Luckily the water logging on the site was only a little worse yesterday after the storm.
Green manures have largely died back on the plot. The communal compost pile got a little addition of oversize bits from some sieved compost to help inoculate it.
I’m so pleased to see this clip. A main criticism I have with the market garden type no dig set ups has been the volume & cost of the compost they bring in. That’s fine if you can trust in & afford it but not easy on a non commercial plot.
The phacelia patch is alive with literally hundreds of honey bees, solitary bees and bumble bees. I’ve let it swamp the potatoes a little because we need the bees to be happy and healthy more than ever. We’ll have plenty of gorgeous new potatoes in a month’s time.
The greenhouse has also been mulched. It is still home to a few stragglers and spares: mostly beans, melons and aubergines. The sweet potatoes need a bit more growth before planting out.
The broad beans have comfortably seen off the black fly threat so far, a few plants have needed help getting rid of them but not many. Once again, the field beans have proved they are far less susceptible to black fly than broad beans are. They are looking really good overall.
I’ve mulched the beds with dried hay and put some wood chip down for paths. We’ve no rain in sight so this is an early measure to conserve moisture in the soil and the mulch will help to keep the soil temperature down. It should also help feed the soil life and reduce leaching of CO2, water or nutrients into the air.
I pulled up this mares-tail in the greenhouse where it had snuck in. I was ecstatic to see the dreadlocks on the roots. It means the soil biology in there is in good shape.
I’m not very patient but it feels a slow growing year. I’ve had sporadic germination of carrots in the beds so I’ve also sown more carrots in tubs elsewhere on the plot.
The animals are hoiking out beans between every visit. I think they are collateral damage of animals trying to get at the worms or bugs in the leaf mould.