"0tterbot" wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
"0tterbot" wrote in message

it also occurred to me that the bubbly plants don't grow tall like the
middle bunch there - they stay short & get sort of wide.

IIRC, wide rather than tall in silverbeet is some sort of nutriet/trace
element deficiency - perhaps the same thing applies to Spinach. Knowing
your soil, it's rather poor.

thought of that, it's certainly possible, although i'd now describe my
veggie soil as rapidly improving!! thing is, the good & bad ones are as
little as 10cm away from each other. which does happen, i know. but still!

i must say i do have the problem of dud plants that just go nowhere, yet
sitting right next to big healthy ones. my manuring is perhaps a little
haphazard, resulting in an irregular spread.

The International gardening ngs have been full of articles about horse poop
contaminated with a herbicide used for pasture. Apparently this herbicide
can be residual in horse poop and will especially kill or stunt things like
tomatoes or potatoes (these two being particularly sensitive). No mentions
so far of greens having a problem by being stunted or bubbly, but the
description of one plant doing well and one only a few inches away doing
very poorly is similar to the probs people have experienced.

The 2 herbicides (control of broadleaf weeds) are Aminopyralid and
Clopyralid. I know they are used here as my husband has some of herbicides
for paddock use where these are the active ingredient - bloody good stuff
for the weeds that need knocking too. The Poms have banned them for no good
reason that I can see other than the sale of contaminated horse poop to
gardeners.

That 'may' be a factor but even if it is, don't worry about it as the
recommended way for it to disappear is to spread the manure. Course the
Poms like to pile it so they get that mythical thing "well rotted manure".
Piling it concentrates the stuff.

Have you tried adding a pinch of trace
elements when you'd done your bed preparation? Or even a one off
application of packet chemical stuff at the start.

don't know anything about that stuff even if inclined, so no.

I would recommend it. Your soil is lacking in nutrients and some of the
trace elements are very important for plant growth. I have a bottle of
trace elements (about the size of a mid size Vegemite jar) and I've had it
for at least a decade. I never used to use it but started to give the beds
a dash of it once a year and I'm convinced it has made a difference to
overall health and performance. When I do my Spring fertilising of 9 parts
(I use old kitchen cup measures and measure 2 and a quarter cups) Blood and
Bone and 1 part Sulphate of Potash (quarter of a cup) I add about a
teaspoon of the trace elements.

i've been
adding in blood & bone periodically as well as keeping the mulch going,
and have even been organised enough to have limed a few times! :-)
oh well, thanks farmie.

Most welcome. Must be about time for the annual Axe murderer's lunch????