Ray Broughton’s Fruit and Vegetables Fact Sheet
Cultivation of Fruit and Vegetables
It is important to select the correct organic matter for your soil.
Clay soils require additional air, therefore use coarse half rotted organic matter - avoid well rotted manure /compost which attracts too much water and ultimately nutrients.
Sandy soils need humus to assist the retention of water and plant nutrients, therefore apply well rotted manure/compost to the soil.
2. What are the benefits of the quick cook compost method of compost making?
Compost in three or four months.
No turning is necessary
No vermin
Weeds seeds are killed
Pernicious weeds can be added to the compost heap
Pests and diseases can be added to the compost heapHave you tried using water pipes to grow Leeks successfully?
3. Have you tried using NUTRA BALLS to supply nutrients to soft and top fruit?
4. A successful but perhaps unconventional way of cleaning tools is to use tomato sauce. This should be applied with a coarse paint brush and left on the tool for two hours. After this period it should be washed off and the tools should be thoroughly dried. It is particularly successful in cleaning knives and secateurs.
5. If you have trouble with onions rotting, or parsnip canker try using a small amount of vermiculite mixed with flowers of sulphur (not green sulphur which is now illegal) in the seed drill or when planting onions.
6. There has been a lot of problem with manure in recent years. To avoid problems with herbicide in the manure, use the cress test.
7. You can also use the cress test with the quality of the water in the water butt or tank. Always remember that water from the water butt is not advisable to be used on seedlings.
8. If you are a growing long-term plants in the vegetable garden and you have a chalky soil why not try using the following mix in the planting hole when transplanting. One third composted bark, one third vermiculite and one third garden compost which is well rotted.