Page 16 - SV 3 2024

Asparagus ‘Gijnlim’
Soil analysis
RON NUTALL
I am now changing my cropping plans to supply the kitchen.
As I no longer grow potatoes and carrots for exhibition, I feel quite happy about changing the cropping programme in
my garden to produce a variety of higher quality, in-season vegetables, when called upon by my family.
My garden soil is ideal. I have looked after it for 25 years. It is a nice deep, weed free medium loam. A mixture of sand and clay, well supplied with humus, fairly well drained and with a pH of about 6.5.
On the sandy soil, I leave the cultivation until the spring before I dig and add compost from the bin to hold moisture and nutrients. When the seeds are planted, they are drilled close enough to ease the work of the hoe, with precise spacing to increase the size and value of what I take home.
The lightest soil grows shallots, red and white onion sets, Kelsae plants and garlic. The other half produces root crops, beetroot, turnips carrots
and parsnips.
My old sand boxes.
Now they produce only
a few carrots are an important source of salad crops: spring onions, beetroot and lettuce.
system of growing apples and plums. • Family entertainment includes a BBQ
area.
• Producing grass clippings for the
compost heap and meadow flowers
to encourage pollinating insects.
Poorly drained soils have disturbed my planned changes. I know that to my cost after suffering from two wet winters. Past rotations have always been a mystery and to compensate I now work the top
further apart to make better use of fertilizer and watering.
How do I put these systems
into practice?
The soil is regularly analysed. A pH kit to test the soil for lime. Phosphate and Potash are measured every three years, and an eye is kept on Magnesium Calcium & Sulphur levels.
Autumn cultivation promotes fertility by encouraging the winter rain, frost and sun to liberate the natural plant foods.
In the spring, I dig-in my home-produced compost from the heap supplying a regular supply of reliable slow-release organic fertilizers, supplemented by general purpose top dressing during the summer.
A decent sized trench is useful to dispose of all remains from winter vegetable. Cover it in the spring and sow with peas and beans!
A strict crop rotation, ensure that veg are not grown in the same place for more than two successive years, avoiding local exhaustion of the ground.
A couple of rows of early potatoes. Grown on an amendment of the “Jersey way”! The variety Charlotte is my currently favourite, producing a useful yield and less liable to succumb to disease. Furthermore, I can manage it to produce a reasonably early crop with a large number of salad quality spuds or leave it to be harvested all summer and into the autumn.
Grow an ample selection of various greens, in my mesh covered Low Vegetable Cage, including Romanesco Navona F1, where magnesium-lime has been incorporated during the autumn and a further generous handful round each established plant in the spring, as they like a high pH to mature and deter club root
In conclusion. By using my growing experience, I can turnout decent vegetables all year. The family are all for it and as I write the plants are already developing.
Elephant garlic
My “Special Area,” where
I once grew exhibition
potatoes is enriched by the
recycled peat. This year, for
fun, it was ear-marked to
grow a massive exhibition
marrow to exhibit at the local show. That plan has gone astray since my young family asked me to grow pumpkins for bonfire night!
The regulars are well-rotted manure, leaf mould, and mushroom compost all helping to warm the soil and encouraging plant growth earlier in unseasonal weather and less susceptible to pest attacks.
Humus: “That well-rotted stuff in the bottom of my compost heap!” In fact, it is better than that! It absorbs moisture readily, keeps the soil open by allowing fresh air
to help the developing plant roots and
aids the sticky clay to be cultivated in wet weather. The amount of humus in the soil is indicated by its colour. Dark soils often have a plentiful supply, encouraging early growth by absorbing warmth from the sun.
Controlling the production of fruit
and vegetables in the garden is needed for most of our kitchen requirements. The ceaseless activity in the house encourages me to produce more variety of higher quality crops at both ends of the season. Planting in batches, in wider rows and
My “Special Area,” where
I once grew exhibition potatoes is enriched by the recycled peat
soil, 15-18inches deep with a fork, taking the opportunity of braking up any compacted layers and aerating the soil encouraging beneficial bacteria.
Before buying expensive fertilizer. To make more nutrients available to the soil, the fertility is built up by all the organic matter that I can get my hands on.
The Clay soil that was difficult to cultivate is now useful for:
• Permanent cropping. Growing small fruit, strawberries, rhubarb, an asparagus bed, autumn raspberries and a start on the “Mini Orchard”
16 Simply Vegetables