Post by Digger on May 30, 2015 20:29:45 GMT
I spent a couple of hours this afternoon planting out my cucurbits.
The soil at that end of my plot is pretty rubbish. I dug it over for the first time this winter, and had to remove masses of rubble and dig out an extensive clay pan a couple of feet down. That's pretty typical of the soil at that end, it's going to take a few seasons to get it into shape.
For that reason I have planted my squashes out on mounds and just concentrated on the soil immediately where I planted them.
I stuck a good couple of forks of well rotted horse manure into each mound and 3 spades full of bought compost - the 125 litre bag from B&Q. It works brilliantly on my heavy clay soil to open it up a bit and combines with the claggy clay, making it better draining and more open.
I've planted out 4 courgettes (2 golden and 2 green bush), a couple of butternut squash, a couple of winter dumpling squashes, some small sweet traditional pumpkins and a good old jack o'lantern for Halloween (although I generally eat a few of them too!).
I hope it warms up a bit, its been a really chilly May and everything seems pretty slow at the moment. It would be nice if they all romp off before the slugs have 'em!
The soil at that end of my plot is pretty rubbish. I dug it over for the first time this winter, and had to remove masses of rubble and dig out an extensive clay pan a couple of feet down. That's pretty typical of the soil at that end, it's going to take a few seasons to get it into shape.
For that reason I have planted my squashes out on mounds and just concentrated on the soil immediately where I planted them.
I stuck a good couple of forks of well rotted horse manure into each mound and 3 spades full of bought compost - the 125 litre bag from B&Q. It works brilliantly on my heavy clay soil to open it up a bit and combines with the claggy clay, making it better draining and more open.
I've planted out 4 courgettes (2 golden and 2 green bush), a couple of butternut squash, a couple of winter dumpling squashes, some small sweet traditional pumpkins and a good old jack o'lantern for Halloween (although I generally eat a few of them too!).
I hope it warms up a bit, its been a really chilly May and everything seems pretty slow at the moment. It would be nice if they all romp off before the slugs have 'em!
