I've got way too excited.. and

[feefeelalabelle]

I'm holding you responsible for the coffee I just spat all over my laptop

I wanna see the photos of the unknown veg.

hehe

right people, ive taken photos of the offending plants will upload them when baby girl goes to bed
ive been making my veggi patch today OMG i dint find no soil!!! its all clay, weeds and worms.... now what do i do! Surley nothing will grow in this! (pics to follow)
i started off all optimistic and ready to go...picked up the spade and couldnt get the thing into the ground, i was bouncing away on it!!!OH thought it would be funny to say "shud ov eaten your veg shunt ya"!!!I then destroyed a worms house... and felt ever so guilty, he was the biggest worm ive ever seen, then they all came out.... caterpillers, ants , worms the lot!!!
I cant think of any resonable explantion as to why there is more bricks under my backgarden than to build my house but there is/WAS.

The neighbours thought that the would have a nosey and told me im mad! The window cleaners said Do you know what your diong love, cos that aint digging" felt the need to show me how to use a spade, and then realised i wernt strong enough or heavy enough to get it in the ground. haha:


i appreciate all of your help guys, ur a nice bunch

just got an ivalid message when i tried to post has i had used too many smilies haha dont want them to run out!

[womble]

Use a fork, much easier than a spade in that soil.

[windowsillqueen]

You've seriously made my day. I'm not the most inexperienced person on here! (and I'm having dreadful soil problems and will be out there with a fork tomorrow - and we think there are dead dogs out there....)

Cucumbers growing under ground.... classic.

Cxx

hehe

right people, ive taken photos of the offending plants will upload them when baby girl goes to bed
ive been making my veggi patch today OMG i dint find no soil!!! its all clay, weeds and worms.... now what do i do! Surley nothing will grow in this! (pics to follow)
i started off all optimistic and ready to go...picked up the spade and couldnt get the thing into the ground, i was bouncing away on it!!!OH thought it would be funny to say "shud ov eaten your veg shunt ya"!!!I then destroyed a worms house... and felt ever so guilty, he was the biggest worm ive ever seen, then they all came out.... caterpillers, ants , worms the lot!!!
I cant think of any resonable explantion as to why there is more bricks under my backgarden than to build my house but there is/WAS.

The neighbours thought that the would have a nosey and told me im mad! The window cleaners said Do you know what your diong love, cos that aint digging" felt the need to show me how to use a spade, and then realised i wernt strong enough or heavy enough to get it in the ground. haha:


i appreciate all of your help guys, ur a nice bunch

just got an ivalid message when i tried to post has i had used too many smilies haha dont want them to run out!

[Eyren]

I cant think of any resonable explantion as to why there is more bricks under my backgarden than to build my house but there is/WAS.

The soil in my back garden is pretty rubbish - a thin layer of clay, still compacted from when the houses were built about twenty years ago! Back in 2006 I made an attempt to grow tomatoes and garlic, with only limited success, so after that I got some raised beds and now I can grow loads of stuff (lettuce, herbs, spinach, baby carrots and of course the garlic and outdoor toms)

[Sweepster]

What, in the name of sanity, is a 'worm's house'???

Is it where the cucumbers live?

[feefeelalabelle]

i had deleted the pictures of my dead twigs! their not dead, will get some more tomoz x ive just ried too upload some of my patch but it keeps saying upload failed any ideas? x

[taff]

You've made my day, I thought I was the only one who did silly things.
I went to check on my broad beans to see how they're doing in their pots, didn't find anything resembling a bean, so I threw out two loo-rolls of compost, thinking they hadn't germinated, till i realised I was actually throwing away my carefully planted, AND labelled, parsnips.
Doh!

[feefeelalabelle]

What, in the name of sanity, is a 'worm's house'???

Is it where the cucumbers live?

no of course its not !

anyway, ive bought 3 bags of compost (peat free, dont know why it just sounded better) with 75 litres in each do you think it will be ok if i put this on the top , or have i compleatly wasted my time today? oh and ive bought some organic chicken pellets, it said on the box something like, a pleasant odour.....WOT... have you smelt that stuff! anyway ive sprinkled 2 boxes of that on there ?
im so fed up now after today all im going to get off OH is, told you so, you cant use it, please tell me he isnt right surley theres something i can grow in clay..... apart from worms and bricks!!!!!

[FionaH]

OH just informed me hes deleted the pictures of my dead twigs! their not dead, will get some more tomoz x ive just ried too upload some of my patch but it keeps saying upload failed any ideas? x

Check the size of them, this site only accepts very small pictures
you may have to resize them.

What is a worm house by the way

[veggielover]

the fun thing about not labeling is the surprise u get once its grown!! Last year i carefully sowed all my seeds, what was left over in my palm was thrown absent mindedly into a large container ( already filled with compost ) and left to their own devices...... few months later i had lots of micro veg!!! must admit though some of it wasn't edible, but it was interesting to watch what did grow.

[feefeelalabelle]

ha, thanks for that just resized one, hope it worked




yes it did, cool
so tomorrow im off to buy some of that sharp sand and some manure, does this sound ok

[feefeelalabelle]

right ive attatched todays progress the last picture is how ive left it today, i know it might look like a feeble attempt bugt i have really knackered myself up trying to dig it up, do you think i should take some more of the clay balls out before adding the sand and things tomorrow. oh and my dog thought the chicken pellet tasted quite nice ...eww

got to go to bed now im poopied! nite all x

[HayleyB]

Brilliant, absolutely brightened my night this has, oh boy, who's gonna get the gold star for identifying it all then

[davefromthechipie]

right ive attatched todays progress the last picture is how ive left it today, i know it might look like a feeble attempt bugt i have really knackered myself up trying to dig it up, do you think i should take some more of the clay balls out before adding the sand and things tomorrow. oh and my dog thought the chicken pellet tasted quite nice ...eww

got to go to bed now im poopied! nite all x

If it was me Id dig small holes all around & pop spuds in they would break up the clay/soil for you . Also put some good soil ontop multi purpose , soil improver , small amount of manure and let the worms drag it down rdy for when the spuds are done and your have half decent beds

happy digging

[Eyren]

anyway, ive bought 3 bags of compost (peat free, dont know why it just sounded better) with 75 litres in each do you think it will be ok if i put this on the top , or have i compleatly wasted my time today?

Absolutely not - this is exactly what I've been growing in and it works a treat. It will settle with time, though, so the beds will need topping up a bit each year - some nice well-rotted farmyard manure is ideal.

oh and ive bought some organic chicken pellets, it said on the box something like, a pleasant odour.....WOT... have you smelt that stuff!

I have chickens - if you think the pelleted stuff smells bad, you should try it fresh. Personally I don't mind it - smells a hell of a lot better than my cats' litter trays!

anyway ive sprinkled 2 boxes of that on there ?

Depending on the size of the box and the size of the area, that might be rather a lot - did you read the instructions?

At any rate, I wouldn't put any more manure on there this year, just to be on the safe side!

im so fed up now after today all im going to get off OH is, told you so, you cant use it, please tell me he isnt right surley theres something i can grow in clay..... apart from worms and bricks!!!!!

Ignore him, he's being an old grumpy boots

If you're building raised beds, or even just covering the soil with good stuff, doesn't really matter what's underneath; and loosening the heavy soil will make it easier for the worms to incorporate all the goodness you're adding. In one of the veg-gardening books I got recently, a raised bed was built on a gravel drive and still produced loads of salad!

Just keep filling up your beds with any good stuff you can get hold of - even six inches is enough for salad leaves, baby carrots, tomatoes, beans - in fact pretty much anything apart from spuds and parsnips. I don't have any pictures of mine (except under snow in February), but I can assure you that you can grow great crops on really unpromising ground provided you add plenty of organic matter - which is exactly what you are doing. Go for it!