preparing the allotment for winter
October - and work preparing the allotment for winter and the next growing season is well in hand.
Leaving the soil bare is not good for wildlife. Ground cover provides habitat for invertebrates in the cold winter months.
Leaving the soil bare also leaves it vulnerable to compaction by winter rains as well as the leaching away of vital soil nutrients.
Looking up the plot..
In the ground formerly filled with potatoes we have a strip of phacelia followed by several strips of field beans. This will become the legume and corn bed next year.
Further up the allotment, grazing rye has filled space that had grown summer onions. Overwintering leeks will stand tall until next spring when this will soil will be mulched with enriched compost ready for potatoes.
2 comments:
It is very smart to grow a cover crop and till it in next spring. I have variable luck doing it though. I use season extending techniques that mean if I plant a cover crop the seeds go in the ground in late November when the ground is so cold they often don't germinate. I still do it every year though.
You're right there, Will. It is important to sow into ground that is warm, when the days are still long enough to allow germination and growth to take place.
The other point is that I try to leave the soil as undisturbed as possible. So, my overwintering cover is usually hoed or chopped, to preserve the soil structure.
Cheers Rob
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