Eric Markov wrote:How did it go?
So far its worked well thanks - a few hiccups but generally good.
The clover I planted initially didn't come up well (we had a dry spell and I didn't realise how much water it needed) but after that I planted clover at the same time as beetroot, spinach, perpetual spinach, leeks, cabbage, brocoli, cauliflower, carrots, kale, brussel sprouts and they all worked well. The carrots looked overcrowded but were fine. The beetroot and spinach needed to be uncovered occasionally, but otherwise the veg grew above the clover so there were/are no real overcrowding problems
I also grew pumpkins which started ok, but they suffered from powdery mildew which may or may not have been caused by the clover, but I doubt if it helped. So if anyone has any good organic remedies it'd be appreciated...?
There was a fair bit of slug damage but not more than my allotment neighbours and perhaps even a bit less. The clover was quite nibbled in places so perhaps the slugs ate that instead.
Overall, whilst I'm not sure how much the clover added during this first season - partly as it was slower to mature than I expected - the main benefits for me are that I've gone from starting with a weedy unhappy allotment to a much better allotment with nice green healthy clover areas suppressing weeds and improving soil, so I'm happy.
Next year I'll start planting directly in the clover, maybe cutting it back hard or I'm thinking of cutting small discs of cardboard to put in the clover and create little clover free zones a few weeks before and plant in those and I'll try and report back if anyone is interested.
