What about some raised beds for your veg? Have a reasonable depth of soil.. like 24 inches. I would imagine most roots would be happy staying in the 'good' soil of the bed, so you can grow what you would like without worry. Fill the bottom half with your supply of well rotted manure, then top up with compost mixed with well rotted manure. If it's for bedding plants or shrubs, I would pile on a thick layer of well rotted manure, dig where I wanted to plant, then backfill with some bought compost.. then mulch everything. No sense digging in all the manure everywhere, that's just work that worms can do (they'll come with your manure) over the next year.
Six months later and I am back to say that I have grown around 10 OK-looking butternut squashes from 4 plants in this heap. I dug in quite a bit of well-rotted horse manure and whilst I am still finding occasional bits of junk there, the plants and squashes did OK... except for powdery mildew which is another matter. ;-)
The area is very dry due to its proximity to some large trees and we had a drought here, but for a first attempt I think it went OK. I have just started harvesting and curing the squashes and once they're all up (and the powdery mildew plants all hot composted!) then I plan to dig in more manure in preparation for next year.
Having said all of this, haven't yet eaten any of the squashes so who knows.. maybe they'll be full of nails or something.
Sow something quick and easy eg broadbeans which are a good winter crop and will fix nitrogen into the soil. If they grow OK then so will other things. Your plants won't mind if there is rubbish in the soil.
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The area is very dry due to its proximity to some large trees and we had a drought here, but for a first attempt I think it went OK. I have just started harvesting and curing the squashes and once they're all up (and the powdery mildew plants all hot composted!) then I plan to dig in more manure in preparation for next year.
Having said all of this, haven't yet eaten any of the squashes so who knows.. maybe they'll be full of nails or something.
Thanks again for all your help!
Just spit any nails out, but not onto the best china! 😉