The wonder of Vermiculite

Well the mystery for me deepens, I have access to 4 gardening/ allotment books in the living room right now - the Double Glazers are in and rampaging all over the house and I certainly do not want to get the way as I have a fear that something isn't quite right at the moment and they're sparing me the details, eekk!

So I have looked up trusty old Wikipedia and there wasn't much info there, chemical breakdown and a list of things it's used for ~ yes, we know it's used in horticulture and seed germination we want to know more. I have even gone to the TVA -The Vermiculite Association! How boring would it be, to be a member of that club! You can go too, if you're that way inclined.

So I turn to the bag the darn stuff came in. With thanks to Keith Singleton Horticultural Products......

'Horticultural Vermiculite is produced by heating volcanic rock to tremendous temperatures which cause it to exfoliate into an extended cell formation. Vermiculite absorbs large quantities of water and as such is useful as a compost additive where it can replace a proportion of the peat content of soil-less composts or part, or even all the peat in a soil based compost.

Vermiculite is also used to cover seeds generally at the depth roughly equal to the size of the seeds being covered. This is a good aid to germination and does not distort the young seedlings.'

So, basically it is as Andrew told me at the very beginning -" you put it over the little seedlings and it doesn't weigh them down and they're less likely to rot".

Mystery solved.

P.S. tomorrow sees the concluding installment of 'St. Paddy's Power' x

Soil and Coffee

Ronnie had a very nifty gadget he let us borrow - to test the PH of our soil. We had heard that it was a little acidic but why waste an opportunity to do an experiment. Between us, Andrew and I did all the Sciences at A-level - we're geeks at heart!

So, this was cool to us and we got straight down to it. With this particular tester we had to dig a whole around a trowel's depth and add a little water (unfortunately we had no distilled water which would have made the experiment better, but I digress..) so it was the consistency of wet soil. Then plonk (science -y term) the tester in, making sure the probe was nice and wet all over (and the switch was flicked to PH rather than Wetness testing mode). Then we had to wait... for a minute........

The Result - the soil was a wee bit acidic. The needle hovered just on the line between 7 and 6. Isn't science fun!!?

So our soil is pretty neutral, which is a good place to start I think, we can add stuff to it to please certain fussy plants - making it more alkaline or acidic where needed. Good news indeed.

After that ,we added some Used Coffee Grounds from Starbucks (you get big bags there for FREE) around the baby Spring Cabbages - there are some thoughts that caffeine deters slugs. I don't know if it works but we're giving it a go. Check out the link below for a discussion thread on it, which seems to suggest the opposite!

But anyway, it made my hands smell lovely and the rest of the bag went into the compost bin (which is what we usually do with these free used grounds); coffee is a great soil conditioner. (Bit acidic, science-y again).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/reports/archive/science_nature/slug_caffeine_mail.shtml

Turf Stack Destroyer!

Ah, yes, the turf stack. This was formed way back in April when we were removing turfs in order to build our raised beds. They all went over into the corner and had black membrane put over them. Over time we used it as a bed/sofa, have had Pumpkins growing out of it and now it was time to get what good top soil there was out of it. We want the space to move the holy trinity of compost bins over there and get another bed in.

Let's just take a moment to look back at April while I'm on the subject........


How far we've come. (Okay, these are a little misleading - Andrew was there too, working very hard).

So anyway, I was starting to feel like I really wanted to go home on Saturday, remember I wasn't having a good day (depression wise) and I had just fallen, like the eejit I am! But Andrew suggested the turf stack, knowing how I have a lust for destruction, as much as one for growing etc. I got into that stack with the spade and started hacking away like a crazy murderer of soil! It felt GREAT!

Now to the exciting part..... Andrew made a Riddle. We had been given an old fridge basket by Anne (my sister-in-law) and had some chicken wire in the shed. Tie up the two components together and what do you have - an eco-friendly soil sieve! Andrew was in charge of that creation and I dumped spade loads of soil into it. After a good riddle (shake those hips Andrew!) we had beautiful top soil in our wheelbarrow (including lots of worms) and little bits of clay left behind; these we 'dumped' in the hedgerow - it does no harm and will cover over with grass in no time. We worked at that for about 1 hour and made a bit of a dent but more importantly I was in a better mood.



Then came the glory of picking our own food. A lovely box (I forgot the usual basket) of 5 Lettuces, 8 Scallions, 9 baby Carrots and a Leek. Then home, as the sun was in fact setting by this time and it really was COLD. Maggie was even shivering in her little jumper and coat. But look what we went home to, (after Andrew made it) looks ridiculous - tasted great.

All of it grown on our very own plot A24a, though that was the last of the potatoes which is quite sad.