Dug, dug and dug

Tuesday was the last day of my holiday so I spent it at the lottie. H and Miss L were at school so I had the day to myself. I had one big job to do. One of the things I sowed at last autumn was Red Clover. I sowed it as a green manure straight after harvesting the early spuds. The idea of green manure is to soak up nutrients and prevent it from being washed out and securing the actual soil from being washed away by the winter rains. When the winter is over the green manure is chopped up and dug in. This releases the nutrients back into the soil and adds structure. Clover is one of those plants that syntheses Nitrogen from the soil onto the roots. So digging it releases the Nitrogen. Leafy plants need Nitrogen which is why I planted it in the bed that will grow this year's cabbage family. The Clover grew well enough up to Christmas and weathered the winter without any help but since the spring it has really took off. The stuff had grown to a height eighteen inches. I never seen Clover so tall and healthy. Despite the lush growth it had to be dug in. I could see that there was some Dock and Thistle however they were very thin and weedy specimens. So I might have found something that can out compete dock.

I tried to dig in the full growth in but there was just too much of it to bury. So I cut down the growth, put it into the barrow and then into the big compost bin. The top growth yielded three very full wheelbarrows of lush green cuttings. Most of the cuttings went in the bin but three large handfuls went in with the worms. I set about digging in the stubble. The roots were so matted that I had to cut a square through the turf before I could lift out a plug of soil, roots and stubble and drop it, upside down, back in the hole from which it came. As I came across a Dock or Thistle I just pulled it out an threw it on the path. It took about two hours to do the area. I was not helped by the hot sun and little breeze. Luckily I has slapped on plenty of sun screen. After a day in the sun I looked as though I have been away on a foreign holiday. I amassed only half a barrow load of dock. On other parts of the lottie the same area might have given up a big barrow full of weeds.

The new barrow of weeds meant starting a new compost bin. I quite like the hardstanding without the bins but needs must. Just moving the bins gave a clue to the speed at which the bins broke down the weeds, they were almost too hot to touch just sitting in the sun.

Digging in the clover was the last act in getting all plot dug over and ready from planting. Next job was to plant four rows of second early potatoes. This time I am trying Estima. I now have ten rows of spuds which take up about half of Bed B. The Aliums in beds D are really going now. Onion family do not mind a bit of dryness. So along with a bit of watering they are coming on well. There is no sign of the peas in Bed C. Whilst I have been off work I have done extra watering on the Peas to see if I can get them growing. Peas do not like too much heat but do like lots of moisture.

I had a little bit of time on my hands so decided to do a little job. Under my manure bin is the end of the allotment land drain. There is shallow gutter that runs along the roadway but there is a small hump that creates a puddle right by my path. In the very wet weather the puddle can be very large. A few weeks ago I bagged a six foot length of six inch twin wall land drain from a skip. I had two of the large flags left over from paving the end of the plot. I dug a tench, a foot deep, from the edge of the bin along the gutter line. The fill from the tench was very stony. When the tench was long enough I dropped in the pipe. I sieved the stony fill and dropped the stones back into the trench, top and around the pipe and the soil onto the Comfrey patch. I fettled the soil level and laid the two flags over the trench. It has extended the paved area but more importantly it has improved the drainage. I threw a bucket of water over the area, as a test and it just disappeared, so job done.

In the picture below [click on it to make it large] you can see the extra flags which cover the drain in the foreground on the left. On the left are the big bins for the manure, compost and worm bins and the green water butt that normally holds the worm juice or Comfey tea. Opposite are the plastic compo bins for mullering the weeds. Next to the Compo bins is the new Rhubarb patch and the mini flower bed.