Soil problems perhaps?

[Guzzik]

Hi to all. Ok, our plot was given to us last July. It was totally weed infested but stuffed full of potatoes...........We lifted over 90lb of the things as we were clearing and digging over, actually, five times I dug that plot over and we are STILL getting spuds coming up from the previous owners efforts!!

Anyway, the previous owner did nothing towards putting any goodness back into the plot for around five years, maybe four, the committee are undecided on length of time bless them.

As I have put elsewhere on here, our first five rows of peas failed utterly to come up as did the second load put in. All runner beans and French beans have failed or are not up to any kind of standard.

Lettuce have done well though as did all the Snowball turnips and all the radish............other than them turning to billiard balls in a very short time!! The Snowball Turnips were picked at golfball size but were solid! Same with the radish!

Carrots have decided to come up after a second lot of seed sown BUT, in places some of them are looking sad, same with the Beetroot. One row is growing like it should, the row next is not, the next row is half decent, the next row crap................

So, anyone got any clues please? We are about to put down several bags of blood, fish and bone meal over the autumn/winter to try and put goodness into the soil, we did get a load of manure delivered last November, this all went in, I don't think I need to remanure this year....Hopefully!

[Snadger]

Hi to all. Ok, our plot was given to us last July. It was totally weed infested but stuffed full of potatoes...........We lifted over 90lb of the things as we were clearing and digging over, actually, five times I dug that plot over and we are STILL getting spuds coming up from the previous owners efforts!!

Anyway, the previous owner did nothing towards putting any goodness back into the plot for around five years, maybe four, the committee are undecided on length of time bless them.

As I have put elsewhere on here, our first five rows of peas failed utterly to come up as did the second load put in. All runner beans and French beans have failed or are not up to any kind of standard.

Lettuce have done well though as did all the Snowball turnips and all the radish............other than them turning to billiard balls in a very short time!! The Snowball Turnips were picked at golfball size but were solid! Same with the radish!

Carrots have decided to come up after a second lot of seed sown BUT, in places some of them are looking sad, same with the Beetroot. One row is growing like it should, the row next is not, the next row is half decent, the next row crap................

So, anyone got any clues please? We are about to put down several bags of blood, fish and bone meal over the autumn/winter to try and put goodness into the soil, we did get a load of manure delivered last November, this all went in, I don't think I need to remanure this year..Hopefully..!

Hopefully the manure wasn't host to aminowhatchamallit poisoning?

[Snadger]

This is the stuff...Aminopyralid!!!!!!!

Gardeners warned over manure poison - Yorkshire Post

[Capsid]

I think you should add the blood fish and bone in the spring, otherwise it will just get washed out with the rain over winter.

I don't see how you have a soil problem if one row is fine and the other is not, if the soil is bad then everything would be failing.

The problems with the beans/peas is probably due to mice which are notorious for eating them. The other problems may be due to lack of water in this hot weather.

I'd continue to add manure as you can never add enough. I advise starting a compost heap too and then you can add that back to the soil.

[BilboWaggins]

Hopefully the manure wasn't host to aminowhatchamallit poisoning?

Lots of good info about Aminopryalid poisoning at the Green Lane Allotments site

(Snadger's version is easier to say!)

[zazen999]

If you added manure then I'm stumped as to why the bad crops if it isn't Aminopyralid as it should have added load of nutrients.

Can you take some photos of the bean or pea foliage, so that we can try to rule it out...

[Guzzik]

Hi peeps and thanks for the replies. No, it is not the manure with the poison in it, we did the old "two pots and four beans in each pot with manure mix in one and no manure mix in tother, no problesm were noticed.

CAPSID. Louise and I tend to agree with you on this, we just wanted confirmation on our thinking hence the thread.

I did a full soil test last year and it came up with nice PH but bugger all of anything else, hence the manure which, if you all pardon the pun, was crap..........All straw and half bales of hay and LOTS of Shaggy Inkcap mushrooms but very little sh*t.........Still, it put bulking into the soil.

On the Blood, Fish and Bone Meal side of things, I am getting various answers to how long it lasts in the soil, some say 8 months to a year, others say 6 to 8 weeks only..........Confusing.

Oh, and we have two big wooden compost bins strated and five of the Dalek type bins full as well!

[shirlthegirl43]

You should get peas to grow to some extent no matter how neglected the soil has been. I cleared a patch of nettles a few years back and got an okay crop of peas. Have you been direct sowing them or starting in modules / roottrainers and then planting out? If direct sowing, mice or other critters could be to blame so it may be worth sowing some in modules or whatever suits you and planting out when they have proved they are growing best of luck with it anyhoo.

[Guzzik]

Have you been direct sowing them or starting in modules / roottrainers and then planting out? If direct sowing, mice or other critters could be to blame so it may be worth sowing some in modules or whatever suits you and planting out when they have proved they are growing best of luck with it anyhoo.

Hi, the thing is, I did not think that mice would run of with FIVE packets of pea seed!!!! TWICE!!!!!!! We were going down thinking we would see GREEN mice. Yes, we will be growing in modules, well, plastic guttering for next spring. I am also not going to listen to the "experts" anymore down there who said "Nah mate, jest bury them deeper, mice wont 've em then!"

My last plot in Bournemouth didn't have these problesm hence why I am a bit confused (old age as well methinks). The only problem I had then were pidgeons, that problem got sorted very quickly via netting.

[shirlthegirl43]

Not too late for you to try an early pea like Kelvedon Wonder if you get them started now.

[Guzzik]

Not too late for you to try an early pea like Kelvedon Wonder if you get them started now.

Mmmmmmmm, my wife is hinting rather strongly about doing this NOW.

[Two_Sheds]

As the others have said already, your problems are due to pests (mice, slugs) more than your soil.
Chit your peas before you sow them, then the mice will leave them alone. Don't plant in cold wet soil (anything) or it will rot.

Carrots won't break through soil that caps, so sow a drill then top with MPC. Slugs will graze them off as they appear, so take precautions.

My radish are hard as billiard balls too: they don't like summer. Mine do best from October & March sowings

You can still sow carrots, peas & beans (dwarf are quicker than climbers) now

[Flummery]

I always sow peas and beans in modules or small pots as I find they get off to a better start -and you don't have gappy rows or nothing at all of you get a mouse attack. I don't think it's your soil. You can grow a crop (not a brilliant one, but still, a crop) in very impoverished soil.

[Guzzik]

I see Guzzik's problems have been identified as pest, not manure, but in today's Garden Organic newsletter there is more on the aminopryalid problem

Now then.........I saw somewhere else a post about this "stuff" being re introduced and the "government" is doing nothing about it. The latest info I was told is that the onus will be on the farmer to NOT sell/give away his muck for one year............Or otherwise allow the stuff to leave his/her land for one year..........Wonder how this will work

Oh, and we picked the first of our Cylindrical Beetroot this morning............I cooked up a batch and tasted one of them............I utterly now refuse to allow the stuff to be sold to the shoppe!!! It tastes too piggin nice for them

[emilymup]

just a quick thought - was your muck well rotted? If the straw/hay wasn't rotted before it went in the ground it could have been taking up the nitrogen to rot it down. The nitrogen will be returned into the soil once it has done its job to break down the organic matter, which will then be beneficial to the soil and your crops.

like I said, just a thought!! hope all goes well for you. We took on a new plot last autumn and funnily enough we had the same problems as you - plot never been fed muck or anything else and they only used it to grow potatoes. The OH has been digging them up for almost a year now and they are still springing up everywhere. We were lucky enough though to source some 10 year old muck - well rotted and aminopyralid free - as opposed to some muck we had last year that was contaminated and we lost everything - on another plot!!!!!