Improving the soil for kale

kieranwaldron

I recently retired to Kilkenny from the UK where I spent many a year. I bought a house to facilitate my retirement with a medium sized garden. I have dug over all the garden during the spring and summer just gone. I intend to put lawn seeds in half the garden next spring and leave the remainder as a vegetable patch. The vegetable that I would like to grow most is kale. Is their anything that I could be doing over the autumn and winter months to help with improving the quality of the soil with a view to sowing kale seeds next May or June ?

iainBB

kieranwaldron wrote: »

I recently retired to Kilkenny from the UK where I spent many a year. I bought a house to facilitate my retirement with a medium sized garden. I have dug over all the garden during the spring and summer just gone. I intend to put lawn seeds in half the garden next spring and leave the remainder as a vegetable patch. The vegetable that I would like to grow most is kale. Is their anything that I could be doing over the autumn and winter months to help with improving the quality of the soil with a view to sowing kale seeds next May or June ?

Double dig the ground
Dig up soil and leave for the frost to break it up for you over winter
Remove as many stones and rocks
Plant green manure crop
Of course add manure compost if you have it.
Make some hot quick compost to add to it.
Dig in some fresh green Brown waste for it to compost in place.

kieranwaldron

iainBB wrote: »

Double dig the ground
Dig up soil and leave for the frost to break it up for you over winter
Remove as many stones and rocks
Plant green manure crop
Of course add manure compost if you have it.
Make some hot quick compost to add to it.
Dig in some fresh green Brown waste for it to compost in place.

Thanks for your helpful suggestions but I am not sure what you meant by " Plant green manure crop ". Do you want to elaborate on this ?

kylith

kieranwaldron wrote: »

Thanks for your helpful suggestions but I am not sure what you meant by " Plant green manure crop ". Do you want to elaborate on this ?

You can plant something like clover (seedsavers have a variety of green manures that you can plant in autumn, I think) and then you just dig the whole plant in in spring without cutting it first to decompose within the soil and improve it that way.

kieranwaldron

kylith wrote: »

You can plant something like clover (seedsavers have a variety of green manures that you can plant in autumn, I think) and then you just dig the whole plant in in spring without cutting it first to decompose within the soil and improve it that way.

Thanks very much for the information provided.

kali291

iainBB wrote: »

Double dig the ground
Dig up soil and leave for the frost to break it up for you over winter
Remove as many stones and rocks
Plant green manure crop
Of course add manure compost if you have it.
Make some hot quick compost to add to it.
Dig in some fresh green Brown waste for it to compost in place.

Sorry if I am hijacking thread .Can I ask what is hot quick compost ? Many thanks

iainBB

kali291 wrote: »

Sorry if I am hijacking thread .Can I ask what is hot quick compost ? Many thanks

"Hot quick compost" is not really a term but hot compost is, when you add the right ratio of green and brown materials with the right water level and size of pile to produce a compost that IN THEORY can be ready in wait for . . . . 18 DAYS.
Do a search for compost in 18 days and you will find lots of info.

I have never been able to achieve the 18 day compost due to a number of factors size of pile insulation. turn schedule, weather etc.
but i have gotten compost with in 40 days using similar methods. the pile would get up to 60 dec C in the middle.

We heat our pollytunnel over winter with this . will be starting it shortly when the frost comes.

GrumpyMe

You should really test the soil first to know what you have.

From
http://gentleworld.org/kale-an-easy-beginners-guide-to-growing/

"Kale also prefers loamy, well-drained, moist (but not soggy) soil of average fertility. Surprisingly, it isn’t a fan of soil that is too rich in nitrogen, so it will do best with a pH between 5.5 to 6.8. If your soil is too acid, try adding some wood ash to sweeten it. Light, sandy soils and very heavy clay soils will “negatively”* affect the flavor of kale, but it still has the potential to grow in these environments."

jezko

iainBB wrote: »

We heat our pollytunnel over winter with this . will be starting it shortly when the frost comes.

I would thought this would have added dangerous gasses into an enclosed polytunnel

http://deepgreenpermaculture.com/diy-instructions/hot-compost-composting-in-18-days/

"Using the this system, the Berkley method, methane is released from the compost."

stewygriffin

dig in seaweed and let it rot down.

iainBB

jezko wrote: »

I would thought this would have added dangerous gasses into an enclosed polytunnel

http://deepgreenpermaculture.com/diy-instructions/hot-compost-composting-in-18-days/

"Using the this system, the Berkley method, methane is released from the compost."

Methane is only produced in an anaerobic environment ( no oxygen)
I am sure there would be small amounts of methane produced as some spots in the piles run out of oxygen.
but that is why you need to turn it a LOT to introduce more oxygen and remix the material.

if you search that website and and find in the comments a question about the production of that gas.

I did not copy all but it's worth reading.


Question
"Hi,
. . . . .
I notice that there is mention of methane being released."


Answer:
"When the hot composting process takes place, oxygen is required by the aerobic bacteria. In tiny spots here and there within the compost pile where oxygen momentarily is all used up, the process reverts to anaerobic breakdown and this is when methane and nitrous oxide are produced."
. . . . .
"A highly aerobic system such as the hot composting system minimises the production of these gases. . . . "

kieranwaldron

stewygriffin wrote: »

dig in seaweed and let it rot down.

Thanks for your suggestion

stewygriffin

kieranwaldron wrote: »

Thanks for your suggestion

Works very well and you will have amazing growing medium as the end result.

kieranwaldron

stewygriffin wrote: »

Works very well and you will have amazing growing medium as the end result.

As I live in Kilkenny, I suppose that I will have to get myself to some place like Tramore in order to pick seaweed up from the beach or rocks. Thanks again for your help.

stewygriffin

kieranwaldron wrote: »

As I live in Kilkenny, I suppose that I will have to get myself to some place like Tramore in order to pick seaweed up from the beach or rocks. Thanks again for your help.

Sure make a daytrip out of it and bring the kids along.You cant pick seaweed directly from rocks,only pick up loose seawed that has washed up on the tides.

kylith

Would you need to wash it in freshwater before you dig it in?

stewygriffin

kylith wrote: »

Would you need to wash it in freshwater before you dig it in?

Ive used seaweed for years in my veg patch in my garden and all I have ever done is rinse it off in the seawater at the beach.Then just spread it over the veg patches and dug it in and left that particular veg patch to settle for a month of 2.Works for me.

randomuser2013

There is an offer this week on free Thousand Head Kale this week from Seedaholic. Look in the herbs and veg section under Special Offers.

I ordered some on Fri along with spring onion seeds and they'll probably be here Monday. I'm going to plant them this week to grow over the winter along with Red Russian Kale. I keep pet rabbits and have been composting their used bedding so hopefully the kale will like what has been produced. My bananas sure do!

Living Off The Splash

I grow a lot of Kale. One of the easiest vegetables to grow. I have a composting section at the end of my garden where I throw all my grass cuttings, fallen leaves, old pieces of paper such as envelopes (non window), used tea bags, coffee grinds (I pick these up for free from Insomnia) and vegetable cuttings. Other garden cuttings except potato peels. I pile this from about March with the above, adding to it almost daily. I turn this a few times during the year. By next March I will have a pretty good compost available which I dig into the ground. However I have also just put it on top of my soil and the outcome is the same.
I am still harvesting Kale, Mange Touts, French beans, salad leaves, spinach, beetroot, turnip and Swede. I will dig up the last of my potatoes this week.
I am also going to sow some more Turnip and Swede seeds this week and I hope to get another crop by the end of October.

kieranwaldron

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

I grow a lot of Kale. One of the easiest vegetables to grow. I have a composting section at the end of my garden where I throw all my grass cuttings, fallen leaves, old pieces of paper such as envelopes (non window), used tea bags, coffee grinds (I pick these up for free from Insomnia) and vegetable cuttings. Other garden cuttings except potato peels. I pile this from about March with the above, adding to it almost daily. I turn this a few times during the year. By next March I will have a pretty good compost available which I dig into the ground. However I have also just put it on top of my soil and the outcome is the same.
I am still harvesting Kale, Mange Touts, French beans, salad leaves, spinach, beetroot, turnip and Swede. I will dig up the last of my potatoes this week.
I am also going to sow some more Turnip and Swede seeds this week and I hope to get another crop by the end of October.

Thanks for your comments, above, on my original post about improving the ground for kale.