A NEW YEAR, A NEW START
It’s a good time to get your hands dirty and get to know your soil to plan for growing crops
It’s a new year and a new start for growing crops and ornamentals in raised beds and containers. It pays to understand nature and how things grow so we be er have the ability to reduce pests and diseases and get the most from our plots.
I was taught to care for nature, and especially the soil, by my grandfather. Those lessons, often interrupted by me making mud cakes or ge ing dirty and wet in the pond, have remained with me today (as has ge ing dirty, which I love). I urge everyone where possible to garden without wearing gloves. Ge ing our hands into the soil releases endorphins and serotonin in the brain, the feel-good hormone, and we all need to feel good right now!
Of course, soil will inevitably be too cold or frozen in January to start sowing, but it’s a good time to get to know your soil. Growing in a raised bed makes things easier because you can select the type of soil you want. If budgets permit, go for the best quality topsoil with a 70:30 mix of sandy loam and organic soil improver. Or aim for a nutrient-rich blend of sandy loam, multi-purpose compost and soil conditioner. Soil conditioner is normally graded to less than 1cm (¼in) and manufactured from composted organic materials. If you buy screened topsoil then large clods, stones, leaves, weed seedlings and other deleterious materials have been removed. sprouts, cucumber, garlic, kale, pumpkins, radish, tomatoes, apples, peaches, pears and strawberries, and another that’s neutral to alkaline (pH 6.5-7.5) for artichokes, cauliflowers, cabbages, le uce, okra, pak choi, figs, grapes and plums. Combining home-made compost, mulches, fertilisers, lime (for acidic soil) or sulphur (for alkaline soil) can alter the pH by 1 to 1.5 points over several months. Always follow the instructions on labels. and pests and diseases will be happy as their preferred food source is given to them ‘on a plate’. This is known as monoculture.
Organic gardening is about understanding the life cycle of plants, their needs, their pests and problems and working with nature, which in turn produces healthier and more nutritious food and be er-flowering ornamentals. By doing crop rotation there’s no need to add synthetic fertilisers. Pest and disease cycles are interrupted, soil health is improved, legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, which is invaluable for other crops, deep-rooted crops draw up potassium and phosphorous for shallow-rooted crops, and the larger variety of plants grown increases biodiversity, which in turn is good for beneficial insects and pollinators and increased yields.
A simple method is to rotate the following in this order: legumes, alliums, roots, brassicas. For example, when legumes finish in bed 1, follow with alliums and so on; when roots finish in bed 2, follow with brassicas and then legumes and so on.