or, if you don't mind hoeing, give it a going over every few weeks as and when the seedlings appear.
Make sure you hoe them in before they go to seed, otherwise it will get a whole lot worse.  :'(
The seedlings can be mixed in with the soil and they will rot.

[Bill Door]

Hmmm!  the big question.  Don't put the Horse manure on yet.  Let it rot down and get rid of those weed seeds.

I have had a piece of fallow ground and i have just broadcast Hungarian Rye Grass as a green manure.   Put down plenty of seeds.  rake that in, then get a few winter lettuce seeds and some beetroot  and may be a few pak choi seeds and spread them around and again rake then in as well.  Give it all a good soaking three times a week (if using watering can this means you don't have to do any other exercise for a few weeks) until they germinate.  If you get any Pak choi, lettuce or beetroot you have a nice little catch crop.  If not it might germinate some time later.

Don't let the rye grass get too big and try to dig it in in the spring.  You might have to chop it down if it is too wet to dig, but just let it lie and dig it in as soon as you can.

As far as the horse manure is concerned see if you can collect a few bags of cut grass from the council open areas and add that to the pile.  Spent mushroom compost is good to add as well.  Keep mixing the pile every couple of months.

Rough sand will also help break up clay soil. spread a bag thinly over the ground and then dig it over.  If it is already dug then just broadcast the sand.

Regards  Bill door

[Robert_Brenchley]

leave the nuts to rot, plant anything you can; overwintering onions, garlic, etc, and put green manure on any remaining ground. If you really look at what you can plant, I suspect there may not be any space for it!

[saddad]

2) isn't possible... green manure or cover everything, although the catch crop concept appeals...
 ;D

[kt.]

You can buy supplements of potash and nitrogen etc. You could mix this together with a multipurpose compost then spread thinly over the top surface. Let the rain wash it in. You would still need to hoe weekly to suppress unwanted growth  though.

As for the manure: Spread it thinly where you intend to plant spuds or require acidic soil. Dig it in and it will decompose over the winter. It won't matter about being fresh, as you said you were not going to plant till next year anyway so it has 6 months or so to work its way into the ground.

[anthea]

Thanks very much to all of you who've replied ... now I'm pondering... 

Yesterday morning, before reading your responses, I ordered some mustard seed and phacelia seed, thinking I'd grow those for the next 2 months, then decide what next.

I'll take note of the warning that fresh manure risks a fresh crop of grass, which I definitely would find disheartening, so I'll keep searching for more horse manure, add any cut grass, a bit of mushroom compost and pile it up and cover it, as you suggest.

If I'm not spreading the horse manure until spring, I'll think again about my choice of green manure. About rye, is there anything that makes you favour rye over phacelia? I took the phacelia idea from another thread on this website.

Following up the suggestion about spreading manure thinly now, where I plan to plant spuds - is this a better option for spuds than spreading the manure in the spring when it's rotted?

I like the idea of the catch crops, but having yesterday given up with waiting for my beetroots to grow any more (I sewed them in May) I pulled them up and found the biggest no larger than a standard pickled onion. My onions were shallot size! So I've concluded the soil is too poor to grow almost anything, and think I'll save the catch crop idea until next year.
Thanks very much, it's really heartening to get all this advice.
Anthea

[kt.]

Following up the suggestion about spreading manure thinly now, where I plan to plant spuds - is this a better option for spuds than spreading the manure in the spring when it's rotted?

It won't do any harm if you are adding manure for spuds in spring. Any compost you add now will work its way into the ground to give it a better head start when you do eventually get to sow in the spring. Its fine. ;)

[Eristic]

I was going to wade in with my opinions about the futility of green manure, leaving land fallow and the misconceptions about horse manure but I've discussed the latter at great length and the two former may be better topics for a heated winter debate. However I should point out that the manure at most riding stables should already be 3-4 months old at this time of the year provided you scuff off the fresh from the front and top of the pile.

I spent a happy holiday Monday hauling in sufficient manure to last me for the whole of September. As I now have 15 pole to support it may be necessary to increase my monthly fix to 3 or even 4 bags a month next year.