This is the last week you can order our Vegetable Box to Grow. Orders have to be in by the 30th March. We’re trialling it for customers from our Devon farm (Wash) this year.
Here is a guide to preparing your soil before you receive your box:
Boxes to grow – early preparation
Our boxes to grow come with an instruction folder giving you information on each plant and how to care for it but it helps to have covered off a couple of things before your plants arrive. Your site needs to be as sheltered and as light as possible – the best position will be south facing and near to the house for convenience. Whether you are growing in containers, raised beds, an allotment or digging up a new patch these are two fundamentals that need to be considered. Two good ways of deciding if you have enough light are:
- See if your growing area is in at least 6 hours of daylight a day
OR - Kneel down to plant height and look up – if you can see 60% of sky then this should be ok.
Drainage, soil quality and shade also need to be considered. The site should be free draining but not so much so that is does not retain moisture. Shade is also something that needs to be examined over a day, to see if certain trees, plants or buildings do not cast a shadow over the growing area. Remember this can not only change throughout the day but also the seasons – higher and lower sun paths for the summer and winter. For convenience the site should be near a water supply and close enough so that it can be visited frequently to keep an eye on pest and diseases and general plant health.
Soil preparationIdeal soil is fertile, moisture retentive and free draining. It will be rich dark brown in colour and easy to dig. Don’t worry if yours isn’t like this – not many soils are! (Feel smug if yours is) You can improve yours by digging in a soil conditioner (compost or manure). This should have been done in the autumn to give time for the organic matter to decompose. However if as usual things are left to the last minute then you can add in compost or manure any time now. Make sure that this is done when the soil is not too wet, working the soil in wet conditions will increase compaction and damage the soil structure. A seed bed will need to be prepared before immediate planting but this can be done just before/or when the seedlings arrive – more information on this in the growing guide delivered with the product.
You can grow these vegetables in anything from containers to converting an area of lawn into a new patch. If you are growing in containers then remember that drainage is important here too, make sure there are holes in the bottom of the container and add some rocks or even left over polystyrene packaging chips. Add a mixture of compost and manure, this will provide the balance of nutrients and structure needed.
Raised beds are easy to work and will create less digging – there is a huge range of information on the internet on how to build your own beds or there are simple kits available too.
If you are planning on converting an area of land, then you will need to remove the top layer of turf. A good thing to do with this turf is to create a turf stack. This is creating squares of the turf and layering them on top of each other. This will eventually rot down and create a good compost for future growing seasons. The ground will then need to be double dug or cultivated mechanically, adding in organic matter and removing stones and weeds. Double digging is where you dig to two spades depth and incorporate organic matter at the same time, please check books for further information on this if needed. Mechanical cultivation can be done with a rotavator.
If you have the time and want to put a little bit more effort into the garden then you can test the pH of the soil and adapt it accordingly. A pH test kit can be brought from a garden centre, nurseries or hardware stores, or most garden centres will be able to test a sample for you. Neutral soil is pH 7, if it is lower than pH 7 it is acidic, if it is greater than pH7 it is alkali. You can make your soil less acidic by adding lime. You can make your soil less alkali by adding sulphur, this should be thoroughly mixed into the soil before planting. Things like sawdust, composted leaves, wood chips, leaf mould and peat moss, will also lower the soil pH. Warning – please follow manufacturer instructions and safety advice when using chemicals.
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