Kitchen Garden Forum

Anyone else find the sainted Monty's explanation of double digging as hilarious as I did.

Empty a trench into wheelbarrows. OK?
Pickaxe the compacted soil in the bottom of the trench. OK.
Turn it over with a spade, OK ! ?
Put manure on it. OK.
Dig the next trench spading the soil on top of the manure. Hahahahahaha.
Take as long as you want, just do twenty minutes a day or so.

RHS illustrated guide showed a neat long-barrow at the top of the second row, waiting for your return.

Pickaxe a good ides having seen the state of his soil.
But I always took it one should bung the dung on, then fork it over to stop the soil resettling.

As for leaving soil in wheelbarrows for a week or two.
Well, with the rain at the moment, it would bugger your back to empty the barrows after a week or two and that's if you could get the stands out of the soil after they've had all that time to sink.
Yes I know his were on a path.

The clip of him seeding a lawn was also hilarious, walking forward onto the seeded area in damp conditions?
Walk backwards, you can see the spread of seed and correct, as well as avoid it sticking to your soles.

Just wondered if anyone still does any double digging on their allotments anymore.
Quite a few years ago i dug a section of my allotment three spits deep to erradicate some bindweed, it looked like a burial plot when i had finished, what was a bit of a talking point in the village for a couple of weeks.
It did grow some impressive runner beans though.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.

Theres no fool like an old fool.

was it on gardeners world ?, fraid i dont bother watching it anymore and no i dont double dig, would need a pneumatic drill in the bottom half of the first spit!

Hi OH,
The strange thing today that if somebody is on clay they wouldn't dream of double digging they automatically think of raised beds yet if they did but know it the nutritional content of clay is incredible.
I appreciate that some of the girls would find it too heavy to do, as sadly, so would I nowadays.
But if you are young and in your prime double digging using plenty of sharp sand and manure on several levels works absolute wonders. On Hertfordshire clay many moons ago I fetched up a superb vegetable patch by double digging every other year about 5 times incorporating as much leaf litter sharp sand Manure and straw and any thing that I could and when I left there although the soil was obviously still clay based but it was very workable.
Well worth the effort.
The last person I would watch is Monty Don as I believe I may have stated before. He's just a bad joke.
JB.

Hi johnboy

I have to agree with you on double digging it is not for the faint hearted as it is hard work, but when completed the rewards are first class .
I am about to make a stand alone onion bed and I will be double digging that area, hopefully it will result in Red Cards at our local Flower & Vegetable Show next year .

Regards


Kevin

Kevin,
What's a 'stand alone' onion bed?
Is it a permanent one?

hes quite attractive tho

I find him a bit scary-looking. No eyebrows!

i think perhaps its his outdoors linen crumpled look i like!he looks more like a painter!

Jopsy, I'm taking 'painter' to mean 'artist'....
The 'Linen Look' went out with the ark Jops, on account of it looking like they just 'slept in it'...
Believe me sweetheart, I promise you...

i know but i like it!
i did mean artist!!

Double digging is good, but too knackering for me these days. I have done it, last time I used a rotovator. Rotovate, scoop out loose soil to make a trench, rotovate the trench after adding manure, backfill, add manure and re-rotovate. Lovely beans that year.

JB is absolutely right about clay. In some ways it is the best soil to start out with. Once lightened with sand and manure/compost it is superb. Clay has the best water holding capacity.

This year I found that I had managed, inadvertantly I hasten to add, to create the best tilth I have yet managed. Clay allotment, loads of horse droppings in chopped cannabis bedding, high speed rotavating, courtesy of Howard 350.

I have been working my new plot for 18 years and have come to the conclusion that the best way to work is to spread the organic matter on the top then lightly cultivate it, certainly not bury it in a trench. I understand that feeding roots are near the surface generally so no point in burying the compost, the worms will take some down eventually.
The only trenching is for burying water pipes or growing outdoor celery.
Allan

Allan wrote:I have been working my new plot for 18 years ..... Allan

New?

The previous was 33 years at the house, including 22 at the allotments. If you like, call this one 'most recent' or current. If you saw the bit we are using now, maybe recovered or recycled would be appropriate.
Allan