I had a really nice couple of hours in the garden. E, the garden owner popped out to say hello and give me access to the basement for the tools. She seemed happy for me to be there and pleased that it was getting tidied up and organised. Got more grass pulled out of the border and dug out about half of the overgrown plants. It was really nice to see some progress. The brambles proved very difficult, I think I'll be battling them for a while as I ended up having to get the secatuers out and snip the roots as no matter how deep I dug, how much I wiggled or how hard I pulled, I couldn't get them out.
This time I remembered to take a plastic bag out with me and collect some soil to test for pH and nutrients. It seems that my soil that initially I thought was really good, is actually quite poor. It's neutral to slightly acid pH (7-6.5) but there is almost no nitrogen, potassium or phosphorus in the soil. I think my first attempt to increase these will be to source some well rotted manure and dig this in before the winter. Feeling the soil damp I also now think it may be quite clay based as it feels very sticky and clumps very easily. Not sure how to improve this though.
Next good weather day I hope to get the rest of the plants dug out. I'll then need to arrange for any of the cuttings that won't fit in the recycling to be uplifted. Hopefully before the ground freezes for winter I'll get chance to properly dig the plot, hopefully work in some manure and then cover it all over with card to help suppress weeds until the Spring.
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