Page 33 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2022

Letters
Dear Editor,
I hope you and all members are well.
I have been researching No-dig V Dig and this has a long history although not as far as Adam and Eve from what I can ascertain! Archaeological research shows that land was ploughed using bulls and horses. The term heavy soil derives from the type of horse used to pull the plough. 10,000 years later this was mans mistake, we were damaging man’s best asset; why was this?
The RHS seem to have recently changed their mind on no dig and their advice
now appears to recommend No-dig, it would help if their Chief Advisor Mr Barter, wrote and gave some details of the beliefs behind this change of heart. Is dug soil
not broken down to a tilth by frost not of value? Does digging prevent the egress of air and moisture or is the more gentle No- dig better? Weeds grow in both methods although the No-diggers claim that less grow using their method.
For 18 months I have been using dig and no-dig on a 200m2 allotment I have divided my plot into two, dig on the southeast
side and no-dig on the northwest, a slight southerly slope gives the plot maximum sunlight, preferred conditions for both tomatoes and fruit. The soil is a dark, sandy loam with a pH of 6.9 so is close to neutral just creeping into alkaline and is suitable for potatoes, salads and most fruit.
There is a constant strong east wind, strong enough to lift ground cover materials
and fleece if not pinned down. The beds run east to west and are approx. 26m long * 2m wide.
Conventional Digging
The area was dug over using a succession of 30cm trenches, single dug which brought up some pale subsoil, weeds were buried and large stones removed the small stones were left s these help with the drainage and to some extent water retention (RHS advice in the garden magazine); very wise it amazes me how may people rake off the small stones
and use them to build up the allotment track – Ed. Part of the area was dressed with Orgrow from DT Brown’s and was planted with potatoes – a very successful neighbour grows Charlotte which are not watered. A short-day cultivar of spinach did well in the north bed as it was protected by the shed.
No-Dig
This bed runs parallel on the north side and is next to a neglected allotment with head high weeds and grass. The beds was pierced 75mm deep with a fork at 30cm intervals, trodden and hoed based on Christine Walkden’s comments in the book Gardeners Question Time published by the BBC, this produces an excellent tilth, the beds are firm and dressed with 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10cm) of my own compost.
Charles Dowding the no-dig expert advises compost or horse manure over
cardboard but at £2.00 a bag (not the cardboard!) I have used own compost. The move to peat free which removal process releases a high level of carbon has seen garden centres increase the prices from £3.99 to £7.00 ( I can vouch for that I was shocked when I went to the local garden centre for some growing media – Ed)
We receive compost from the Council which is composted waste collected from households around Bristol.
Conclusions
The more established dig plot was more productive, but there was bad pest damage from pests like Cabbage white and aphids. Fleece must be a complete cover and pegged in place to work efficiently. Slugs seem impervious to the blue organic pellets and a beer trap was not to their taste (Guinness)!
Moving on I have obtained some Council compost (collected from the households
of Bristol and composted) at 40p a barrow load, it has to be left to cool for a couple
of months and it is my intention to spread the ‘hot’ compost at 3 inches (7.5 cm) and leave to cool until forking it in during the spring this year.
Mr Guy Barter, RHS Chief Horticulturalist has said the RHS stopped digging 2 or
3 years ago as research showed it to be detrimental to the soil.
Yours sincerely, Roger Clements Midland Branch
Dear Editor,
We tend to regard gardening as
a hobby or keen interest and only if
crops sometimes fail do we realise the importance of growing your own and even then we can go to the supermarket where numerous fruit, vegetables and flowers are available from countries as
far away as Kenya, Israel, South America or closer such as Holland and Spain or possibly Lincolnshire if grown in the U.K. Historically the use of an area of land
to grow food was vital for the families survival, a crop failure cold mean a famine; the Irish potato famine being an example. Increasingly the British government failed to respond and help the Irish people, many of whom emigrated to America.
In the early Middle Ages Britain was largely an agrarian society as opposed to an industrial on which it became in the 17th and 18th centuries although there were still skilled carpenter and blacksmiths who were considered to be tradesmen.
Survival depended on growing food for the ordinary people: monasteries
had large productive gardens and grew food plant as well as medicinal herbs
as well as taking rents from tenants
who grew vegetables around the area. Monks were described a “fat people” and others as “thin” people hence the Friar Tuck of Robin Hood tales. Many of the vegetables grown would still be familiar to us nowadays as are the edible weeds
which they used; the most familiar are cabbages and even the outer leaves would be used, they would also be left in the ground for a later picking. Also used were Alexanders, Colewort’s and open- hearted cabbage, daisy, and dandelions; Good King Henry, Pot Marigold and nettles were also used. Other plants that are still seen in gardens today include orach, skirrets and milk thistle, these were used to supplement the ordinary people’s diets and ward off starvation.
After working in the fields from dawn to dusk. Home to a delicious bowl of nettles and milk thistle. I think this must be an acquired taste!
Roger Clements
Simply Vegetables 33