A Row of Oregano

Carried on this morning, digging over the West side, heading South. The methodology is to rake the top of the soil, there are lots of pebbles (from the subsoil, dumped during the pond and under-path excavations) and bits of glass (from earth dumped from the old greenhouse area, during the levelling process). 

Then I dig over half a dozen or so rows. It's fairly light digging, which suggests it's nicely drained. The patches of subsoil, are fairly easy to break up and begin to blend with the good topsoil. As I dig, I take out any more pebbles that I can. Finally, before planting, I break it up further with the rake, usually finding a few more pebbles at this stage, (I use the pebbles to mark the point where the pond finds the Council's drain, and there's quite a wee cairn arising there).

I think that there are more worms now than there were when I dug this bed over last autumn. It would make sense that their numbers recover now that this bed is not waterlogged. That recovery should continue as it gets cultivated, and take a boost when the shit goes onto it next autumn. I'm optimistic about the soil condition for the future. Even the heavy clay is there in small enough proportions to get broken up, and release nutrients locked up since the ice age.

I planted a row of greek oregano, (apparently I got the seeds free with Kitchen Garden magazine, I think that was last year, sometime). This year I'll just grow it like an annual for its leaves, but I'll transplant the whole row into a patch over the winter, (I do believe herbs should be in patches, not rows). Though I don't know where, yet. I like the idea of herb patches spread around the plot, rather than a dedicated "herb garden". We'll see.