IT ALL BEGINS WITH GREAT SOIL...

When I started gardening, I didn't realise how important it was to get your soil structure right.  After a couple of years of trial and error: I think I've got it just right!  So I thought I should share this step-by-step list of what key items you need to get your soil into perfect condition.

I cannot reitterate enough the importance of getting your soil right so that your vegetables can prosper and to help build the soil structure so that it's full of nutrients to help the plants establish their roots and furthermore so that lots of worms are attracted to the soil to help aerate it.  I fill my beds with plenty of organic matter to give my plants the best start possible.  I find spring is the best time to prepare your soil.

I grow all my vegetables in raised beds and the basic structure when we initally filled them was a good mix of green waste (i.e. compost, old plant waste) and brown matter (twigs, paper, cardboard).

It is crucial to add to your soil every year and feed it.  Along with  the use of organic liquid fertilisers throughout the growing season - I focus on getting my soil ready in spring.  As my summer crops die away, I sow mustard seed in the empty beds which I'm not using for autumn/winter crops.  I then dig it in to the garden along with:

Leaves collected in the autumn from my two big elm trees.  I rake them up and put them in big black rubbish bags, poke some holes in the sides with a garden fork and pour some comfrey or worm wees into the bag.  I leave these bags down the back of the garden until they're ready in the spring.

 

Animal manure is another key element to dig in - my preference is to use a combination of sheep and horse poo.  But I ensure that the horse poo is well-rotted before digging it in.  I usually purchase bags of the stuff in autumn and hide it down the bag of the garden with my bags of leaves for about 3 months before putting it into the garden.  Each of these are high in potassium, nitrogen and phosphorous.

Ash from the fireplace is also dug in - this is a great source of trace elements!  Sometimes I also just scatter this on the plants throughout the growing season.

Seaweed is an absolute must for my garden.  I don't bother rinsing off the salt and sand - the whole lot just goes into the garden!  I go down to our local beach after a store and collect huge bags of seaweed and put it straight into the garden.  I suggest you don't leave this lying around for days and do it immediately as it starts to break down very quickly in a bag and smells terrible!  It really doesn't matter what type of seaweed you use - I just grab whatever is on the beach - even the dry stuff works!

Coffee Grinds are another favourite of mine.  I get bags and bags of this from our local café for free!  It is high in nitrogen and when I'm not digging it into the garden - I feed it to my worms in my worm farm.  They just love it! 

Blood and Bone is a key product to add to your soil.  Be careful if you have a dog as this will attract them!  We don't have a dog, but sometimes the neighbours dogs come wandering over to have a sniff.

Next...and probably the most crucial is compost.  I try to compost almost everything in my garden/kitchen.  And what doesn't go into the compost, gets fed to the worms.  All my garden waste goes in there including all our grass clippings except tomato & potato plants as they carry diseases sometimes which can carry on living in the soil.  In the spring, my compost is nice and crumbly - really friable like a crumbling chocolate cake.  That's the consistency you want!  In this picture, the compost is not ready to go into the garden as it hasn't gone nice and brown and still needs to break down.  Compost is excellent for helping the soil retain the moisture so your plants don't dry out during the hot summer months. 

 

 

Some people also swear by adding lime.  I don't because I think all this organic matter I add is sufficient...

Dig it all in and hey presto!  You have the ultimate soil to grow your delicious organic vegetables!  I also follow this recipe when I convert my lawn into garden beds once I've broken up all the grass.  Below is a picture of a part of my lawn which I've converted into a little potager garden.  The broccoli and cabbage were grown from seed 8 weeks ago and they are doing exceptionally well!