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slc1

By Slc1

Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

Allotment Advise Please! Allotment at last all cleared of WEEDS ETC. What can I grow this time of year fruit OR veg? Do I need to add any nutrients to the soil?




Answers

 

Your best bet is to sow green manure on your beds to provide nutrients for next season. You will need to do that very soon, while the ground is still warm...to aid germination. You can of course plant fruit trees....garlic and onion sets are another option....a bit late for brassicas....

7 Oct, 2010

 

Thank you! Where can I get the green manure? What fruit trees are good to grow?

7 Oct, 2010

 

'Garden Organic' catalogue has a variety of green manure seeds on offer.

7 Oct, 2010

 

For green manure, grazing rye is one of the best, or better winter tares, which is a legume and will add nitrogen to the soil when it's dug in.
I'd be tempted to grow a few winter/spring vegetables as well. It's not too late to plant some spring cabbage plants if you can get some. Broad Beans, a winter hardy variety, can be sown any time from now to mid November. They will get established as small plants which overwinter, but will give you an earlier broad bean crop in the late spring.
Nutrients, such as an organic fertiliser, should be added in the spring before or at planting, as otherwise they will wash out in winter.
It's a good idea if you don't green manure to cover the soil up with cardboard and any rotted compost you can get, or old lawn cuttings. That will mean you can simply pull the mulch materials back next spring and get started on weed free ground. Similarly a sheet of black polythene over the ground will keep it weed free, warm the ground early in spring, and give you a head start.

8 Oct, 2010

 

I've split my beds, mostly green manure and autumn onion sets and garlic. I bought my green manure from http://www.greenmanure.co.uk/ they arrived quickly. It's a mix of red & crimson clover, mustard and italian rye which makes up their winter mix. It germinated in about a week.

8 Oct, 2010

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