New Ground - time to uncover

[hideaway]

Hi

Picked up my plot (half size)  May last year and have so far managed to sort about half of it out.  The other half has remained covered, but i think it is time to roll back the plastic and get working it.

What should be my approach to this (not afraid of hard work and would like to utilise all the space this year).

The soil is in good condition but pretty compacted, I have fresh horse muck at my disposal (delivered free to site) and a mini rotivator if needed?

Thanks in advance for any help given

Gary

[hideaway]

[goodlife]

Hmm...what I would do..
Take the covers off..and providing there is not many 'nasties' growing..like dog weed roots, couch grass etc. I would spread the manure over and turn it in with spade..give it a sprinkle of Blood, fish and bone meal..leave it for couple of weeks and it's ready for use.
BUT..if there is lots of roots..then it will be 'back braker' :-[ I would turn it over with fork, breaking each fork full  and pulling roots out. Once the area is turned over and weeded I would then spread the muck over over surface...let it weather out for some weeks and then plant it. By then the fresh manure would have lost the 'burning' effect to the plant roots and if then needed you could run the manure in with rotavator..not necessary but if you want the soil being bit finer in texture.
Don't run the rotavator over now..the soil is still wet and cold and by doing it this time of the year you do more harm than good.

[hideaway]

thanks for the reply.

I had a look under the sheeting (which has been down since at least May when i took the plot over) and there is very little there.  Hoping to get down this weekend, sounds like i shall be spending my time digging then! 

I have got some of the manure from last year so may spread this and top up my bin with the new fresh stuff.

thanks again

Gary

[cornykev]

Roll back a bit, dig a bit, a bit at a time and cover when finished.    :)

[antipodes]

When I cover, I only ever uncover when I am ready to plant! Then I just dig over lightly and plant and mulch.
But if you are going to uncover now to plant beans in May, I would hold off till you are ready!

[hideaway]

thanks again for the replies.

I was planning on using this ground for spuds, squashes etc (stuff not involved in my rotation) - is it worth doing the digging now getting lots of that horse muck in - and would it matter if it is the fresh stuff? (not sure if you can use it straight away or not)

Am a little worried that if i wait and uncover and it is like hell to work that i may miss the boat on getting stuff in the ground.

[goodlife]

No it doesn't matter if it fresh..not for squashes..as if you get it on/in within next few week and by the time you get squashes in  weather will have mellowed it down..with potatoes..well those will go in quite soon (unless  maincrop) so it is safer if you have something 'older' for them.

[cornykev]

As said keep the fresh stuff away from the spuds, and you can roughly dig the ground for them as well, just one thing, though I may have misunderstood you about the spuds are you not rotating them.     ??? ??? ???

[hideaway]

Hi cornykev

i do plan to include them into the rotation, this is my first year for them and will obviously move them around after this year.  Was just going to pop them in this covered area as i have been given loads of different varieties from my mum and dont have any other major plans for this area at the moment.

Thanks again for the help

Gary

[cornykev]

Gotcha.   ;)