morning all!

Thank you all for your drainage advice. I have seen the jam
Jar test, snohare. I need to get digging first, having cleared it. So I can quite literally get the lay of the land. At the moment, earth is still as solid as anything. Will be having a gander today after school and then playing at the weekend. It is heavy, clay in patches. So a lot of work needed really!

...the nice man a few plots down, harvested some butternuts today. In Hobbitland. It can be done, I will preservere! Of course the plot may throw up a few curved balls. He did make me feel better, in telling me that he too had a plot with a drainage problem. That one year, his veggies went acquatic. He said that all I could do was have a go. And that don't sound too bad.

As it stands, three quarters has be de-grassed. There are a few clumps of dead plants, whatever they are. So I might end up digging stuff up at the weekend. Then I have to wait til onions and garlic turn up. Will be adding fishy blood and bone-yes, I know it's not brilliant. Might find some chicken poo pellets.

I'm inclined to let the elements at it for a bit, and the cover at a later stage; say November December time.

Originally Posted by horticultural_hobbit

Evening, my lovely,

It is Comfrey, yes. Secretary pointed it out (tis his old plot that I have), and since I am hobbit sized, anything that isn't in a container, looks the size of a bush. It is massive, and has a life of it's own.

Ma and Grandad Mike got stuck in today-they were comparably more excited than me, I am being very measured and realistic-and cleared a nice section of the grass. It is going to take time, to get it all ship shape. Ma very nearly gave me a coronary and made some noise about having a whole plot so that she could plant her palak and stuff. There is more than enough space on our 8X11. Have had to talk her down, since I don't want to take on more than I can manage and more than the family together will have time for.

It is however, hard to communicate a nice, calm measured plan to a bollywood ma who is in a constant rush to get the job done. Anything worth doing, is worth doing well and with a bit of patience. Today, all I wanted to do was get a measure of the thing, pull out all the crunchy tall plant things that were dotted around.

When you're a mum yourself you will realise there is only one speed - whirlwind pace!
Try and get hold of some pallets for your compost bin - you will need one. Job for Pa and Grandad Mike! The only thing that will improve drainage is humus, so compost and or leaf mold. The latter is brilliant for clay.

The only thing that will improve drainage is humus... leaf mold. The latter is brilliant for clay.

Hey, guess what, it's going to be the humus season very soon !

Sounds like you have your own natural niches all worked out already. Ma and Pa - heavy duty work. You - planning. Sis - infrastructure.
So sis makes a cuppa while you get out the graph paper and the oldies do their "whirling dervish with a fork" act...
Somehow in my head it has become "Little House On The Prairie" come to town...I think I may be overdue for my annual reality check.

Oh, forgot to say - to improve drainage in lower areas, you can always what I did once by accident - make a mound into a raised bed. It doesn't need to be high to drain faster, just a few inches. This also has the advantage of enabling you to grow more plants per unit of horizontal distance.

Originally Posted by horticultural_hobbit

Will be adding fishy blood and bone-yes, I know it's not brilliant. Might find some chicken poo pellets.

They're both feeds/fertilisers. It's a waste of time and money to put them on ground before you are planting up.
BFB is pretty brilliant, it's an organic, slow release, balanced fertiliser. Not vegetarian though, if that is a consideration, although I guess it's a use for a by-product.
Chicken pellets are on the alkaline side and high in nitrogen, so good for leafy veggies - brassicas.
Soil improver can go on at any time - leafmould, compost, horsemuck etc.

Don't be too phased by the grass on the surface. Just skim that off with the spade as you are digging and put it in to the bottom of the trenches as you go. It will soon rot down. A new plot can be a bit daunting but if you apply the MBO principles(management by objectives) just set yourself realistic targets. Like dig over a square yard(I'm not metricised yet) per day although you will need to do more if you are going to get it all dug over before winter. Little and often is the ideal but in practice it will probably be not as much as you would like and not as often as you like because of interuptions due to bad weather or other commitments.

Do keep posting pics. It's nice to see how peeps are getting on.

Pops has yet to come and play on the plot, he'll only be convinced when it starts working and has produced something. Middle sister likes making sunday dinners and taking over Ma's kitchen so gets a say as to what is grown. Baby sister has yet to form an opinion but likes to know. Ma is the spinning dervish that no one can keep up with. Grandad Mike has the tools and wisdom of his years. Me, yes, I like my tea and am the foreperson with my name on the agreement. That and I'm the one with the pseudo-scientific plan of action.

Two-sheds, thank you. That makes things clearer and more feasible.

AP, yes, I do rather like my aims, objectives and outcomes. grass is like a carpet, and coming up all right.
There will be pictures, will do that as I go along. I wouldn't be me without making notes and records.

Here we have it, the first week or so. The hobbit half plot. my bit goes upto the wood bit behind which are the bags. There is a bit near the top, that is still a little grassy. Since taking the pic, I have removed the crunchy looking stems that are dotted around and removed some of that remaining grass.

Is really going to take some elbow grease to be dig it up. I am seriously contemplating hobbit sized and weighted tools. That may sound funny, but when one is class A weed, and knee high to a grasshopper, it might make my life easier. Trip to the garden centre for a fork, me thinks. Ma and Granddad Mike do fairly well with normal sized ones.

errr...well done you!!

HH, I can't use normal size tools either, I'm a weakling with a bad neck/back. I LOVE my border (sometimes called a lady's) spade: Fiskars Lifetime Power Border Spade (601576W) [WILKS911576W] | Capital Gardens

It's light, strong and sharp, cuts through soil like butter

I also use the small size of bendy buckets because when the big ones are full I struggle to carry them. I have a collection of about 11 now, they're useful for all sorts

Originally Posted by Two_Sheds

I also use the small size of bendy buckets because when the big ones are full I struggle to carry them. I have a collection of about 11 now, they're useful for all sorts

We got several of those style of buckets from B&Q a couple of years ago, to grow our beans in - big ones for the runner beans and smaller ones for the french beans - fabulous and decently priced as well.

I've always known them as animal feed/water buckets but OH refers to them as Builders buckets.

Reet
x

I was about to recommend you get an azada.
Organic gardening in Lancashire
The main advantages are that leverage and gravity do most of the work for you, and if you don't need to do a lot of deep digging - which describes taking off the top layer of old sod and grass tufts - then it will do fine. But right enough, that spade Two Sheds points out looks like a cracker. Much better than anything I've got, and at a good price too !
Personally I use a mattock, and an ancient digging fork, but wouldn't recommend them for you. The mattock is a much heavier type of azada and frankly it's a £$%^&* sometimes just because it's so heavy; the fork just...fits.
The only reason I get away with using these is because I am tall and have the necessary upper body strength. (Sometimes. On my feeble days I use a strong rake.)
It might be worth thinking about a digging plate for your foot if you are going to be dancing vigorously on and off a spade or fork. Just a simple piece of board that you strap onto your shoes, like roller skates, that saves the nerves in the arch of your foot from damage. (This is why some spades have that turned over lip - the "Scotch tread" - but it is of limited use.) It will also save your footwear from being wrecked, anything with a stiffened midsole tends to come apart if you get too bolshie with a spade or fork. Means you can go to the lottie in trainers or good shoes and still do some work !
Before you start digging proper, have you got line and pegs/stones for marking out the different areas on your plan ? Now is your best and only chance to be organised from the beginning.
(Brightly coloured string or hazard tape a la Poundland pegged right at ground level of course or you will endanger your 'elf on account of always tripping up !)
Suddenly I feel dig-addiction hit me...pity I'm 25 miles from my plot !

Originally Posted by snohare

It might be worth thinking about a digging plate for your foot if you are going to be dancing vigorously on and off a spade or fork. Just a simple piece of board that you strap onto your shoes, like roller skates, that saves the nerves in the arch of your foot from damage. (This is why some spades have that turned over lip - the "Scotch tread" - but it is of limited use.) It will also save your footwear from being wrecked, anything with a stiffened midsole tends to come apart if you get too bolshie with a spade or fork. Means you can go to the lottie in trainers or good shoes and still do some work !

what a bladdy good idea! I will be stealing that this winter

I do like the look of the one that two sheds has indicated.

Today, Grandad Mike and I cleared the last bit of grass. I did a small jig.Tomorrow, whilst Mike goes off to St.Andrews to watch Blues, Ma and I will do some digging. I have to be nice to pops and see if he'll help get rid of the thirty odd waste bags. I have half a plan for planning with a line. Twine and BBQ skewers and twine for the moment, else I'll go find some
Poundland tent pegs. Sounds logical, and that's fine. The bit where I explain to Ma, now that's going to be interesting.