Preparing potatoes for planting
reusing potting mix that has already grown a previous crop. aerated potting mix that’s well drained warms up much faster than dense, waterlogged clay. Interestingly, the soil temperature is much more stable than the air temperature. Early the following morning, the air temperature was 11°C, the raised bed and the copper were 12°C and the clay soil was still at 10°C.So why does it matter?
Seeds need specific temperatures for germination.
You’ll have much better results if you wait until the temperature is in the right range before sowing spring and summer crops. Beans, for example, need soil temperatures of 18-25°C for reliable germination. There are some soil warming techniques to speed things up. Try covering a garden bed with a cloche or a sheet of plastic to warm up the soil for a couple of weeks before planting. I’m using the polycarbonate sheets to warm up my soggiest garden bed. are meticulous recreated, they use marked measuring tapes to line up the vegetables in regimental ranks.I don’t bother to use a ruler as I went ‘‘digital’’ long ago. Nothing electronic, just my fingers, thumbs and whole gumbooted foot. My handspan is 18cm so I allow a tad over a handspan between seedlings that need to be 20cm apart. The width of my hand including the thumb is 10cm and that of my index finger is 1cm. From the tip of my index finger to the second joint is 5cm and my gumboot is 27cm long. Learn the measurements of your own hands and feet as a guide when sowing seeds or thinning out seedlings. When diluting fertiliser, it’s handy to know that a standard plastic bucket is 10 litres. For me, one handful is 75g, so I can work out how many handfuls of fertiliser or gypsum to spread. crops. But soils are often too wet and puggy to dig. Alternatively you can chop and drop – just let the cut foliage lie on the surface as mulch. I avoid digging altogether so the soil profile isn’t disturbed and I don’t have the space to let beds lie empty while the green crop breaks down. Instead I shred my green crop (peas usually) with whatever prunings are on hand and spread the lot as mulch around the next crop that’s planted.