I appreciate the work that has gone into Adam's border(s), but even in my garden after nearly 30 years, and more compost etc added than l care to think about 😮, l still couldn't just plant like that. I like Adam, he reminds me a bit of Geoff Hamilton, which isn't surprising l suppose.
I worked in a garden in Hampshire which had clay soil , so hard your wrists hurt after 10 minutes weeding with a hand fork. 3 years later, and many tons of compost, if I leant on the hand fork, my hand would sink up to my wrist. It can be done, but takes a concerted effort.
Adam has horse poo on tap and the means to ship it in if needed. I have friends in Belgium who started with a totally heavy, wet clay site and have added compost by the lorry load - literally - every December for 10 years and now have fabulous soil.
Here we have a mix of very fertile loamy soil - decades of being cow and/or donkey pasture - plus bands of very dry, solid clay and solid sand like concrete. The latter two are both wrist breakers so we're shipping in horse poo by the trailer load as and when we can get our horsey neighbour to deliver it. It won't be instant but it will be worth it.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I'd agree - it takes time, effort and dedication. Doing it on your own, with no help, and limited funds is a big factor. Our clay is soggy, cold and hefty for large parts of the year, but it's surprising how quickly it can improve with well rotted manure added in bulk. I'm fortunate that I can bring some home every day if I want, and it certainly helped when creating a border along my boundary in this garden which had been compacted grass for years. Not everyone has that luxury though.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
When we came here the veg plot was extremely free draining gritty loam and it dried out within minutes of rainfall or watering ... five years of copious applications of home made compost (complete with forget me not seeds ) and the soil has bulked up and is dark and loamy and holds moisture much better ... the felling of the nearest large tree has also helped
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The beeb are obviously throwing some money at adams in garden...in preparation for when he takes over from MD. It all makes sense with MD hinting last year that is thinking of downsizing from long meadow. Out of all the regular guest presenters adam is the least annoying and has obvious historic links with GW
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
3 years later, and many tons of compost, if I leant on the hand fork, my hand would sink up to my wrist.
It can be done, but takes a concerted effort.
Here we have a mix of very fertile loamy soil - decades of being cow and/or donkey pasture - plus bands of very dry, solid clay and solid sand like concrete. The latter two are both wrist breakers so we're shipping in horse poo by the trailer load as and when we can get our horsey neighbour to deliver it. It won't be instant but it will be worth it.
Our clay is soggy, cold and hefty for large parts of the year, but it's surprising how quickly it can improve with well rotted manure added in bulk. I'm fortunate that I can bring some home every day if I want, and it certainly helped when creating a border along my boundary in this garden which had been compacted grass for years. Not everyone has that luxury though.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.