A couple of questions ...

Hello all !

I'm Craig, 25 from Bilston (west Midlands, ENGLAND) (nickname: izard) started out last year.... this year gone a bit over the top ;D

Ok, here's my questions,

iv made a type of raised Bed - because the soil is litcherly FIRM clay (its like hitting concrete when dry) .. (dig down enough you wont find anything but clay, but I am told that it was used to fill in some marsh land, many years ago during WW 1/2)

In my raised bed it consists, of:

last year:
Compost, clay soil. when it rained it messed up! but it was only to get something started.

This year,
Soil, even though there is still clay there, even though alot of it has broken up.
Compost, alot of bags of it.. more there then soil.
chicken manure, (pellets, was on offer at b/q)
Decomposing/decomposed horse manure.
sharp sand, to help remove some of the clay
rotting wood from b/q
Some leaf which was laying down the end of the garden

(when it rains it does not go hard or mess up or into sludge)
So my questions are this ->

Is there anything I can do to continue the improvements iv done. (to be honest, when I went through with the tiller, it went nice and crumbly but there is still clay there.. )

Iv also started my own composter, using worms, brought from the fishing shop, in a big black dustbin, containing mainly veggies from the kitchen (mainly potato peelings, paper, egg shells(crushed) teabags) anything else recommended to put into it?

HOW TO STOP SLUGS/SNAILS!!!? <-- big question. I'm trying the shells of peanuts (the monkey nuts, I think they r called) to stop slugs/snails, but any other methods, would be nice to..

90% of my veggies last year, got eaten by catapillers/snails, when i moved what i thought was a leaf it was completely catterpillers.

Brussel sprouts (Long Island) , always seem to turn to seed, last year, I'm told some lime mixed into the soil, will help - is this correct?

I know drainage is important, so with a fork, iv jumped on it in area's iv cleaned, on my raised bed, as far down as humanly possible, then recovered,

Green house: i have a small green (glass/plastic) green house, some of the planes of glass were broke so replaced with plastic, but I'm told because I'm heating this, it'll harm my Plants ?

I am also using paraffin heaters, in my green house, A guy seemed shocked that i would use this when I told him, He claimed it was dangerous to my plants, but it effects tomatoes worse then it effects anything else, is this true? I know glass does not keep all the heat in, is there a CHEAP way to keep heat in there?

Also, does anyone know where i can get Cheap replacement doors/ rails for my green house? or if anyone is selling one or giving one away, please contact me :P

I hope there is enough information for people to give me some advice/tips.

 

wow i posted that in to different forums, you are the first to respond: thank you

Its not completely plastic, only 4 panels r now plastic. i couldn't figure out freecycle :P. do you have a url to the green house on sale from focus?

ot entirely sure what you mean about jumping on forks <-- What i mean is, i move the soil then when i reach the clay i put a fork and jump on it as hard as i can. so it goes nice and deep.. i do this in rows, were possible

What do you grow, loofah ?
Craig

 

We have a resident hedgehog that patrols my garden, and the immediate neighbours. Our spikey friend takes care of many of our slugs, as do the birds. For particularly slug tempting plants, we try to make the ground around them as uncomfortable as possible for slugs.

Encourage the wildlife to move in, and much of your pest control can be delegated to them.

 

Hi Izard, welcome to the forum. Sounds as if you are just about on top of the problem, you've just got to be patient, it'll take a while to turn the plot around, but if you keep on as you are, you'll get there. Try sourcing some bubble wrap for insulating your greenhouse, sort of double glazing; also if you can get some pallettes or s**** wood from building sites to make deeper raised beds, google 'lasagne gardening' you may find some useful ideas there. Good luck with your efforts.

 

Looks like you've made a pretty good start Craig :thumb:
Some suggestions :-

Your worm bins are brilliant move, but make sure there are drainage holes and ensure you add lots of paper and card or you'll end up with a slimy mess. Worms love the fish glue used in corrugated cardboard. They are also apparently quite partial to marmite!

You could reduce or almost eliminate the chances of your veg being eaten by caterpillars if you cover the beds with insect netting. It isn't terribly expensive. Another thing you could try with your brassicas is growing them through a weed supressing membrane I do this and it helps reduce the possibilty of root fly attacks and slug damage.

Don't scatter the chicken manure pellets until a week or so before sowing/planting or you'll lose much of the benefit due to it being washed away.

Be aware that manure that hasn't completely rotted and wood that hasn't rotted consume nitrogen, which your veg need, during the rotting process. You can add them to the worm bins, but I wouldn't put too much on your beds.

Your sprouts - yes lime can help as they like a slightly alkaline soil and lime also helps reduce the possibility of clubroot. But my best guess for them going to seed was that either they got too dry at an early stage of development or they were not firmed in enough. You really need to press down the soil very firmly when transplanting.

Can't see any problem with paraffin heaters so long as they are properly adjusted. I've used them for 30 years.

You've made a great start:gnthb:

 

Great! some guy was shocked when i told him (i was buying something from him) but i do not see the problem as my seeds have started shooting up now :D - just waiting for the last frost, then they'll be out.. even though i just heard its gonna be a cold one next week ;|

 

"SLugs and Snails"

Chickens? (Well, Bantams if you want to let them lose in the veg garden, Bantams shouldn't eat the veg)

"Sporuts"

Need to be planted very firmly. Don't plant into freshly dug, soft ground. Staking might help (stop them rocking in the wind - although that's probably more a cause of blown sprouts, rather than running to seed)

"Greenhouse"

I would replace the glass with glass - it will keep the heat in much better. Insulate it (or a small part of it) with bubble wrap in the winter. Personally I would use a gas heater, rather than Paraffin, as Gas will produce less condensation - that may be what the person was meaning, as the condensation could lead to fungus etc. problems - but the heater, itself, isn't going to kill the plant - unless it actually cooks them!

Don't bother heating a plastic house, they have next to zero insulation value. (Lining it with bubble wrap would do, but better to start with a glass house, line that, then heat).

"Drainage"

I don't think that "fork holes" will help. That's fine for a lawn, if you veg patch has standing water (for more than an hour or two) then you need to put drains in. Seems like a big project, but it makes a huge difference. Anything else is going to take awful lot of work for the same effect.

If you don't have a standing water problem, then you don;t have a problem! Just don't try to walk on / work the clay soil when it is so wet it just turns to mud. Dig it before the frosts and they will break it all down - and then just rake to a fine tilth when it dries out in March etc. With raised beds don't walk on them EVER! Stick a plank down to walk on, if you have to get on the beds, but better to have beds that are no more than 4' wide and NEVER walk on them. Did I say DON'T WALK ON THEM already?!!

"Compost"

If you have got some fresh-ish manure mix that in with the compost heap, as you build it. it will accelerate the heap.