soil prep help please!

[Arnica]

Hi everyone,

I''ve just taken over an allotment.. we had our first day up there yesterday which made me realise just how little I know about gardening!

I really want to plant some runner beans (today!), I have a patch that has just had poatoes dug out of it and I was wondering if I could plant in it straight away, or if I need to prep the soil first?

If I put a layer of store bought compost on, do I have to wait before getting started?

Any advice very gratefully received!

[Bigmallly]

Hello & welcome to the vine Arnica. You can either put your beans straight in or if you have any compost (bought or home made), dig a small trench, fill it with compost then plant your beans into that.

[Greenleaves]

Welcome Arnica, as Big Mally says as the compost will hold enough feed to get them going. Be mindful not to let the ground dry out when you plant them.

[teakdesk]

Welcome Arnica. Hopefully you have got some beans sown today, they will be fine albeit a bit later than normal.

Lots of other things to consider sowing right now such as french beans, round-seeded peas, perpetual spinach or other beets and chard, leeks are ready to plant out if you can get some from a garden centre.

Hopefully you will have neighbours who will give you their excess plants to get you going... and tell you what grows well on their site!

[BertieFox]

Runner beans will be an excellent crop to plant now, as they make nitrogen in their root nodules and you can leave this in the soil by cutting them off at the base and leaving them in place at the end of the season. In fact, if we have a mild winter, runner beans will often grow again from the roots, just like dahlia tubers, though some people would question whether they are any better or earlier doing that than sowing new seed.

[Mr Bones]

Hi Arnica; welcome to the vine and congratulations on getting your new plot. Just this week sown a second planting of climbing French beans so it shouldn't be too late for you. Get them in the ground and see what happens, you can always liquid feed them as the season progresses.

[Arnica]

Thanks everyone,

We got some going yesterday... We'll have to wait and see now. It felt really good to get something planted rather than just weeding!

And thanks to your responses I had a very little bit of confidence about doing it! I'm a first time gardener so it all seemed rather daunting this weekend... But I'm hoping that come right with time

Will definitely try and track down some leeks and have a try at sowing a few more things.

Thanks again!

[Bill HH]

Leeks are a great vegetable to plant, they grow slowly but the good news is, it doesn't matter, they will keep in the ground until you need them and can go right through winter into next spring. Have a search for planting leeks on google or you tube. If you are new to gardening then I highly recommend you-tube, just type in allotments in the search box (on you-tube) and you will find some fantastic vids that real gardeners make about what they are doing.

Some of those I watch regularly are

Allotment diary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yNWz2wR3hM
Baconsoda
The Hortchannel

and from this very forum
Samuralord

[Arnica]

Brilliant tip about the YouTube videos.

Learnt A LOT! Thanks!!

[teakdesk]

Brilliant tip about the YouTube videos.

Learnt A LOT! Thanks!!

Keep in mind though that everything you read on here or see on You-Tube or TV must be tailored by you for your conditions.

And what works one season might not the next!


Gardening, like life, is a massive experiment. That's what makes it fun!!!

[Two_Sheds]

If I put a layer of store bought compost on ...

Potting compost is for starting off your seeds, not for putting on the ground. Homemade garden compost is what goes on the ground (as a mulch) ~ it's confusing, having the same word for two quite different things

[Bill HH]

And what works one season might not the next!


Gardening, like life, is a massive experiment. That's what makes it fun!!!

But the allotment vids are mostly in the same season we are, they make a video in the afternoon and upload it that night in many cases. I find it wonderful to be able to snoop in on what people did on a particular day and it reminds me what I could or should be doing. They also show the failures which is just as important.

[Bill HH]

Potting compost is for starting off your seeds, not for putting on the ground. Homemade garden compost is what goes on the ground (as a mulch) ~ it's confusing, having the same word for two quite different things

There is nothing better than home made compost and you should look into how to make it if you don't know. But if you haven't got any then multi purpose compost would be better than nothing, but expensive, get composting. I often tip pots of exhausted potting compost or grow bags onto the ground.

[Two_Sheds]

I often tip pots of exhausted potting compost or grow bags onto the ground.

I'm officially tighter than you then: I refresh mine with some BFB and use it again

[Bill HH]

I'm officially tighter than you then: I refresh mine with some BFB and use it again

Yes I do that too. but if the OP is determined to use it on the ground then I thought it would be better to use the old stuff for that and some new for the pots.
Of course a better and cheaper soil improver would be some farm yard manure if there is no home made compost.