If you had two years to transform a pasture.....

[Catweazle]

It's a case of prepare it today for growing tomorrow,

It doesn't really work like that. If you start with pasture but plough it up and don't use it you will just get a rather unproductive field of the less useful grasses and other weeds. If you leave it as pasture while you are not using it you can at least sell the hay/sillage and the soil will retain it's structure, life and fertility.

Don't plough.

I'll put a green manure crop on it. I want to grow all my food eventually, but won't have the time immediately, so first priority jobs are to get some land fertile and ready for veg, plant an orchard, and plant a few acres of Ash or another good firewood ( depending on soil type ). I'm not so interested in sheep or cattle, but that is what much of the available land has been used for.

[biffvernon]

first priority jobs are to get some land fertile...

Don't assume that soil with pasture on top of it is not fertile - or that you are going to increase its fertility by ploughing it up. A valuable, yet fragile, asset needs to be treated with respect.

[Catweazle]

first priority jobs are to get some land fertile...

Don't assume that soil with pasture on top of it is not fertile - or that you are going to increase its fertility by ploughing it up. A valuable, yet fragile, asset needs to be treated with respect.

I won't assume, but reckon there's a good chance that land that has been browsed by cattle and had hay cut and removed for centuries is going to be a bit hungry.

If I don't need to plough, so much the better. I like the idea of mixing up a load of manure and charred manure, laying it on the field, covering it with black plastic and letting the worms do the work for 2 years.

I also like the idea of digging narrow slit trenches and filling them with manure.

In fact, I seem to be getting a bit obsessed with manure. Shit.

[Nicko]

I won't assume, but reckon there's a good chance that land that has been browsed by cattle and had hay cut and removed for centuries is going to be a bit hungry.

If I don't need to plough, so much the better. I like the idea of mixing up a load of manure and charred manure, laying it on the field, covering it with black plastic and letting the worms do the work for 2 years.

I also like the idea of digging narrow slit trenches and filling them with manure.

In fact, I seem to be getting a bit obsessed with manure. Shit.

No bad thing a poo obsession. Nice stuff if you can get it.

Your pasture might not be as bad as you think. When a pasture is left to grow for a while and then cut back or grazed hard, there is massive root die off leaving organic matter in the soil.

Might be an idea to cultivate a little bit of the plot by hand and chuck a few crops in to see how they go,some potatoes or squash maybe.
If they grow well then you have saved yourself some work and can focus on maintaining that fertility as you remove it in the form of veg.

Nicko

[vtsnowedin]

A soil test kit is of course a good place to start and will tell you what is missing from the soil. Also a test pit will show you the profile of the soil ,both topsoil and subsoil. If you dig it yourself you will get a good idea about soil compaction and can examine the depth of the sod root layer and it's worm and insect content. A nice thick sod layer full of living things both visible and microscopic is the goal but you might have to start from a thin almost sterile sod skin over a compacted subsoil with little if any organic matter present and a soil PH well away from seven one way or the other.
There is of course more then one way forward depending on what you have to begin with and the time and equipment you have available. Best of luck with your project.

[RenewableCandy]

How far are you from the sea? If you feel you're getting too deep into manure, have you thought of seaweed instead/as-well?

[vtsnowedin]

How far are you from the sea? If you feel you're getting too deep into manure, have you thought of seaweed instead/as-well?

Glad to see you back RC. We've missed your point of view.

[Catweazle]

How far are you from the sea? If you feel you're getting too deep into manure, have you thought of seaweed instead/as-well?

I have thought about using Kelp, full of useful trace elements. It's probably not a DIY job ( or ethical ) to harvest from the growing beds, but maybe I could go beach-combing after winter storms and pick it up.

I'll have to check the legality of collecting Kelp from the high-tide mark.

[RenewableCandy]

It never occurred to me that it could be illegal to pick up loose seaweed. I've done this in front of hoardes of red sunbathers and a staffed RNLI hut and no-one's so much as frowned at me. Mind you that was East Yorkshire: it can feel a bit "frontier" out there at times

[raspberry-blower]

Might be an idea to cultivate a little bit of the plot by hand and chuck a few crops in to see how they go,some potatoes or squash maybe.
If they grow well then you have saved yourself some work and can focus on maintaining that fertility as you remove it in the form of veg.

Nicko

If the plot hasn't got perennial weeds it may be worth trying to get a hot compost going - using grass cuttings - and then planting potatoes and onions into the compost. I've heard that this may significantly increase yields - although I've yet to try this method and am only going on second hand info

[Nicko]

Might be an idea to cultivate a little bit of the plot by hand and chuck a few crops in to see how they go,some potatoes or squash maybe.
If they grow well then you have saved yourself some work and can focus on maintaining that fertility as you remove it in the form of veg.

Nicko

If the plot hasn't got perennial weeds it may be worth trying to get a hot compost going - using grass cuttings - and then planting potatoes and onions into the compost. I've heard that this may significantly increase yields - although I've yet to try this method and am only going on second hand info

I have stripped off turf(couch grass and nettles), and piled up fresh horse manure 2 ft high and 3 ft wide in rows 30ft long on the bare soil, then topped with a few inches of soil from round the edges of the beds all in the autumn. I planted squash in the beds in spring. It was very effective and in two years the beds had reduced to a rich brown crumbly texture. This seemed to achieve a rich fine textured soil far faster than the bed I double dug next to it.
I used this method for about 12 of the 20 beds we have of this size.
The others were either dug over to remove some nasty bind weed infestation, or covered in woven plastic with a mulch on top to hold it down for a couple of years. The plastic was pulled away after the second(sometimes first) year and the mulch left on the surface of the now clean and crumbly soil, the worms and other life having consumed the turf and incorporated it into the top soil.

Nicko

[RenewableCandy]

Just bought 120 square m of said plastic for The Plot (bindweed, for the eradication of), for £50-ish. I hope it's re-usable.

Even Mr Deep Green Foreset Garden says if you've got bindweed, you might have to resort to dabs of glyphosate on fresh leaves 'round the edges of said plastic. Great Moral Dilemmas...

[biffvernon]

Bindweed has just about the prettiest flower in the garden. Two species, the big white blousey one and the dainty little purple.





Let them thrive.

[RenewableCandy]

B***ocks to that. I've timed them growing at more than a foot a week. Let them fry!

[biffvernon]

Just think how pleased you'd be if you bought a pretty flower from the garden centre for £7.95 and found it growing flower stems at a foot a week.