Golden Valley Farm
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Replanting Beds in Winter

1/7/2013

7 Comments

 
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Because my garden is relatively small (less than an acre/4000m2), I have to make the most of the bedspace I have. This means intensive plantings for most crops, but it also means I can’t afford to leave beds fallow for any length of time.

So as soon as a crop is finished, it's time to prepare and replant the bed. My standard bed size is six metres long by 800mm wide, with paths of 400mm between beds. The paths are generous to provide easy access to beds with a wheelbarrow, while the bed width allows a variety of sowing/planting options (one furrow for potatoes, two furrows for peas and beans, three furrows for carrots and spring onions, as well as salad, beet and allium seedlings; or two passes with the six-row seeder for 12 rows to a bed maximum).

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This bed is very weedy after hosting a crop of Miners Lettuce (or Claytonia), which dislikes being transplanted, is slow to germinate, and which I didn’t get around to hoeing. I used to get stressed out about weeds amongst the vegetables, but I've have had to come to terms with them. Without using herbicides, and without paying for labour, my garden is always going to have a few weedy areas, and ultimately, if I’m still getting a good harvest, then the weeds are just grist for the compost when I do get around to attacking them.

The IF in that last sentence is the kicker, though. When the weeds are out-competing the vegetables, or are going to prolific seed, then they are a real problem, and I try to address them as soon as possible (not that this always happens!).

On the other hand, sometimes weeds do me a favour: they reduce water runoff, they provide matter for the compost, they can act as a ‘living mulch’, improving water retention and soil drainage, and in a few cases they have actually improved a crop. One example of this was my green garlic last year, which was well established before weeds took over the bed. The weed growth caused the garlic to climb to the light, providing me with much longer stems than I would have had otherwise.

Over the past year, I’ve been using bed replanting as my main method of weed control -- that is, I don’t worry too much about weeds growing when the crop is almost harvest ready. Then when the crop is finished I clear out both the crop residues and the weeds, then replant. 

First I use my chipping hoe to chop out the weeds as shallowly as possible.
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Once I’ve removed the majority of the weeds and dumped them on the compost (food for next year’s crops!), I run my trapezoidal hoe over the bed to make sure all the remaining roots are cut.
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Then the bed is raked to a medium tilth and the remaining plant residues removed.
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The bed is dressed with fertiliser and compost. At the moment I am using poppy seedmeal (five litres per bed) as the base for my fertiliser, with added agricultural lime (that’s the pale one), kelp meal (circling to the right), guano and gypsum (at a quarter of a litre each).
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These are mixed thoroughly and spread over the bed, followed by a good helping of compost. In the photo, the fertiliser layer is the lighter part, while I have only composted the top half so far. My faithful companion is assisting with some quality control.
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Then it’s time for lunch (filo triangles with collard greens, spring onion, lemon and Tasmanian fetta, and salad mix with balsamic vinegar. Yum).
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Back in the garden, the fertiliser and compost are raked shallowly into the soil, then I make furrows for the seedlings with the edge of my trap. hoe.
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Today I am planting ‘Rhodos’ endives which were sown in plug trays 6 weeks ago. I use the plug trays continuously over the colder months. Seeds germinate faster in the plug trays in the warm potting shed than they do in the cold soil outside, and one plug tray of seedlings will fill one or two of my standard beds (depending on how close the plants are in the row). This saves me six weeks of bedspace each time (because the seedlings are germinating and growing for six weeks while there are still crops growing in their future bed). The trays also save me six weeks of the weed growth that would occur if seeds were sown directly. This is particularly important during the short, cold days of winter, when weed seeds  germinate much faster than most vegetables.
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The seedlings can be pulled from the plugs with their root systems intact, meaning there is little check to their growth when transplanted.
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So there’s the bed planted out with just over 100 seedlings. With the soil as moist as it is right now, I won’t bother watering them in.
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Then it’s a quick lick of the file to put an edge on the hoe, and onto the next beds!
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7 Comments
Christine
1/7/2013 08:01:42 pm

thanks for your email. Have just finished reading 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' truly something to think about. Love today's post. Can you tell us how you raise your seedlings and sprout seeds please. Great to see you are producing all this on one acre. We are still trying to find our plot. Keep your eye out for us!!!!!!

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Alex
1/7/2013 08:29:43 pm

Hi Christine,

I'm hoping to blog about my potting shed and seedlings etc in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

I don't know of any land offhand. Now is a good time to look, though, as you can really see how much winter sun you will get. If I were buying again I would be looking for at least a few acres of gently sloping land facing north.

Good luck!

Reply
Justin link
2/7/2013 08:45:57 am

Great post Alex, and keep up the good work! Your blog is already proving to be a valuable source of info and inspiration for aspiring market gardeners like myself.

Reply
Alex
2/7/2013 03:18:17 pm

Thanks Justin!

Reply
Dave link
4/7/2013 11:47:15 am

G'day Alex

Are you on tilitte based soils or mudstone?? Looks like tillite from what I can see based on the looseness of your soils. I have the mudstone so the tic bean green manures have been vital in my first three years to really make the soil much more friable. But can understand on a commercial basis you can not see those beds not producing an income!!!

Would love to check those tools out sometime. I too used to stress over the weeds, but not really bothered now. Do you hoe your paths during spring? In saying that, there is one weed that is annoying and hard to get on top of due to the rhizomes that can grow to 2 metres. Check out a blog I did on it here. Do you have sheep sorrel? http://tassiegerminations.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/the-dastardly-tale-of-sheep-sorrel.html
Cheers
Dave

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Alex
4/7/2013 08:44:42 pm

Hi Dave,

I 'm not sure what my subsoil's called. It's very clay-ey once you are down through the topsoil. Maybe tillite?

Yes, I've had that weed appear over the last year, unfortunately. I think it might have been imported with the poppy meal. Didn't know it was called sheep sorrel, just know it's an invasive pain.

From your blog, looks like you have a good spot there!
Cheers,
Alex.

Reply
Helen W
22/6/2014 07:08:09 pm

What a great post, so informative. I am enjoying reading from the bottom up :) Hope things have improved since you look to have had some hard times of late.
Can't help wondeing from the yummy food photos if you are a fellow vegetarian?

All the best

Helen

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