Things to do in March

If you visit any gardening website this month, pretty much all you will find is "a list of things to do in March." I assume this is because the journalists are all too busy enjoying our recent spells of milder weather to write anything new and are happy to post the same thing they did last year.

Anyway, here is what I've done in March, which is different to last year:

• Planted Sunflower and Gazania seeds - never grown Gazanias before, got them free off the front of a magazine and not sure where I will put them yet. They're coming up already.
• Put a load of Chive seeds in, these I collected last year from my own plants so not sure if they will germinate, I have patchy results with collecting seed.
• Planted some squash seeds. I have read (in a list of things to do in March) that squashes benefit from early planting because they take so long to reach maturity, so I've popped some seeds of 'Avalon F1' in pots on the windowsill.

Other things happening on the plot this month include burning of old rubbish that has been stacked up since August waiting for a dry spell to burn it, and adding organic fertiliser to my garlic and onions. Well I think they're onions, they could be shallots, I don't know.  I've also dug up most of my compost heap and used the compost on a couple of beds, but I will need a load more for the rest of the plot. As mentioned before, I don't think I've been adding enough.  I have the number of a local farmer who I'm told will deliver a trailer-full of locally composted green waste on his tractor, I will try this and report back.

Digging it

I can't seem to bend in the middle these days. So, I've been looking at ways that I can still achieve what I want without hurting myself.

Normal spades and forks are just too short. So the first thing I tried was a long-handled shovel. I've seen these advertised as Irish or Cornish shovels, but I always think of them as American, the sort you see in the movies with a long handle. This is OK, but it's very heavy, and really isn't much use for proper digging, because the pointed, curved blade is the wrong shape. It is still great for shifting compost and, unsurprisingly, shovelling. The label on it said 'good for shovelling material.' clearly the person in charge of labelling had run out of ideas that day.

Second I considered the no-dig technique. This is more complicated than it sounds - it's described all over the web, so I won't repeat it here, if you're interested there are several good articles on Charles Dowding's website. I've discounted using the full version of this technique, mainly because of the huge volume of compost that seems to be needed for it to be really effective, but also because I'm not convinced that it's the best answer for my soil. I think, on reflection, I just haven't been adding enough compost, manure etc to my plot. The amounts described in the no-dig technique are massively higher than I've been using.

Finally, we come to my new friend, pictured above, the Azada, a tool imported from Spain by Get Digging.  The Get Digging website is well worth a look, there are literally hundreds of customer testimonials on there as well as descriptions of the tool itself, as well as lots of other backsaver tools. Intrigued, I ordered a heavy-medium azada a couple of weeks ago and waited anxiously for the snow to melt so I could see if it was all it was cracked up to be. Well. I don't like to speak too soon, but I think this could be what I've been waiting for. It's really easy to use, you chop into the ground with the heavy blade, and lever the soil up with the long handle, no bending required. You have to be quite energetic, but it doesn't put the stress directly on your spine like a spade. Brilliant! I've used it twice now, and so far, quite a lot of digging done and no bad back. I reserve my final judgement until I get the chance to do a bit more with it, but so far, I'm very impressed.

Give me a break!

When digging at the front of my plot I keep thinking 'if only my whole plot had soil like this.' So, as previously discussed here, I decided to move my compost heap away from the front of my plot, in the hope that there would be good soil underneath.  Early signs are good, the soil looks quite crumbly (gardeners say 'friable', not sure why, when 'crumbly' will do). I started with enthusiasm, but I forgot the joys of unearthing buried treasure such as broken glass, rubbish and bricks on a neglected plot. Here is a picture of the giant lump of concrete which seriously slowed my progress with the new bed. Eventually I levered it out with my long shovel, but I can't lift it, so it may have to stay as a 'feature.'

Progress

Progress is being made on my 2010 plans. In the photo below, you can see:
Front right, garlic, planted using a sort of semi 'no dig' method. More on that later. Behind that, new location for the compost heap. Further behind that, the area to be used for more compost, & maybe my storage chest; in front of the shed, I will just lay to grass for now (whilst looking at this area try not to look at John's pristine plot next door. I find it helps to cover one eye). Middle left, you can just see this year's overwintered broad beans, and just in frame on the front left, is the cage for my purple sprouting broccoli, which at the present time is neither purple nor sprouting.