Page 43 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2025

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If any space is vacant and not to
be planted up with later crops sow
a green manure crop like mustard,
clover, Phacelia, or a winter hardy crop
like vetch or winter ryegrass.
REGENERATION TASKS FOR
SEPTEMBER AND THE AUTUMN
MONTHS TO REINVIGORATE AND
MAINTAIN A LIVING ROOT-SYSTEM
IN THE SOIL
The season certainly will not be over yet!
Early crops may have come to an end, but
later crops should be lifted straight away as
they come to harvest.
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Clear the plot and remove the weeds
and compost.
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With minimal soil disturbance reduce
fertilizer leaching and the need for
watering, cutting plants off leaving
the roots in the soil helps to maintain
fertility and avoid disturbing any soil
creatures.
•
Create a good, fine, firm seedbed will
regulating slugs by making it difficult
for them to move around and discover
the seedlings.
•
Sow a green manure crop, as a straight
or mix of clover, vetch and fodder
radish. A fast-growing cover crop, to be
worked into the ground giving the soil
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a break and improving its structure.
Turn the compost heap regularly with
a fork to aerate it and encourage
breakdown so that it is ready to apply
to the soil in the autumn / winter.
FINALLY, WHEN THE WINTER DAYS
BECOME NOTICEABLE COLDER
AND THE GROWING SEASON IS
COMPLETE
The process of regeneration will continue.
Because I do not intend to do the traditional
winter digging, the ground is covered with
a black plastic sheet suppressing any
persistent weeds, making it easier to start
next year’s growing season. Supporting
a regeneration process is continuing to
conserve soil fertility and the development
a living root system in a natural and friendly
way.
Ron Nuttall
An alternative to covering the soil with
plastic or similar material is to sow an over-
wintering green manure like vetch, clover,
ryegrass, field beans or any other hardy
green manure crop. This can be cut and left
on the surface in late winter to decompose
or cut and composted. Regenerative soil
care is the current trend from what I read
Phacelia
and may be the way we go in the future.
I am currently read a couple of books by
French authors (not in French I should add!)
which put a very strong case for this type of
growing. I hope to do and article in a future
magazine – Ed
Fruit growing in 1939
I was recently looking for a book and came across a
small booklet written in 1939 just before the 2nd World
War, the first chapter started with:
“In war time home grown and home bottled fruits from
the garden or allotment are needed to offset reduced
imports, while homemade jams form an important addition
to the butter ration and may largely replace marmalade on
the breakfast table.”
Apart from mentioning the war we should have the
same attitude to growing our own fruit and vegetables
these days as it is just as relevant to reduce our imports
and carbon footprint; we need to produce more food in
the U.K. The chapter goes on to say that it is possible to
grow sufficient fruit in a small garden for a good part of the
year by choosing the right fruits and cultivars on dwarfing
rootstocks.
The chapter on planting describes the planting process
and states “the idea of deep digging is to allow the roots of
young trees and bushes to penetrate below the soil surface
and so make a quick getaway in the first year!”
Later in the book it mentions irrigation and states “water
for irrigation will be necessary and tubs should be put to
all available gutters to catch the rainwater for this purpose”
this was before anyone had heard of climate change and is
more important these days!
In the section on planning, it states “in an established
flower garden it may be possible to fit in a row or two of
cordon apples and pears behind existing borders or along
both sides of a path”. It continues “In the shrubbery a few
ornamental bushes facing south might be sacrificed to
make way for one or two bush trees of plum or cherry or
could be replaced with some bush fruit”. It goes on to say
“rows of apples and pears on slanting cordons might be
fitted in along the north and west edges of the garden or
allotment. The booklet also suggests that if you have fruit
cages that cordon, or espaliers are grown along the outside
of the cage which will provide support and apples and
pears do not need to be covered by the cage. Again, very
good advice to make maximum use of the space available
with the aim to grow as much food as possible.
In the section on planting it goes on to state “a good
top-dressing of leaf mould, lawn mowings, bracken or other
forms of decaying organic matter (compost- Ed) may be
put around each tree as a mulch before the winds of March
come to dry out the soil” Again very good advice with the
effects of climate change which can lead to dry spells or
drought.
The booklet goes on to mention growing a range of
different cultivars to give a succession of harvests therefore
giving fruit over a long period of time and some will store
into the winter. It should be possible to have a succession of
culinary and dessert apples from July to March. If trees on
dwarf rootstocks are chosen there may be space in some
gardens and certainly many allotments.
What they were writing in 1939 is just as relevant today as
it was then and more so in some ways – Ed
Simply Vegetables 43