New Veg Patch - Too late for compost?

ALIBOBSY

We have clay soil here and drainage can be a problem, so we plumped for raised beds, we also thought it looked more decorative as well. But that's a personal choice. I find garlic tends to rot over winter in our soil so I am putting our in this week in the greenhouse in modules or toilet roll inards, to plant out once more established.

Ali x

Del_Astra

Gillby1 wrote: »

Thanks all. I fully intend to add urine, as i've read it's a great additive, particularly male urine. Do you lot do that:o?!

I've got some garlic and onion sets and have planted a quarter of them in the mini plastic greenhouse in grobag soil - is that the right thing to do? I wasn't sure whether to just plant some straight out given the freezing weather we're expecting. Maybe i should just try it!!

Gill

Indeed I do, no idea if male stuff is better, but I would say it is easier to "harvest" :rotfl:

I think it is best to protect against frost, you will be surprised what survives, some things always look dead this time of the year and within a couple of weeks new life appears.

valk_scot

Too early for onion sets and a bit too late for garlic tbh. Garlic needs a period of frost after it's got established, that's what triggers it to start bulbing up. You'll probably get a one single biggish clove per plant now...but it will taste fine.

As to compost there's a big difference between multi-purpose compost (base of peat or coir fibre + six weeks worth of growing nutrients) and home made bin compost, which is lovely stuff and full of nutrients. But you can put either onto or into the soil at any time of the year.

Don't use shiny coloured paper in the compost bin, the ink is toxic. Shiny white or unbleached paper is fine though or coloured matt paper. Tear or shred it into thin strips before putting it in the bin. Newspaper is even better btw.

ALIBOBSY

My garlic which I planted has either been in the fridge or stored in the cold shed outside and I usually find this is enough to give them the cold blast they need, plus until end of march I would imagine most places get pretty cold blasts especially at night.

TBH though if I got a big bulb it would still be used-could chop bits off and store whats left in the fridge and/or crush/finely chop and freeze in ice cube trays to throw straight in sauces?

Re the onion sets, surely they can take the treatment like seeds where they grow undercover for the next couple of months then out later?

I tend to start everything under cover or in trays/pots as I find bigger plants survive better against the slugs and in the heavy clay we have even with raised beds and added compost/manure it still holds water-great during hot weather, not so much in wet summers. In some ways much of gardening is finding what works for you in your area and sometimes trying new things/pushing the accepted line to see what works.

Good Luck OP it gets very addictive lol.

Ali x

tim_n

Gillby1 - I live in Rochford and have raised beds. If you're in the local area to this, keep an eye out for free compost events, often they dump several tonnes in Hockley woods and you can load up your car for free. I wouldn't dig at the moment, it's too wet and you'll destroy the soil structure. Wait till it dries a bit first.

If you need a lot, check out the local tree services as they often compost their waste and add other material to make it compliant with compost standards (if you didn't know they exist, you do now!). Buying it by the truck load is cheapest - I think I paid about £50 a load. it's a lot of work digging it in and your garden will raise up substantially - hence why I went raised beds!

Gillby1

Thanks all. As Alibobsy suggests, i'm just giving it a try! I have loads of onion and garlic sets so am trying some under cover and some in the ground, and will plant more over the next few weeks. It's the only way i'll learn what works in my garden!

Tim_n - thanks for the tip re free compost. I'll keep an eye out. I didn't realise it was possible to damage soil structure?! I have a few bags of Aldi organic compost to dig in - should i wait a few weeks before doing so?

Lastly, I am chitting some Maris Piper potatoes and plan to grow them in a small garden bin - about 3 feet high. Can i grow them in the Aldi compost, or do i need to mix in some soil? Any advice welcome!! Thanks all.

Gill

tim_n

Gillby1 wrote: »

Thanks all. As Alibobsy suggests, i'm just giving it a try! I have loads of onion and garlic sets so am trying some under cover and some in the ground, and will plant more over the next few weeks. It's the only way i'll learn what works in my garden!

Tim_n - thanks for the tip re free compost. I'll keep an eye out. I didn't realise it was possible to damage soil structure?! I have a few bags of Aldi organic compost to dig in - should i wait a few weeks before doing so?

Yes, basically if you tread on the wet soil, you compress it and squeeze out the air, it can compact into clay, especially if you're in the Essex area as it's mostly london clay anyway. It's also 10x harder to dig in. What you are digging in is compost so there is no urgent need to do it.

If you're desperate to improve the soil now, just dump some manure on top. The worms will dig it in for you. When the weather warms up and the water table starts to drop, it'll dry and you can dig in the manure. Most stables give it away.

Lastly, I am chitting some Maris Piper potatoes and plan to grow them in a small garden bin - about 3 feet high. Can i grow them in the Aldi compost, or do i need to mix in some soil? Any advice welcome!! Thanks all.

Gill

You can grow potatoes in just a few inches of soil/compost, then build up the pot with straw or compost as the plant grows up (covering the growing stem carefully). This is why many people used to grow them in tyres - you just kept adding a tyre when the shoot started to come through. You get a bumper crop.

Adding soil will add water retension to the compost and nutrients. It'll still need watering and feeding with a good balanced feed - potatoes are part of the tomato family, I'd assume a similar sort of feed (either "organic seaweed" or comfry - both stink) would be fine. You can use store bought - there's a few varieties around for veg, some more chemical than others.