Allotments 4 All

Jennym Thanks for that link, have book marked it.  My area is not showing any snow this week but I put in my sisters post code in Kent and there is a possibility of snow at the weekend. I am supposed to go and visit for a week on Sunday but may cancel don't want Lorna jnr hitting bad weather on her way home.

Quote from: Gardenantics on February 27, 2006, 19:11:15

Quote from: amphibian on February 27, 2006, 19:02:58
Friday is my allotment day, but we're due heavy snow. I know digging snow in is great for the soil, it is packed with nitrogen, but it is hard and cold work.

Did an Eskimo tell you this? Don't forget It's only the yellow snow, the stuff you can't eat that has the nitrogen!

Brian

Well yellow snow would contain more nitrates, but snow and rain account for upto 12lbs of nitrogen per acre per year. However when snow falls on frozen ground the nitrogen is not absorbed but runs off as surface water when the snow melts, before the ground has thawed sufficiently to absorb it. Digging the snow into the soil ensures that it melts at the same time as the soil and is then absorbed, this is why snow has been known as 'poor man's manure' in the past, and was traditionally ploughed in. Oddly enough other trace elements present in snow, through pollution, such as sulphur, are beneficial also, providing their acidifying properties are countered.

Lightening altered rain/hail is particularly rich in Nitrogen.

It has just started to snow here (in Herts)!   ;D

very cold here but the sun is out in manchester

Have had some bright sunshine and blue skies but lots of snow clouds, which

haven't produced any snow ....yet.

Heard on radio, that lots of country has been badly affected with snow.

Bright, sunny, still and cold. Put some compost into the bottom of the cold frame today, ready to sow salad crops direct. - Hastings

Well I never knew that amphibian,

My horticultural tutor always condemned digging snow into the ground saying that it took much longer for the soil to warm up if you did. He convinced me by burying some snow in a trench, and it was still there two weeks later, when the stuff on top had gone. No mention of it's nutrient value.

Brian

Someone has just thrown a snowball at my window, and sure enough, the ground is snow covered again.  I am in Cornwall and the duckpond still has ice over it and the ducks look very confused!

Quote from: Gardenantics on March 01, 2006, 18:35:56
Well I never knew that amphibian,

My horticultural tutor always condemned digging snow into the ground saying that it took much longer for the soil to warm up if you did. He convinced me by burying some snow in a trench, and it was still there two weeks later, when the stuff on top had gone. No mention of it's nutrient value.

Brian

If the ground is already frozen I can't imagine mixing snow into it would make much difference, indeed snow left on the surface reflects the sun away, and prevents the sun reaching the soil, mixed in with the dirt it loses its reflective property.

I dunno, I'd be open to some more research on this...

The ground will probably only be frozen superficially. If you bury the snow, you're putting it down where it'll be insulated, so it makes sense for it to take longer to melt.

well here in Berkshire, we have another brilliantly sunny day at the moment but bitterly cold still!.....yesterday afternoon (just like the day before) the skies got grey, then very dark and weird colours and a heavy flurry of snow fell....the ground here, well in the grounds & gardens of this block of flats that I live in are all covered with a crisp covering which looks lovely but where the sun reaches it....it's already melting.....

more could fall I think later in the day (& being a big kid at heart, would like to see just a flurry or two but not enough to makes things hazardous....much too cold to garden anyway at the moment! (that's what I keep telling myself - & got continued bad back problems still so can't do it anyway, so the weather is my consolation  (or excuse) ???

H.P.

Talk about being a tease, it's started to snow again!!  Will it last I wonder? :-\

(J19 of M25  ;D)

We had 1/4 inch of snow lying this morning, which melted during the day. There was a heavy snow shower during the last lesson this afternoon, but it's all gone now.

well after an absolutly glorious day and a chance to get to the allotment to carry out some weeding

ITS NOW A BLIZZARD !!! SNOW SNOW Every where lol

Poor old fella who had some tom plant growing put them into his poly tunnel and maybe a little tooooo soon as 4 of the 12 keeled over but there ya goo for trying to push it along i guess

carl

Just to make things worse, I was in Bali for the last two weeks - & came home to this!

A very unproductive day at the allotment today, I tried to dig, but my fork rang like a bell when I hit the soil. Even my chillington hoe would not dent the surface.

Later the sun came out, and it was quite warm out of the wind, the soil thawed quickly, but turned to a slippy slime, far too wet to dig.

I occupied myself by removing more turves from my virgin area, the grass had stopped the ground freezing in those areas.

It is snowing now, and is expected to be -9 tomorrow.

I was just going to comment that this must be the longest period of frost in ages.
Then I saw this.

well I'll count my blessings then tim  ;D

well my brood and I are off sledging....

Well its been cold here in Oxfordshire, but dry. Went up the allotment on Wed afternoon and it was beautiful, managed a bit of hoeing and digging!
Sorry to all you under snow.