I have only had my allotment for a few weeks. A big thank you to everyone who giave me encouragement when I first joined this web site.
I am now getting to grips with the soil. When it is dry it is like concrete. When it is wet it is claggy and sticky and smells. Two days after the rain for a couple of hours it is nice to dig. Only you can be sure that I cannot get down to the allotment at that time.
Once it is dug it then dries out, and once it is wet again it is possible to dig it. Only I am having problems finding enough time and energy to dig it once let alone several times.
However the broad beans that I put in on the first day when I just managed to dig a very small patch are looking extremely bonny. They are just sprouting and I just threw them into the ground which I had mixed with a bit of manure. Other people on the site are very impressed.
I have been digging strips about 3/4 metre across in which I put two or three rows of things, and then leave about 1/3 metre for a path.
Meanwhile I have spent so long on the lotties that my garden is getting over grown. The forget me not is on a take over bid. But the carrots are doing well, there not many place on the lottie to grown carrots, it is either too hard, to stoney, too claggy so I have got loads of them in the garden.
I must say I am really enjoying the social side of allotmenting. The other site holders are all lovely. It is fascinating to see all the different techniques. And I love reading all the comments on this web site.
hehe good fun aint it. Ive been at it for a few weeks now. Its slow going..especially when you get chatting. Ive been down there today for 5 hours, only spent half of that actually doing anything :o apart from chatting hehe, although I did aquire a tray of beetroot and cauliflowers ready to transfer into bigger pots so not a lost day ;D
You've just described the "joy" of gardening on clay so perfectly.
A tip one of the guys on my site gave me was that when I was digging / weeding a new patch to cover it up after I'd finished for the day, that way it would help to keep some of the moisture in.
But pleased to hear your enjoying yourself so much. Friends who grow stuff at home always like to pop up and see me, but mostly so they can have a good wander around the site to see how everyone else grows their stuff, and to get ideas!
Quoteand smells.
This intrigues me ???
What does it smell of/like?
The previouys occupant of the site was a large pig. She is soon to give birth again but over the other side of the field, half of whcih are now veggie plots.
There was a large water butt on the site and watching the pigs now they drink copiously and then almost immediately wee.
When it is wet the pigs churn up the soil very badly so there are patches of a solid green clay layer which I think is solidified pigs pee mud. So when it is wet the soil basically smells of pig. It is not unlike rotting seaweed. The up side is that everything is growing like crazy.
So when I took over the site there was a mselly muddy lake, a very pile of straw about a metre high. Huge tractor tyre marks and a nasty smell. ::) ::)
Well fertilised then!! ::) ;D
Thanks for the reply, what went through my mind was that you had obtained a plot that may have been a factory site, and that possibly they had dumped some toxic substances.
It happen!!
There was a site in the Bradford area that was affected by toxic chemicals (mercury I believe) and the council evicted the occupants when it was discovered.
I am a bit concerned the site has had the gravel removed and I am not sure what has been used to fill the site. If it had not been filled it would be a lake, which we have on three sides.
It has been years so hopefully anything should have washed out. They should not have dumped anything toxic, becuase it was to be returned to farm land, and also becuase anything which washed out will end up in the River Thames and hence into the water supply of every town between here and London.
On an earlier thread I'm pretty sure it said the best way to break up/improve clay soil is to incorporate plenty of straw based manure (preferably horse) and/or seaweed, if you can get your hands on it. I think adding sand was also mentioned. If you can't get seaweed and as you've already got the poo component of manure :) you might be best just mulching i.e. spreading a layer of straw (or seaweed) on top of the soil after you've dug it. Your plants should grow through it quite happily. Don't have clay myself so those with direct experience may disagree.
The lovely Supersprout was a big mulch fan
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,22395.msg221843.html#msg221843 (http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,22395.msg221843.html#msg221843)
mulching with straw makes a lot of sense to me, and thanks for the link to the pics, inspirational!