The majority of allotment sites in Ashford are on clay soils. On these heavy, often wet soils, it is a constant struggle to try to get the soil as light and fluffy as possible.
It's also vital to avoid, whenever possible, squashing the soil down again after you've dug and forked it. Even after this relatively dry winter, the water table is high and the lower layers of soil wet. Once squashed down by heavy boots, the soil becomes an airless, Plasticene-like squidge. Roots like air round them as well as water and soil - in airless conditions the fine roots of many types of veg just die, and the crop is either poor or fails altogether.
It's also vital to avoid, whenever possible, squashing the soil down again after you've dug and forked it. Even after this relatively dry winter, the water table is high and the lower layers of soil wet. Once squashed down by heavy boots, the soil becomes an airless, Plasticene-like squidge. Roots like air round them as well as water and soil - in airless conditions the fine roots of many types of veg just die, and the crop is either poor or fails altogether.
RSS Feed
