Exercising The Rotary Soil Sieve

Three hours on the plot Sunday morning clearing weeds from buckets of soil and then using the rotary soil sieve to remove the large stones to put a first layer of topsoil on top of the weathered woodchip in the boundary boarder beds.

25mm - 50mm or more in each section of the bed working from both ends towards the middle, on top of the woodchips.

Just a thin sprinkle on the middle boundary beds at the moment, with a stack of soil to process behind. The top flower buckets are empty with no drainage holes and there to catch any rain so the soil is dry when I sieve it at a future visit.

A stack of square flower buckets with soil that needs to be processed in front of the Plot 1 Dalek Army. These buckets have been knocking around way too long. The objective is to have the plot super tidy for kick off and direct sowing at the end of March/April. And clearing these buckets will enable me to sort out the corner and get the Greenhouse climbing frame in.

Wide angle panorama from the main path just in from the gate.

Corner shot of plot 1 looking up towards plot 1A. I did give the boundary bed a sprinkle of coffee grounds to try and put off the foxes from doing the Watusi* on it and also put off any slugs and snails from getting in there and laying eggs, plus it will also act as a fertiliser.

D.T.Brown Rhubarb Livingstone   was ordered for the plot 1 allotment in 2021. The growth during the first year was astounding although due to the weather some stalks did go to seed and had to be chopped off. 

By 2022 all three of the plants were in their own beds, when I received the plants, I only had two beds ready, and the third plant was squatting in Rhubarb Bed 1 for a while until I managed to get the third rhubarb bed ready. One does not take any stalks in the first year of growth and the goodness goes back into the plant and helps it establish.  

In 2022 I have taken about 40% of the stalks late in the season from two of the three plants and have made a number of Rhubarb crumbles, and I have to say I didn't have to add much sugar, as Rhubarb Livingstone is succulent and delicious and well worth the waiting until the second year before harvesting.  

In 2023 without the need of forcing one of the 3 plants to provide an early harvest, I will have Rhubarb between March and October.

The rub on this is that it was my wife who passed away in January who really loved Rhubarb, my fear now is that I may have way too much of it. I may have to consider making Rhubarb wine, or seeing how many friend and neighbours like Rhubarb. 

* The Watusi /wɑːtuːsi/ is a solo dance that enjoyed brief popularity during the early 1960s. It was one of the most popular dance crazes of the 1960s in the United States. "Watusi" is a former name for the Tutsi people of Africa, whose traditions include spectacular dances.

Pacific Purple Asparagus from Suttons

 

The Pacific Purple Asparagus Crowns from Suttons arrived two days ago and this was my first opportunity to get down to the allotment and plant them. as it's been very wet and windy plus I had no one to look after my wife to allow me to get down to "Avalon" aka Plots 1 & 1A. 

There has been some major confusion with the dispatch date for the five "Burgundine" crowns that were also ordered back in November about when they would be shipped and although it said 21 days 30 odd days ago, on the web site they didn't arrive. I then discovered that other people I know that had ordered 25 Burgundine crowns were informed by customer support that they would not be delivered until next year! 

When chased I was sent an email on the 4th April with a dispatch date of 20th March, and an email informing me that the Pacific Purple dispatch was delayed and they would be shipped on the 5th April. 

On the 7th April I received an email from Customer Support apologising for the misinformation re not being available until next year.

We are getting in touch to apologise for an email you were sent in error, relating to your Asparagus Crowns.

 

It appears we got something wrong and advised your order was going to be delayed until 2023. We would like to assure you this is not the case, and we are expecting your order to be with you by the end of next week.

 

We are looking into how this error has occurred and we are very sorry for any disappointment and inconvenience this matter may have caused.

This is the web site today 

So with Dispatch down from 3 days to 48 Hours I'm hoping the crowns will be with me well before the end of next week, my problem is going to be getting them down to the allotment and into the ground as quickly as possible once received. 

Back to planting the Pacific Purple Asparagus from Suttons. I uncovered the trench to expose the farm year manure in the bottom. Some of the side to the trench had collapsed in a little due to the rain and wind over the last couple of days since I excavated and laid the westland Gro Sure Farmyard Manure.

I gradually filled in the triangular sloping mound area as in the diagram on the left making sure I extracted any weeds I saw.

I laid out the crowns with 200 & 400 each end so that I can stagger the pattern when the next 5 crowns finally arrive from Suttons.

Some of the roots had come detached when bundled, and I was incredibly gentle handling them getting them out of the bag they were in, laying them on the mound and then opening them out like a spider on top of the sloping mound. 

I laid them out like spiders as I had seen in the books and the Thompson & Morgan video I posted on my blog in a pervious post about Planting Asparagus. 

I did receive a piece of paper giving guidance on how to plant and prepare the ground for these in the box the Asparagus Crowns came in, but Suttons could do a lot better and provide some guidance actually on their web site and product page for Asparagus, perhaps with photographs. 

I have fed this information back to Suttons marketing team. Feedback should always be taken as being positive, as it means your customers are engaging with you and letting you know how you can improve the service you provide. 

For a good marketing team there should never be negative feedback.

Better view of the crowns

View up the trench.

Using the rotary sieve I worked the square flower buckets of excavated soil so that I could cover the asparagus in fine soil so that they can easily get through. Due to the heavy rain we've had over the last few days the soil in the square flower buckets at the bottom was very moist and clay like.

The Rotary Sieve is a great piece of equipment and is useful when processing my own compost for use, it is so fast and efficient this one I bought from ebay a few years ago, shipped from Germany and cheaper than the ones available from Wales see post Here .

Once I had the trench more or less level I added two sacks of Equigrow Fertile Mulch, now I have to say these sacks had been near the bottom of the pile, of composts and soil improvers I've had stored for this year, and I was expecting perhaps some consolidation may have happened, but this mulch spread easily from the sacks and I had thought it may have needed some loosening up. 

I love the look and texture of this product, and waiting to see how weed resistant it proves to be longer term, being made with horse manure and fertile it should help my Asparagus to establish themselves, and using Equigrow Fertile Mulch may become an annual event for the Asparagus beds.    

As the drawing on the left I tried to make the mound on the trench 3" higher than the original ground level.

I did spread about an inch thick either side of the trench and in fact took the mulch in the middle of the two beds to the bed edge

I then have the Asparagus a good watering and covered it to stop the foxes from digging it all up. I need to look at the permanent protection solution for this bed to protect it from Basil and his mates.  

Flower buckets of soil left over were stacked along the path to the bed and then the two rows one on the path and the other in the trench holding the sides up were covered in the glass panels I use so they can dry out and not get rained on again. 

What's left over from the first trench will be mixed with coir and some compost and used for the potatoes, wich really should have gone in already!

When going to Plot 1A to collect the glass panels I saw the bluebells in the comfrey bed. I love them they give some early colour and food for the bees, as well as crowding out weeds until the comfrey come and crowds out the bluebells  

Rotary Soil Sieve Update

Last year I found that the Clarke CRS400 Rotary Soil Sieve has a price range of between £64.66 - £38.32 when undertaking a google search, which was mind boggling that companies get away with selling it for so much.

Tool-net have it for £24.94 + Vat = £29.93 then when you add £6.99 for UK Mainland delivery and they apply VAT not only to the item but also on the Post & Packaging it comes to £38.32.

After some searching & research I found the Apex Rotary Soil Sieve Compost Sieve Mesh Riddle from Germany which could be bought via ebay for £34.98 including delivery.

So £3.34 cheaper than the lowest UK price and shipped in from over seas, absolutely crazy but I do like a bargain, and that's equivalent to six packs of seed with change in the Wyevale 50p seed sale later in the year.

I did inform Clarke & Tool-net via email of the price difference and that I was thinking of getting the alternative product from Germany and suggested that they may wish to provide me with the Clarke CRS400 for comparison.

Funny I never got a reply from either company! 

The Apex appears to be no longer available on ebay, but the good news is that there is a new version The BMC and it's another £2 cheaper than the Apex and £10.25 cheaper than the Clarke.

I never did obtain a review product from Clarke so that I could compare the quality with the Apex, however I suspect that fundamentally The Clarke, Apex and BMC are all the same product with different branding and paint colour. 

I should mention that these are great for removing stones and for dealing with your compost if you want to riddle it once its ready.

Rotary Soil Sieve

The Clarke CRS400 Rotary Soil Sieve has a price range of between £64.66 - £38.32 when undertaking a google search, which is mind boggling that companies get away with selling it for so much.

Tool-net have it for £24.94 + Vat = £29.93 then when you add £6.99 for UK Mainland delivery and they apply VAT not only to the item but also on the Post & Packaging it comes to £38.32.

I could not find one to pick up in a local garden centers for the £29.93 price tag.

After some searching & research I found the Apex Rotary Soil Sieve Compost Sieve Mesh Riddle from Germany which can be bought via ebay for £34.98 including delivery.

So £3.34 cheaper than the lowest UK price and shipped in from over seas, absolutely crazy but I do like a bargain, and that's equivalent to six packs of seed with change in the Wyevale 50p seed sale later in the year.

I did inform Clarke & Tool-net via email of the price difference and that I was thinking of getting the alternative product from Germany and suggested that they may wish to provide me with the Clarke CRS400 for comparison.

Funny I never got a reply from either company! 

The Apex & The Clarke are the same size looking at the specifications the images just make them look different.

If I am lucky enough to obtain a review product from Clarke so that I can compare the quality of both that will be marvellous, however I get the general feeling that isn't going to happen.

Especially if they are fundamentally the same product with different branding and paint colour.    

Happy to be proved wrong Clarkes or Tool-net if you read this.