Author Topic: Preparing winter soil  (Read 1841 times)

Karen Atkinson

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Preparing winter soil
« on: September 18, 2017, 05:48:54 »
I've not been terribly successful this year. Potatoes okay but squash, sweetcorn, garlic were all rubbish. Even my apples and pears didn't do as well as previous years. Brassicas a bit of a failure  too.

So, thinking ahead to next year, how can I best prepare my soui for maximum harvest? Should I be doing something with it over the winter? Will putting black plastic down to inhibit weeds make the soil sickly as no light, air or water? Should I add something to the soil?

ACE

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Re: Preparing winter soil
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2017, 06:42:14 »
The way it has been done for centuries works for me. Dug deep with a spade and left lumpy so the air/frost/and rain can do it's work. I do not winter dig to plant as it gets done again before planting but this time to a fine tilth. You have 3 months to get the rough digging done so no need to break your back unless you are a tidy freak. After midwinter there is a chance of snow which is sometimes called the poor mans compost and it is loaded with nitrates, you need that in the ground so covering with plastic is counter productive and it only stops the weeds from germinating when it cuts the light out. They are still there you have not killed them.  Just think of the calories used up in digging, and award yourself a nice slice of cake for an hours work.

Digeroo

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Re: Preparing winter soil
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2017, 07:11:00 »
What did you use to feed your crops?   

Can you give us details about your soil type? 

« Last Edit: September 18, 2017, 07:12:31 by Digeroo »

Plot22

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Re: Preparing winter soil
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2017, 07:11:33 »
I am lucky in that I have a load of farm yard manure every 2 or 3 years. I only use it under potatoes , pumpkins and courgettes  but with crop rotation the whole site gets it over the 3 years. In my back garden at home I have half a dozen sycamore trees and I always take some of the leaves to the allotment to bin them. In fact I have 2 leaf bins one for this years leaves and one that has 2 year old leaves which my wife uses in her flower beds. Last year I had far too many leaves so rather than burn them I dug a bag for or more in every row that I winter dug on approximately half the allotment. When I dug for setting this year the dug in leaves had been taken by the worms and I have had the best years crops that I have ever had since starting the allotment 10 years ago. It may be the leaves or not but it is a practice that I will repeat this winter.

Plot 18

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Re: Preparing winter soil
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2017, 10:08:29 »
As I remove crops I fork the soil over and remove weeds, I don't do any deep digging at all. Then I spread any manure/compost I have and cover with weed control fabric and let the worms do the work.

I find that the covering means the soil warms up quickly in early spring, which is when I rake in some seaweed meal.
It works for me anyway :)


galina

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Re: Preparing winter soil
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2017, 11:16:25 »
There are of course other reasons than soil why crops don't do as well as expected.  Has shading increased?  Is a newly planted tree or hedge etc taking water and nutrients away?  Timing of sowing/crops?  Weather?  It isn't only the soil.  Unless you never fertilise your soil at all, a decline would be gradual not sudden this year. 

Brassica are high feeders, garlic is often a bit of a hit and miss unless it gets fertilised/watered when the bulbs swell.  It may not all be soil but culture too.

Coming back to soil issues.  Do you know your ph?  If you want to make a fresh start, it may be worth your while to get a soil testing kit that tests for ph and lack of specific nutrients.  You can also get your soil analysed professionally and get recommendations on specific things to add.  Adding organic matter is always beneficial.  You will find out whether you should lime (if too acid) from a ph check. 

A bit of reading matter on the subject:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=239

And a list of which vegetables like to grow in which ph soil:
http://www.gardenersnet.com/atoz/phlevel1.htm

 
« Last Edit: September 18, 2017, 11:29:12 by galina »

Beersmith

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Re: Preparing winter soil
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2017, 11:36:50 »
Sad to hear that you have not had the best of seasons.

What part of the country are you?

In my particular area it has been one of the best seasons for some years. Well above average for most crops. I wonder if a lot of these matters relate to local weather conditions. Late frost hits blossom, high humidity triggering blight, dry spring can mean small seeds struggling to germinate, prolonged wet spells producing ideal conditions for slugs, etc.

Perhaps you did nothing wrong at all and have just been unlucky!

But returning to the subject of soil, I have been increasingly using green manure over winter, partly because it is a good at suppressing weeds but also as a nitrogen fixer for the following year's brassicas. Even types that do not fix nitrogen protect the soil from nutrients leeching out, and add organic matter when dug in early spring time.
Not mad, just out to mulch!

Karen Atkinson

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Re: Preparing winter soil
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2017, 20:59:16 »
Thanks for the replies. Am in NE UK but I can't see weather being the issue as other plots are doing fine. I occasionally feed with a comfrey liquid and blood, fish and bone when I plant stuff up. I'm not great at watering though - which may the issue. All the stuff I put in looked healthy and then kind of gave up.

I just don't think my soil looks great. It's not clay and I don't think it's sandy but it doesn't have that rich dark earthy look to it. I might PH it as posters have suggested. Perhaps I need to add loads of manure...

rowbow

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Re: Preparing winter soil
« Reply #8 on: September 19, 2017, 09:37:12 »
Thanks for the replies. Am in NE UK but I can't see weather being the issue as other plots are doing fine. I occasionally feed with a comfrey liquid and blood, fish and bone when I plant stuff up. I'm not great at watering though - which may the issue. All the stuff I put in looked healthy and then kind of gave up.

I just don't think my soil looks great. It's not clay and I don't think it's sandy but it doesn't have that rich dark earthy look to it. I might PH it as posters have suggested. Perhaps I need to add loads of manure...
Hear in the Charnwood area on the Soar Valley, the soil is very sandy, two spades down you hit gravel, from my plot to the bottom end of the of the allotments the number of pebbles on the top increases, we have to manure every, or every other year to retain the moisture, it's laid on the top and not dug in then let the elements do their thing. I gave my courgettes/ marrow/pumpkins a drink of diluted comfrey tea, I am sure that's what killed them when everyone else's was OK.
Next year I am trying molasses, 2 tablespoons molasses, 1 gallon of water, this adds nutrients to the soil, if you dig too much
you can lose a lot of nutrients.   :BangHead: :coffee2:
John
Spring has arrived I am so excited I have wet my PLANTS

Tee Gee

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Re: Preparing winter soil
« Reply #9 on: September 19, 2017, 14:06:14 »
I'm with Ace 100% on this one.

I started my winter digging programme this morning.

Something Ace didn't mention and I think it is important and that is when you dig at this time of the year the soil is relatively warm so the warm topsoil is buried a 'spit' deep, conversely if you dig in Spring you dig in COLD soil which remains cold for quite some time meaning when you come to plant out new plants they have their toes (young roots) in quite cold soil., which cant be a good thing.

I have practiced this regime based on something I saw over fifty years ago and that was:

When a new 'greenfield' housing estate is built the first thing that is done is to remove the topsoil and stockpile it then place it back on the gardens after the works are completed.

Well this particular year around January time, when we lifted the topsoil it was covered in about 6" of snow but this was no problem for the scrapers they lifted both the topsoil and the snow together.

Now to the point when we dug in to the stockpile some 8-9 months later (late summer/early autumn) the snow was still there, indicating that soil remains cold for months after it has been dug.


OK the pundits sometimes say " leave such and such a task till spring when the soil is warming up" OK it is!  But the warming up is only a few millimeters deep and just warm enough to germinate the weeds seeds. :BangHead:

So the choice is yours!

Plot 18

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Re: Preparing winter soil
« Reply #10 on: September 19, 2017, 14:10:59 »
Quote
if you dig too much
you can lose a lot of nutrients.
Never heard that said before?

 

anything
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