Trying to build perfect no dig beds

Arse! I thought I had it all sussed a few weeks back but soon came to realise that I still had work to do in the creation of perfect no dig beds

Having looked at the spaces between my beds and realising that the surface was just too lumpy and the gaps too large between them, I took the plunge and ordered myself some mushroom compost - 1000L to be exact. It's a bit of a ball-ache getting a delivery company to drop off any meaningful quantity of this stuff, because none of them will drop on anything other than kerbside. The allotment path/road itself is stone and hard baked clay; the perfect surface to swallow the wheels of a  fully laden pallet truck while it dismounts a lorry tail-lift(which is exactly what they move it around on when delivering) so I had to think laterally about what I was going to do.


I could have ordered a large 1m x 1m x 1m bag which is dropped off on a hiab (lorry mounted crane) but they'd need to put out stabilising legs in order to operate the crane, and the road down the centre of the plots is only barely wide enough to take a 7.5t flatbed truck, let alone a 10ft(3m) wide HGV and 8ft supports.


So the only solution I could come up with, short of ferrying car loads of bags of compost backwards and forwards from the local supplier, was to have the pallet of compost bags delivered to the top gate of the allotment(which, usefully, is a private road) and then ferry them on a wheelbarrow from the gate to my plot.


I rang a few companies and eventually settled on Mr Watmore's organic composts for a number of reasons; firstly the product has a very good reputation and is organic.

Secondly they broke the product description down into specific percentages, which is something that other suppliers seemed unable to do.

Thirdly, their telephone advice and details of their delivery service were truly excellent. Not only can I have it delivered to the gate of the allotment, I will receive a call both 24 hrs before and also within 15 mins of the product arriving, meaning I can plan my day then take delivery and still be able to shift it all to my plot without it leaving my sight. I don't want to be hanging around for any longer than necessary so this was the only solution I could find which I was happy with.

The allotment north entrance

It was a little pricey but I figure this is all year one cost so hopefully will be the last of the expensive years while I try to build the perfect no dig beds.

This should be enough to give me a good top layer and have a go at filling the paths between plots. I'd originally thought it to be a good idea to woodchip mulch the paths on the plot, something I'd done on my other smaller plot with some success for reducing weeds and also reducing the hard baked cracking the clay soil suffers from in the summer.

However, when I asked Charles Dowding on the course I'd recently attended, he advised that there was a potential pest problem inherent with this material, namely woodlice. I'm guessing that I wasn't the first novice to express complete lack of knowledge about what I thought was a completely harmless bug, as I merely mentioned that I thought it wasn't an issue, before he started reeling off potential targets for these armour-plated beasties. By all accounts they eat things from the inside, with brassicas being one of a number of plants they'll happily cut off at the shin.

This meant a dramatic rethink of how I'll mulch paths for the first couple of years and this is why the compost was ordered. I want to get the beds sorted before planting out time!

In the meantime following the  transplanting of my enormous rhubarb crown a few days ago, I rewrote my allotment plan. Just a few tweaks and some space has also opened up next to my compost bins...just having a think about what I'd like there. I've also opted for a third(and possibly fourth) compost bin following my musings about composting



New day, new plans!



 

Things are moving and I'm more than entertained at the moment with planning and preparing.

I may not nail the perfect no dig beds first time, but I'm giving it my best shot!