It would be a start @punkdoc … a grounding 😉 in the basic principles which seem to be totally lacking in Bédé ‘s case … my training in child development suggests that one can often lay the blame at the door of the parents, but I think there comes a time when adults have to take on responsibility for their own behaviour.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
You’re probably right @Busy-Lizzie … it’s a shame … it tackles the exact problem …
“… This children's book about manners follows the story of Melissa, a charming young girl. Her manners are lacking at the story's beginning, and no one wants to play with her on the playground. …”
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
If you just keep adding organic matter to your bed @arossrob, that will help the soil structure, and therefore your plants. Clay is a superb growing medium, but it needs a bit of attention first. Well rotted manure is probably the best, and you can buy that in various outlets if you don't have access to a fresh source. Compost as well, and you can just keep adding to it, as the soil level will always drop in a raised bed anyway. If you do that regularly, and especially over the next 6 months or so, you'll find a big difference in the soil. There's a few things that don't like rich soil - carrots for example, but you can always do them in a different area from your raised bed - perhaps another bed with lots of grit or similar added rather than 'good stuff'. I used to do mine in containers using the old compost from the previous year's annuals.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thank you all for your suggestions. First I will buy an air freshener for the car then off to buy well rotted manure. Carrots do not like me for some strange reason I always had problems with them.
It's probably worth saying that soil is a hugely complex environment, full of layered exchanges and interactions, needing a reasonably stable environment to be able to self- regulate and provide the conditions for plants to thrive.
I do understand that when we grow vegetables, we are, in some ways, expecting it to work in an unusual way, so we might use unusual methods.
...but it is quite concerning when we start seeing soil as a product to be removed and replaced.
We may want to add particular materials to change the balance - adding manure to a raised bed is a classic example of this, and we might operate quite differently in a highly artificial environment like a mushroom shed or a plant pot, but a raised bed is, in my experience, more of an ecological environment than an artificial one.
My experience is that it's a special kind of magic that over the years I keep adding manure and garden compost to the raised bed, and it never overfills...
Posts
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Way-Good-Manners-Etiquette-Emotional/dp/1957457368/ref=asc_df_1957457368?tag=bingshoppinga-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80058373112221&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=m&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583657844900926&psc=1
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
principles which seem to be totally lacking in Bédé ‘s case … my training in child development suggests that one can often lay the blame at the door of the parents, but I think there comes a time when adults have to take on responsibility for their own behaviour.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
“… This children's book about manners follows the story of Melissa, a charming young girl. Her manners are lacking at the story's beginning, and no one wants to play with her on the playground. …”
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
If you do that regularly, and especially over the next 6 months or so, you'll find a big difference in the soil.
There's a few things that don't like rich soil - carrots for example, but you can always do them in a different area from your raised bed - perhaps another bed with lots of grit or similar added rather than 'good stuff'. I used to do mine in containers using the old compost from the previous year's annuals.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...