Rehabilitating the soil

Our second poly tunnel is being be revitalised and brought back to life. The soil has been compacted and baked dry over the years. Plants were grown in pots rather than in the compact lifeless soil.  Our team of dedicated miners got to work with sharpened forks and chiselled away.  We didn’t find a single living thing. It is now on an intense organic diet to rehabilitate the amazing soil. Firstly it was dug over, then soaked and finally the rotavator could break up the rock like structure. Piles of compost have been dug in along with some organic cow manure heaving with worms. Like a miracle the beautiful red soil looks alive again.  We will nourished the soil with liquid feed made from nettles, plant mustard which can be dug in and add some vermaculture juice from a local wormery thanks to Richard and his army of worms. Hopefully we will see a crop of tomatoes by late summer. Over the coming years we will steadily rebuild the soil structure until it is teaming with life again.

Sun Burst

We got fed up of waiting for the rain to stop so on a slightly less wet day we tentatively crept out and designed a huge sunburst pattern across our demonstration allotment.  It looks fantastic and sure enough two days later it coaxed the sun just in time for our Saturday gang to start some much needed weeding.  We had to  use scaffolding boards to walk on to save the soil from getting too compact. Two workdays later we have our first bed planted up with peas!! Great effort everyone.  The ‘Sunburst Garden’ will work like a sun dial with different families of crops working their way around each year in a rotation.

And one month later.........

We have been pushing on despite the rain over the last few weeks. In this weather it's to wet to work the soil and we have to be patient. Fortunately we have some big poly tunnels to work in. One is for propagating seeds which is now heaving at the seems. A huge range of things bursting to get outside into the soil.  We have been building propagation tables, compost mixing bays so we can process our own compost, and frames for bird netting. We are never short of jobs and people that come down are learning a range of skills. On Tuesday evening we stripped down the old sad looking poly tunnel door and rebuilt it using all the old parts, thanks to some handy skills by Andy and Henry.

Teeming with wildlife

Things are shaping up on site. Many thanks to all of the people that have helped out so far. We have had teams of volunteers in who have been learning how we are turning long term pasture back into productive land for growing vegetables, whilst being very careful to minimise and protect the wildlife that has taken up residence.

Starling (Mike Dimmery)

Sections of the fields have been ploughed in blocks leaving nature corridors. As we go we have been checking for slow worm and other reptiles. We have discovered that the large meadow and overgrown fruit tree glade area is a favourite lunching spot for a flock of resident Starlings. They are become quite rare so nice to see a big family of them enjoying the delights on offer in our field.

All the boundaries are heaving with blossom as they are made up of mature fruit trees. Amongst them are apples, pears, plums and cherry. Most have been unmanaged for years so are full of ivy and covered in moss. This makes a great habitat for nesting birds and potentially the dormice on site. In the evening there are a lot of bats flying overhead. The old barn and ivy-covered trees create great roosts for the bats, and the meadows and overgrown boundaries provide them with an abundance of food.

Spuds, herbs and flowers

Thanks to VaultexUK and KPMG for sending us groups as part of their social responsibility schemes. It has been a great help and now 90kg of potatoes have been planted just in time for the rain.

Vaultex teams have been helping plant an array of beneficial herbs and flowers to be planted amongst our crops. 

KPMG started creating an entrance way feature raised bed which will be the welcome garden. This will be planted up with a range of flowers which will attract beneficial insects and can also be eaten.

First potatoes in the ground!

The first potatoes are now in the ground at the Feed Bristol site! This is one stage in a gradual process of bringing the land back into use for growing crops.
This year part of the site will be given over to growing annual vegetable crops, some of the land will be planted with green manures to increase fertility and suppress weeds, while some will be left for meadow and brought into cultivation in coming years.
Work building our new centre is still underway and there are smaller construction tasks ahead like putting in paths, recovering one of the polytunnels and building raised beds.
With planning and design work still going on it was great to have a down-to-earth day, get back to basics and feel the lovely sandy soil between our fingers, working alongside volunteers planting out 'Orla' potatoes -  an early variety that will be ready to harvest in August. We still have plenty more to put in - 5 different varieties that will give us a potato harvest from July to October. 

Introducing Matt

Matt Cracknell has joined us as the Project Worker for the Feed Bristol project. He has been working on the project for a couple of weeks and has been very busy getting his ideas for the land together, making plans for involving groups and communities in the project as well as putting in that all important seed order.

Matt has an incredible enthusiasm for the project and he can't wait to get people out on the land growing with him.