January 2023

On the plot this month!

• Compost trench established – rather than putting jabby blackberry bush cuttings (cut back in November) into our compost pile, we made a compost trench. The trench is about 45cm deep and now contains the cuttings, some kitchen waste, cardboard, leaves, and some of our wormy rotted compost from our main bins. The trench was then filled in and its location marked. We plan to plant shallow rooting vegetables like peas and beans later in the season and see how they do over the growing season.
• Autumn raspberry canes cut down to the ground – we hope this encourages new canes to grow in the next few months.
• Compost heap turned – the heap was aerated by turning over with a fork, and wet cardboard from Xmas packaging was added to make sure there are plenty of “brown” carbon materials to help everything break down.
• Seeds and seed potatoes bought – when the weather is rubbish, what better than looking through the catalogues and starting to plan the years’ veg growing!