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Message: [QUOTE="Oliver Buckle, post: 238144, member: 12649"] I have a bed about eight foot by four that I have emptied and which is one of the more recent to come under cultivation. I put a lot of compost into it last year, and it is sloping and drains well, which means it was fairly friable despite starting off as clay and it having rained heavily for a few days. I dug a trench down the length of it, filled it with not very wonderful compost then repeated moving across each time and putting the spoil on the compost in the previous trench. Then I put a large barrow of really good kitchen waste compost on top with some bone meal, a small amount of farmyard manure, and a bag of wood ash, spread it out, worked it into the top four inches or so and then raked it over pulling the clay balls that didn't break up to the ends. I will pick them up later, put them in the greenhouse to dry, and then dump them in a fire. Lastly I limed it fairly thoroughly. After I have given it a while to settle and I have raked in the lime I am planning on planting shallots and garlic soon. Bit stiff this evening. Watered in the greenhouse a bit. Planted five broad bean plants in each of the two buckets I made up, one with solid wood in the bottom, one with twigs. It will be interesting to see how they compare. The beans were left over from planting a row and I had put them in pots to fill any gaps, but I seem to have got 100% germination :) [/QUOTE]