Muck Raking With Sally

So, Eric delivered.

Unfortunately I missed him, but that's OK because Sally said he wasn't a lithe Pole. And although he wasn't wearing a flat-cap, he did sport a fine set of dentures.

But seriously ... the compost comes from a social enterprise company, Fairfield, that is situated on New Smithfield market site in East Manchester. They use the waste fruit and veg from their neighbours and woodier waste from the council or landscapers to produce an affordable compost with a low carbon foot print.

Here is a neat view of the composting process.

The stuff that Eric brought was quite woody, and he advised us not to plant directly into it, so it is certainly not suitable for planting up pots, but the soil on Allotment90 has a high clay content and will benefit from the increased texture and carbon from bits of chopped up stick.

We spent an hour and half spreading half of the compost on the ground we have so far managed to weed, and the rest we put in a storage area.

It is good to see the allotment looking neat and tidy and vibrant.

And here is proof that when the occasion demands I can wield a shovel like a pro:


Naturally, after our heroic effort we retired to the nearest cafe and scoffed down a Danish (pastry).

Update On Green Manure

Making 'music' with a blade of forage rye.

(I think this blog is becoming increasingly about mental health issues rather than gardening)

Feeding The Soil

Back to tilling the soil today. Luckily didn’t encounter any of those piratical cut-throat – I mean cutworm – caterpillars.

Taking a belts and braces approach to improving the soil left by the leylandii I’ve sown some green manure seed. I love this idea that nutrients are added from the whole plant rather than concentrated fertiliser produced in a factory. It’s like us eating our 5 a day, and not relying on vitamin supplements for our health. Individual nutrients can be isolated and taken to top up levels but to thrive we must eat whole foods, and as natural as possible. Scientists are still learning how vitamins work, for example the recent fuss about vitamin D. Are plants simpler, in that it’s merely a matter of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, or perhaps like humans they too need these elements within a complex matrix of others? Maybe I’m being romantic but it feels right to feed the soil with vegetable matter; to put back what came out. Synergy, people, synergy!

The seed, a general mix, came from a web based company greenmanure. They’ve obviously spent money on marketing. Their Google ranking is high (put in the term ‘green manure’ and see what happens), the design of the website and packaging has a modern Waitrose-like vibe, and the seeds came in a brown paper bag with its organic, Abel and Cole, anti-capitalism, fingers up to The Man associations . Even though I know I am being manipulated I bought from them – you’ve got to keep your standards up haven’t you?

According to greenmanure the 50g of seed would be enough for 17 square metres, which is 3g per square metre. I obediently weighed this out, but it produced so few seeds that I ignored that advice and threw on the amount that looked right. Surely everyone else does this if they were honest. I bet even Monty does.

So, we shall see what happens in a few weeks’ time. I’m quite excited.

A Creature of the Earth

This weekend I was a woman of the soil, a veritable earth goddess (but let’s avoid ‘pig in muck’ epithets shall we?).

I’ve decided the bare earth revealed by the demise of the leylandii needs improving before it is planted up. Admittedly this is also a delaying tactic while dithering over what to do with it – but don’t tell the garden design enthusiasts, who I’m sure would know exactly what to plant, in what season and in what location.

So with the vigour of the weekend gardener I hurled manure about, wielded a fork, and turned some sods. Yes, I did do my back in, but I bear it as a badge of honour.

The trouble however with messing about in dirt is you tend to come across things you’d rather not. Luckily it’s not the spider season, and all the sensible insects have scarpered to darker reaches of the garden, but this fat chap put in an appearance. Such is the state of my horticultural ignorance I never know if insect discoveries should be squished or not. Are they going to eat my plants or the pests of the plants? After poking him with a stick I covered him up again. Whatever he is, he is part of the ecosystem.

Today, after much Googling I found out not only his name but what he is – the caterpillar of the Lesser Yellow Underwing moth, which is an owlet moth, and quite pretty. Unfortunately, he is also a ‘cutworm’, who feed on seedlings and apparently do great damage to crops. There are no crops in Garden 65 so we’ll let him live.

Strange to think next time I see him he might be bashing himself against a lightbulb; a creature of the air rather than the earth.

 

Image of Lesser Yellow Underwing Moth from UKMoths