I don't understand this practice, widely seen round here, of earthing up as you plant, Surely it is better at least on a garden scale to earth up as the plants come through.
The old gardening books used to describe double digging in great detail.
Nature doesn't double dig but mulches so perhaps it is wise to copy her.
I started growing runner beans by triple digging. Never again.
Allan
Monty D'd Double Digging!
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter, Chief Spud
Allan,
As you quite rightly say earthing up at planting time is widely done in this area but not only this area. It might not be what you do but surely if it didn't work then the method would have died out long ago.
The very first time you touch the soil 'Natures way' goes out the window because 'Nature' has no implements. It purely depends on what crop you are dealing with as to how you decide to tackle the growing.
Beyond a shadow of doubt double digging is beneficial in most instances. I appreciate on a large scale that it would be totally impracticable but even then on a large scale Carrot beds were always double dug in the Market Gardens of yesteryear because lets face it a Carrot/Parsnip row only has to be one spade width wide. It is not just the end product that you should be worrying about it is the ease of growth of the fine roots that finally produces the Carrot/Parsnip that you are after.
JB.
As you quite rightly say earthing up at planting time is widely done in this area but not only this area. It might not be what you do but surely if it didn't work then the method would have died out long ago.
The very first time you touch the soil 'Natures way' goes out the window because 'Nature' has no implements. It purely depends on what crop you are dealing with as to how you decide to tackle the growing.
Beyond a shadow of doubt double digging is beneficial in most instances. I appreciate on a large scale that it would be totally impracticable but even then on a large scale Carrot beds were always double dug in the Market Gardens of yesteryear because lets face it a Carrot/Parsnip row only has to be one spade width wide. It is not just the end product that you should be worrying about it is the ease of growth of the fine roots that finally produces the Carrot/Parsnip that you are after.
JB.
Digging is certainly beneficial to helping aeration and drainage where necessary, but without the deep digging, when I make a deep hole I am very impressed at the number of worms I see, and whatever the nuisance of moles in seedbeds etc. they often provide useful drainage.
Allan
Allan
I have read a few articles in magazines about how digging is best for the soil, then they finish it off by saying if you are old then no dig is good as you will get the same results. Don't forget when you till the soil you are releasing a lot of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere
Pete
Pete
skype me on pmrout
"To be a successful farmer, one must first know the NATURE of the SOIL" Xenophon , Oeconomicus 400 B.C.
"To be a successful farmer, one must first know the NATURE of the SOIL" Xenophon , Oeconomicus 400 B.C.
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Geoff
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I'm impressed that ploughing gets 22 tpa even if it does require 12" deep ploughs. I thought small scale quite deeply cultivated land would be significantly better than field scale. Might it be the difference between a maincrop and Charlotte?
I put 4 rows in one of my 25'x10' beds, 2 of Rocket, 2 of Charlotte with about 16 or 17 tubers per row depending on how many come in the bag.
Is the ridging at planting time to do with drainage and soil warming perhaps?
I put 4 rows in one of my 25'x10' beds, 2 of Rocket, 2 of Charlotte with about 16 or 17 tubers per row depending on how many come in the bag.
Is the ridging at planting time to do with drainage and soil warming perhaps?
Hi Geoff,
Ridging at planting time is all part and parcel of mechanical handling as well as protection from the late frosts prevailing in this area.
The soil in deep ploughed, then deeply rotorvated and the planting furrows are formed at the same pass as rotorvating. They then destroy the mounds with a de-stoning machine and again formed in the same pass.
To start with I wondered why they formed the mounds and then destroyed them but it simply means that you are de-stoning the planting area which is the whole object of the exercise. This allows mechanical lifting that is stone free and whereas a team would be used to lift the crop in the past it is now done by one tractor with a tractor and trailer receiving the lifted spuds running along side the lifter.
This is an exceedingly efficient method.
It all sounds complicated but in truth it is very simple. By earthing up the spuds grow exactly where you want them and if you tried to use the method Allan uses there would be an enormous amount of crop damage.
JB.
Ridging at planting time is all part and parcel of mechanical handling as well as protection from the late frosts prevailing in this area.
The soil in deep ploughed, then deeply rotorvated and the planting furrows are formed at the same pass as rotorvating. They then destroy the mounds with a de-stoning machine and again formed in the same pass.
To start with I wondered why they formed the mounds and then destroyed them but it simply means that you are de-stoning the planting area which is the whole object of the exercise. This allows mechanical lifting that is stone free and whereas a team would be used to lift the crop in the past it is now done by one tractor with a tractor and trailer receiving the lifted spuds running along side the lifter.
This is an exceedingly efficient method.
It all sounds complicated but in truth it is very simple. By earthing up the spuds grow exactly where you want them and if you tried to use the method Allan uses there would be an enormous amount of crop damage.
JB.
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Shallot Man
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The trouble with these TV gardening programmes on digging is I think the soil comes from Harrods.SHALLOT MAN
the tv programs always imply that the presenters are actually the sole workforce in the tv garden, am i alone in supposing that in reality there is a team of gardeners,never seen on camera, who actually do the work.
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oldherbaceous
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You don't think they would do such a darstadly deed do you Richard 
Kind regards Old Herbaceous.
Theres no fool like an old fool.
Kind regards Old Herbaceous.
Theres no fool like an old fool.
richard p wrote:the tv programs always imply that the presenters are actually the sole workforce in the tv garden, am i alone in supposing that in reality there is a team of gardeners,never seen on camera, who actually do the work.
HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST SUCH A THING 
I might believe the stone theory but for the fact that in the old red sandstone which predominates between Hereford and Monmouth and that I have at the 'farm'stones are a rarity, every stone that we find gets commented on and saved in a bucket for future use. Totally different from what I have seen in Somerset. I will watch the farm that we pass at Merryhill and see how many times the land is ridged. Herefordshire is either first or second in the leageue tables for spud growing these days and you notice it in the river when heavy rain occurs.
Allan
Allan
Allan,
The Stones are not a theory they are a fact and even with sandstone you get rock particles which would or could damage the lifting machinery.
I grew up on the same stretch of soil that you are talking about it is not at all unusual to get very large pieces of rock. As I understand you do not dig very deep but if your ground was ploughed at 12" you might get an entirely different opinion on the subject.
Why you must make an issue of something so trivial defeats me. I have explained what is done in most of the country but of course you have to be different.
JB.
The Stones are not a theory they are a fact and even with sandstone you get rock particles which would or could damage the lifting machinery.
I grew up on the same stretch of soil that you are talking about it is not at all unusual to get very large pieces of rock. As I understand you do not dig very deep but if your ground was ploughed at 12" you might get an entirely different opinion on the subject.
Why you must make an issue of something so trivial defeats me. I have explained what is done in most of the country but of course you have to be different.
JB.
SSSShhhhh - I'll whisper this so as not to upset OH and Peterf , but I'm afraid they do employ a gardening team at Berryfields cos they periodically advertise the jobs there for head gardener and various gophers. So Monty's little patch of double digging and barrows of soil were no doubt left for others to finish. If it was me, I'd just dig the top after he'd swanned off back to his newspaper column and who would be the wiser 
Geoff and Grock's Alan used to often mention they had help and no-one thought the worse of them - not sure why the current crew never make mention of it
Sue
, but I'm afraid they do employ a gardening team at Berryfields cos they periodically advertise the jobs there for head gardener and various gophers. So Monty's little patch of double digging and barrows of soil were no doubt left for others to finish. If it was me, I'd just dig the top after he'd swanned off back to his newspaper column and who would be the wiser
Geoff and Grock's Alan used to often mention they had help and no-one thought the worse of them - not sure why the current crew never make mention of it
Sue