Spring Chicken Fertilizer Pellets

Its finally springtime, the crocus’s are flowering and daffodil stems are shooting up with the first full days of sunshine we’ve had this year. Its a lovely start to the year and for me a few days of sunshine kick starts my growing season and gives me a gentle prod that I should be preparing the vegetable plot for the year ahead.

After 2 years of vegetable growing I have only ever added compost to my plots and I’m sure I need to add some organic fertilizer to replenish the nutrients in the soil.

So its down the Garden Centre, sidestepping new plants for the garden and straight onto the fertilizer section. The huge stack of orange boxes of Organic Chicken Manure Pellets is glowing, its a bargain alert – buy 1 box get one free, excellent just what I wanted. Now what do I do with it?

Organic Chicken Manure Pellets
These are compressed composted chicken manure rich in nutrients and organic matter. This type of fertilizer can be applied to vegetable plots and borders from February to October by scattering the pellets onto moist soil and forking them in.

It can boost areas where greedy crops have previously removed trace nutrients. It improves the soil by making it moisture retentive and by adding organic matter to the soils structure. Apply to the soil 1-2 weeks before planting out seedlings as it may burn them or add to the soil around winter cabbages, broccoli etc for an added nitrogen boost. Please check your box or tub for recommended applications.

Next Week I Will Mostly Be:
- Buying and using Nemotodes (before this years slugs hatch – hopefully),
- Sowing seeds in the mini greenhouse,
- Checking on my chitting Potatoes.
- Updating My Compost Bin contents list and photos.

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• Spring Chicken Fertilizer Pellets

Beautiful Slugs

After recently writing and reading a few other people’s blog entries (Vegmonkey and the Mrs, Greenforks and Fresh as a Daisy) about our ruthless british slug and its attack on our vegetable gardens, it was nice to come across a different type of slug.

Beautiful slugs are two words not normally put together especially when talking about british land slugs.

In an article I was reading in National Geographic magazine, the slugs cousins who dwell in the world’s seas and oceans are beautiful creatures with vivid colours. However they are much more deadly with their toxic slime trails and and stinger cells.

Why don’t garden slugs look like this?

Pictures from Wikipedia Source.

Please click here for the very interesting National Geographic magazine article on Nudibranches (Sea Slugs). Article written by Jennifer S.Holland and fantastic Photography by David Doubilet.

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• Beautiful Slugs

4 Weeks from seed – Radishes have appeared later than expected

It is very interesting learning about how temperature and light levels affect the growth of seeds at this time of the year. As I have been working on my plot since last April I can now compare times of sowings and emergence of seedlings at different times of the year.

For example Radish seedlings.

4 Weeks Growth (April – May 07)

4 Weeks Growth (Feb – March 08)

My Veggy Plot is famous!

I would just like to say a big thanks to Celia Brooks Brown for quoting my veggy blog website link on her article on The Times Online newspaper on 25 October 2007. I will be following her blog with interest from now on and definately trying some of her wholesome winter recipes as well.

Please click on the link below to view the article titled Week 32 Cabbage Patch Goals on Times Online and Celia’s own website:

Times Online Article
Celia Brooks Brown website

So its official my veggy plot is at least now famous for five minutes.

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• My Veggy Plot is Famous

Square Foot Gardening

Well it seems there is an actual documented technique to what I was doing with my 16 cubes/squares on my plots without me even knowing it, its called Square Foot Gardening written by Mel Bartholemew.

I was wondering whether I had spaced my seeds rows too close together as some of the seed packets say 30 inches between rows which is a bit excessive on a rasied bed with not alot of space. Earlier today I was reading a post on the BBC Gardening Forum and the Square Foot Gardening concept was mentioned.

So for example this method suggests that your plot should be divided into 16 squares (or in my case rectangles) and the spacing should be as follows:-
One plant per Square for large plants like Broccoli, cabbage etc,
Four plants per Square for medium plants like lettuce,
Nine plants per square for spinach
Sixteen plants per square for small plants like onions, carrots etc.

Click here for more details.

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This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
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• Square Foot Gardening