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Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 5:33 pm
by oldherbaceous
Managed to get the Winter digging completed on my three plots today, and what a lovely feeling that is....I'll try and get a few pictures put on here later...

Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 5:45 pm
by oldherbaceous
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Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:34 pm
by Monika
All looks good, OH! And what lovely friable soil!
Two quick questions: (1) are the white bits flint? chalk? (2) are the monocots in the third photo small leeks or big garlic?
(Thanks for the new thread, OH)

Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:57 pm
by oldherbaceous
Evening Monika, the white bits are mainly old leaves that have been blowing around but, also a few potatoes that got missed when harvesting....and on plot three, they are Garlic.
When I first took the plots on, the ground was very heavy indeed....amazing what manue and compost can achieve.
And you are very welcome for the new thread....

Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 12:54 pm
by Primrose
What nice neat plots, lovely neat edges and not a raised bed in sight !!
You can feel,proud of that effort. Very satisfying to have everything so well prepared this early in the season. Often the weather mitigates against it and makes it a struggle to catch up

Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 2:23 pm
by Westi
Wow OH! That looks great, your soil looks really lush & fertile. No wonder you have a great feeling looking out at that.

I went down to lottie for a couple of hours today & was surprised at the growth my garlic & onion & shallots sets have put on in just a couple of weeks, but the greatest thing to report is that my mega huge swede; (OK mega might be an overstatement), has also grown some more as well. Despite it's valiant attempts to coax the rest of the bed to copy it they have been sadly ignorant.

Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 2:47 pm
by Stephen
Three plots! Do you feed the whole village OH?

I'm clearly indolent in comparison but the clay over chalk I have will look similar in a few weeks time. The soil is digging well at the moment, so I should get on with it before it snows.

Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 4:07 pm
by Monika
Thank you for your answers, OH. You are so right about being able to improve heavy soil. When we moved into our current home almost 40 years ago, it was newly built with the usual builders' garden all around it, heavy and compacted, just covered with a thin layer of 'topsoil'. Since then, we have applied manure, home-made compost and old potting compost on the vegetable plot every year and grown a green manure most years, so it is now a good black crumbly and thus very productive, completely different from the original.

Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 5:28 pm
by oldherbaceous
Thank you all for your kind words, much appreciated....I give a lot of stuff away, Stephen and even have a couple of people come and pick their own for free....

I haven't grown any amount of green manure on the plots for a few years, Monika, so I might grow half a plot of it this year...

Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 6:16 pm
by Primrose
Dear OH No wonder there isn,t a greengrocer within five miles of you who can operate at a profit with all the freebie stuff you give away!!

I was thinking you must be pretty fit after all that digging! Gives a whole new meaning to the concept of an Outsoor gym, although if a lot more people got digging and growing maybe the nation would have less of an obesity and diabetes problem. Allotment prescriptions on the NHS may yet be the answer to some of the nation's health problems. And perhaps the community payback people in their orange jackets can come and do the digging for those of us with arthritic joints,

Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 6:29 pm
by oldherbaceous
When you see some of the gardens, of the poorest people, I often wonder why they don't grow their own.....

Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 10:57 pm
by Stephen
How true OH.

Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 5:33 am
by oldherbaceous
Good morning IDKWIDG, my sentence was a general look at what you see every day and certainly not pointing a finger at individuals, so I do hope it didn't read that way....if so, and if you read it that way, I do appologise.

But I do stand by my words, that it would be benificial to many people, in many ways, both mental and physical but, I know, not to all....

Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 8:55 am
by Pa Snip
OH, I think your point is very valid, and could be said to be proved by the number of community allotment projects one does hear about. However, there are many councils / associations which avoid involvement which is surprising in areas where ground stands fallow for years on end getting overgrown



IDKWIDG

You obviously had a tough time, I hope life has got somewhat easier for you now.
I assume you, like me, have found your gardening to have been of benefit to your health. I certainly hope so.

Re: Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:00 am
by Geoff
Most impressive set of plots OH, puts my minor digging to shame.

I agree that many people would be better off physically, mentally and financially if they could do even a little growing. A big benefit would be if it changed their attitude to waste, if you grow something you tend to eat it which hopefully makes you more careful with what you have bought. There have been so many initiatives to help people eat healthily and cheaply but they all sadly seem to fail, I haven't got an answer. If you believe all the figures quoted people seem to need a lot more to live on than makes sense to me, I know how much I spend on everything and my basic living costs don't come up to the quoted numbers.