The soil in our  vegetable beds has been consistently poor over the last couple of years. Always very crumbly it seems very loose and doesn’t hold the moisture (and as a result nutrients) very well at all.

While the soil in the rest of the garden is generally good theses particular beds seem to be the exception. Even the odd top dressing of compost doesn’t seem to have made much difference to the structure of the soil so I thought it about time to add some manure.

The beds are slightly raised and adjacent to a wall. On the other side of the wall are several very large trees that I suspect of draining much of the moisture away.

When we moved in to the house the beds contained various grasses which, with hindsight, indicate that the area isn’t the wettest.

Repairing Dry Loose Soil

So its time to try and improve the structure of the soil and in particular improve its moisture retention. Luckily we leave near to several stables so there is no shortage of horse manure locally.

When adding manure to the garden its always best to add manure that has rotted for a few months if possible. If not it will likely burn your plants as it’ll be far too rich in nitrogen.

If like me you only have a supply of fresh manure then the best time to add it to your soil is in the Autumn. This means it has time to mature before you plant into it next spring.

To dig or not to dig?

When adding manure there is always the question of whether to dig it in or not. Personally I prefer to simply add a layer (a few inches thick) to the surface of the bed and leave it over winter. To me this has a few benefits over digging it in:

– the rain and worms will gradually draw the nutrients and bulk down into the soil over the winter, saving you the hard work.

– by sitting on top of the bed and acting as a mulch over the winter, weed growth will be kept to a minimum

– the mulching will also retain moisture in the soil over the winter period

– this no dig approach will require less work and the beds will only require a light forking over in the spring as opposed to a severe digging in now