What will help my heavy clay allotment?
Ben Taylor
Posts: 6
in Fruit & veg
Hi all,
I have just taken on an allotment, it has been, well for want of a better word, trashed. The soil is heavy clay and really well compacted, it doesn't help that its full of glass either. I am aware I am unlikely to eat like a king from it this year but would love some advice on the best ways to improve the soil structure and organic content.
Cheers in advance!
0
Posts
Cheers scroggin,
Had my first crack at digging a bed today, I'd like to say it was quick but sadly not! Luckily hard work doesn't put me off (save me a gym membership!) I can get my hands on as much rotted and long manure as I need, should I just dig that in in vast quantities?
I did think about raised beds but my idea behind the allotment was a way to save some cash so I soon stopped that!
Should I put any green manure in? If so can you recommend which would be best?I know this probably sounds quite naïve but ideally I want to have all of my beds producing something (even just comfrey for liquid feed) I hate the idea of having space just sat doing nothing!
Clay soil is fairly rich in nutrients, it's a case of improving the structure of the soil rather than fertility. As scroggin has said it's just doing the hard work. The more you add the quicker the worms will do their job, along with the elements.
That's great cheers, I'll get cracking with that horsey treasure and the fork!
Me and my partner introduced ourselves the other day, when I mentioned the huge amount of FREE manure I could genuinely see their eyes light up!
Is it best to rot the manure down in the compost bin or bagged or just a quiet corner?