Take it to the max!
Ruth suggests ways of making the most of your plot
IF the past seven months have taught us anything, it’s that we have returned to being a nation of gardeners and crop-growers, which is a fantastic thing.
At the start of lockdown, when we were all facing spring and summer confined to our homes, millions sought solace and sanity in their gardens. With garden centres closed, horticultural websites almost broke under the strain of extra demand, in some cases seeing one month’s orders outstripping what was usually expected for a whole summer.
Hopefully a lot of firsttime gardeners will want to continue their growing ‘journey’ (to use a ghastly and hackneyed phrase), but many are wondering how to produce brilliant results again next year.
The answer lies in your soil. It is a living thing and if you worked it hard this year growing a variety of crops and flowers, it will need replenishing if it’s to perform as well again.
The easiest way is to weed it and then cover it with a 2-3in (5-8cm) layer of well rotted compost. Do this when the soil is already dampened by rain and leave it.
The winter elements will break down the mulch, worms will also work it into the ground, and this will help enrich your soil and improve its structure. Then, in spring, I like to fork in generous handfuls of chicken manure pellets to give soil an extra boost before planting and sowing.
If your soil is heavy clay that is slow to drain, or thin and poor, meaning plants don’t reach their full potential, digging in lots of well rotted compost and manure now will make your soil more workable and fertile next spring.
A lot of readers have been writing to say they don’t have much space, but can they still grow fruit and veg?. The answer is a resounding YES! Many crops will grow perfectly happily in small borders, containers and even hanging baskets.
Growbags don’t take up much room and with some clever planning you can even grow two or three crops in the same spot. This is an ancient practice pioneered by First Nation Americans who would grow beans, pumpkins and squash and sweetcorn together.
The low-growing squashes shade the soil, preventing it from drying out, while the beans climb the sweetcorn, fixing nitrogen in the soil as they grow. Everyone’s a winner!
There is no need to go to these lengths in your own garden, but there is plenty you can do to repeat this year’s successes in future years.