Organic Gardening Magazine

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Q&A's

Your questions answered by Christina Maxfield - Your news, views & comments • Contact us via the web form, or by post or fax

 

Figs for Christmas

I have a ‘Brown Turkey’ fig tree which has masses of small fruits on it. Assuming it ripens another good crop this year, can I dry these for winter use – like the dried type available in the supermarkets?

Miss A Morrison, Dorset

Figs can indeed be dried at home. First, make sure they are completely ripe before you pick them. Cut them in half, sprinkle them with a little sugar and spread them out in a single layer, cut side up, in a food dehydrator, on a rack in the oven, or on a tray in a very warm airing cupboard. If you are using an oven, set it at a very low heat – around 50C/120F; this may involve leaving the door ajar. In an oven the process should take eight to 12 hours; in an airing cupboard it could be as many as two days. The fruit is ready when it feels dry and squeezing it produces no juice. Store the fruit in lidded jars; you can either eat it as it comes, or soak it in water before adding it to recipes.

Manure with chips

We have manure delivered to our allotment site. Normally it has straw mixed in with it, but the latest batch is mixed with wood chippings. There is some debate going on at the site as to whether this will be harmful to the soil. What’s your advice?

Alan, Salford

The problem with wood chippings is that they are very slow to break down and use nitrogen as they decompose; this means that soil nitrogen is ‘locked up’ and not available to plants. If you add manure containing wood chippings to your soil, the extra nitrogen in the manure will offset the nitrogen-depleting effect of the wood chippings to some degree, but clearly the manure won’t contribute as much to the soil as you might have hoped.

It’s now summer, and manure is in any case better dug in ahead of planting, rather than being applied around growing crops. I’d suggest that you stack the manure and let it rot down – cover it with a polythene sheet to prevent rainfall leaching the nutrients out of it. Wait until early next spring (or longer, if the wood chips are very big) before digging it in. Layering the manure with a high-nitrogen material such as grass clippings will speed the process.

Alternatively, use this batch of manure as a slow-release mulch around fruit trees or other perennial plantings, where it can remain on the surface and won’t affect the soil – and put in a request for manure mixed with straw next time!

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