Saturday 20th February, 2016


Plot A - February 2016


A2a and a map of the slimy trails of an allotment gardener of Nowhere in particular

Saturday 20th February 2016 found an allotment gardener of Nowhere in particular enduring another soaking of winter rain albeit a mild one. What a difference a day makes! The journey from Plot B and 'the new forest garden of Nowhere in particular' to A2 was a slippery one; the paths had become more like muddy channels and I wondered if it was wise of me to be making busy about the site on such a day. But I think I was there for good and I was intent on continuing with preparing the grounds, or raised beds, for the main growing season ahead. A2a was first on my mental list of beds to prepare by digging some trenches and filling with compost and/or kitchen waste in order to provide the legumes and their roots (runner beans in the case of A2a) with an enhanced soil medium. This is a process recommended by Geoff Hamilton in, The Organic Garden Book, although Hamilton digs a wider trench.


Field Notes - 20th Feb 2016

 2 trenches were dug along the length of the bed

 compost incorporating composted kitchen waste and spent soil from polytunnel

 compost lightly trodden into trench

 pH readings of the raised bed soil were 6-6.5 - the remainder of this trench was treated 
with a coarse limed compost.

 limed compost bay in Plot B

the other trench had kitchen waste and liquid manure/urine soaked newspaper 
added along the entire length.

4 barrow loads of compost/kitchen waste were added to the trenches. 

Elsewhere on the map of making busy, the work of worms was in evidence, in particular from the depths of the new Jerusalem Artichoke bed - 'JA' - on the map.


As well as the freshly churned dung of the Annelida there is also, for the moderately keen eyed field student, a slug to be seen in the photo study above. It could be a small garden slug - Arion hortensis - and their potentially destructive presence may have been boosted by the predominantly wet and mild winter so far. Still on the slimy trail of the perennial foes of 'the allotment gardeners of Nowhere in particular' I found myself absorbed by their slippery meanderings in evidence beneath the polythene sheets used to cover some of the raised beds as a means to warm the soil and defend against the adverse effects of persistent heavy rain. While providing protection for the soil, these thin plastic blankets may be propagating and incubating slugs on a most unwelcome scale.

high above the slimy trails of 'the allotment garden of Nowhere in particular'






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