Working on soil improvement

Tuesday 17th January
Over Sunday morning and today most of my work has been directed towards improving the soil on my plot. On Sunday I crammed even more leaves into my stacked bags before shifting some soil out of my unglazed greenhouse and emptying the compost bags into the hollows ready to dig in.
I took home some parsnips, one very cankered, and some small ones. This year's crop is very variable.
On my way out I met a chap delivering a trailer load of mixed goat and chicken manure with hay and straw, much better than the majority of the 'manure' in the heaps. I must bring the trailer down to collect some.
Today I brought the trailer. As I loaded the fresh goat manure into my trailer I realised it was too strong to use directly so I put a good layer onto two of my compost bins.
​One of my neighbours was very happy to take what was left in the trailer when my bins were full and overflowing.


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I then went round again, this time collecting the normal horse litter to mulch one of the vacant patches on my plot.

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​Finally I got out my 'loppers' and started on pruning the gooseberries. I spent some time removing the branches that were laying, or almost laying, on the ground, being very careful as these gooseberries are covered in vicious spines.



Later I shall come down with some very thick gloves and trim back the rest of the branches to get a better crop - as long as I net them to keep the birds off!



I had just finished replenishing the rat poison when a near neighbour offered me a parsnip that put my measly harvest on Sunday completely to shame. Over 4 inches across the top and tapering beautifully down for over a foot! And he had several more like it in his bag! We discussed sowing techniques and variety (White Gem). It seemed only right to offer to help his wife keep the plot going if she needed help while he goes into hospital for a hip replacement next week.

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