in the garden The wind had really been at it. Plastic pots knocked from their shelves rolled in circles across the deck. The cold frames were pushed half a foot out of place. In clearing up, I reorganised the mess of plastic compost bags that had accumulated under my mildewy potting table. I dragged them onto the lawn and laid each freshly on top of the other, held in place with an old brick. Ten, fifty, eighty. Including the bags I’ve put to use elsewhere in the cold frames and the car, there are surely nearly a hundred collected over the two years we’ve been living here. Most are from the bulk orders of Dalefoot that formed the base of all the beds. The rest are from manure, and big brand peat-free composts bought for containers.
If I may suggest: not all plans require fertility to be added to the soil and can thrive in such aggregates as crushed concrete, ceramics and bricks. Perhaps an additional and contributing approach is to also allow for low fertility environments to flourish. I am toying with this since I also rely on bagged, brought-in compost, manure and wood chip. I am trying to evolve my gardening thinking by reducing organic input. It is a journey!
indeed!! I'm learning so much from John Little's experimenting, and everything John Welsh has been doing with tree pits, and especially in an edible context learning loads from Huw Richards about low-fertility growing. I'm trying to phase into having the back borders be full of edible+non-edible perennials that can sort themselves and need very little, and the fronts be more high-nutrient areas for annual veg.
There is a point in one’s life where your mind may turn to the largest mammal in a small garden, when this time comes google Joseph Jenkins humanure handbook
You speak my language Meg. I too have to quell the guilt of compost bags. We only have a small wormery and, because of neighbourhood vermin, use the 'dalek' just for garden waste, which composts at a snail's pace. Charles Dowding just made me despair on YouTube, promoting 'no-dig' whilst merrily shifting 1 tonne of compost he'd brought by lorry into his large holding. We use a bokashi bin for uncompostable waste, with just enough veg patch space to dig it in. And don't get me going on abandoned poisened wild vegetation!
oh man, i know the snail's pace of the dalek! I've found Huw Richards' approach to compost and low-intervention gardening really refreshing compared to Charles Dowding. Much friendlier for smaller spaces! Though I'm not sure any of the really big gardeners truly know the constraints of a small garden or make advice applicable to us.
Lovely piece Meg. I share your unease with bought-in compost. This year I converted a whole veg bed to comfrey instead, to make more of my own. And thanks for this wonderful history of weeds. I've just started reading Anna Chapman's new book Understorey: A year among weeds - one for your bookshelf if you don't have it already!
Thank you! That's such a good idea, I should really be planting comfrey everywhere there's space for it. And thank you for the rec, I'm adding that to my list!!
If I may suggest: not all plans require fertility to be added to the soil and can thrive in such aggregates as crushed concrete, ceramics and bricks. Perhaps an additional and contributing approach is to also allow for low fertility environments to flourish. I am toying with this since I also rely on bagged, brought-in compost, manure and wood chip. I am trying to evolve my gardening thinking by reducing organic input. It is a journey!
indeed!! I'm learning so much from John Little's experimenting, and everything John Welsh has been doing with tree pits, and especially in an edible context learning loads from Huw Richards about low-fertility growing. I'm trying to phase into having the back borders be full of edible+non-edible perennials that can sort themselves and need very little, and the fronts be more high-nutrient areas for annual veg.
There is a point in one’s life where your mind may turn to the largest mammal in a small garden, when this time comes google Joseph Jenkins humanure handbook
😆 Somehow I don't think my neighbours would welcome that development!
You speak my language Meg. I too have to quell the guilt of compost bags. We only have a small wormery and, because of neighbourhood vermin, use the 'dalek' just for garden waste, which composts at a snail's pace. Charles Dowding just made me despair on YouTube, promoting 'no-dig' whilst merrily shifting 1 tonne of compost he'd brought by lorry into his large holding. We use a bokashi bin for uncompostable waste, with just enough veg patch space to dig it in. And don't get me going on abandoned poisened wild vegetation!
oh man, i know the snail's pace of the dalek! I've found Huw Richards' approach to compost and low-intervention gardening really refreshing compared to Charles Dowding. Much friendlier for smaller spaces! Though I'm not sure any of the really big gardeners truly know the constraints of a small garden or make advice applicable to us.
The Dutch word for weed is 'onkruid', loosely meaning a 'non'-wild plant. But that is as far as my etymological knowledge goes...
Lovely piece Meg. I share your unease with bought-in compost. This year I converted a whole veg bed to comfrey instead, to make more of my own. And thanks for this wonderful history of weeds. I've just started reading Anna Chapman's new book Understorey: A year among weeds - one for your bookshelf if you don't have it already!
Thank you! That's such a good idea, I should really be planting comfrey everywhere there's space for it. And thank you for the rec, I'm adding that to my list!!
Comfrey is great if you have the space (Bocking 14 doesn't self seed everywhere) Comes with added happy bee bonus! :-)