Where in the World is TopVeg?
TopVeg is a vegetable gardening blog based in the UK on Sunk Island - a fertile area reclaimed from the River Humber, in a rural, isolated part of Holderness. The skies go on for ever, above the flat expanse of farmland.
We are below sea level, so look up at the boats sailing up the river at high tide.
The wild-life is diverse.
- We have wading birds on the mudflats and skylarks in the pea fields with constant birdsong.
- The downside is that the squirrels, rabbits and deer come into our gardens for regular meals.
Our proximity to the sea, brings a maritime climate, which helps our vegetable garden.
- Temperatures remain mild, never dropping to those of our neighbours, nor rising as high as those in the middle of the UK. Our bay tree survives outside in a sheltered spot.
- We are always damp - thanks to sea frets, and evening mists from the river, which help the vegetable garden grow.
But the best thing about our location is the quality of the soil.
- It is a rich, alluvial, estuarine sediment; classified as gleyic–calcaric alluvial brown soils (Soil Survey of England and Wales, 1983). This soil is very deep, extending down for many meters.
- A disadvantage of this soil is that it is very heavy, so has to be treated with great respect. We cannot work it or walk on it when it is wet.
- But when treated sympathetically our soil grows wonderful vegetables in the garden.
>Sunk Island is a very special place to be and TopVeg is firmly based here.
This has been written for the Garden Bloggers Geography Project which is endeavouring to place all the gardening blogs in the world.
Nice job! Thanks for participating. I’ll get your link up into my sidebar on the front page of Bloomingwriter shortly.
Comment by jodi - February 11, 2008 2:36 pm
Jodi
Looking forward to seeing where everyone else is in the world. Good project. Thanks
TopVeg
Comment by TopVeg - February 11, 2008 5:15 pm
gleyic–calcaric alluvial brown soils
Now that is a mouthfull. I promise not to eat any.
Your area looks a bit too flat for my taste. Especially if I need to look up at ships passing by. I’d be a nervous wreck with the polar ice melting. At least my 4oo feet above sea level gives me a little breathing room.
Once I leave here I’m going to Google Earth to see if I can spot you.
Comment by wiseacre - February 11, 2008 5:51 pm
Hi Wiseacre
The flatness took a bit of getting used to. I could not settle when we first arrived & then we had a week in the Swiss mountains & suddenly felt secure. There was nothing ‘to keep us in’ on this flat land & we felt as though we ‘might fall off!’. Daft - but it was a strange feeling!
Sorry about the mouthful- got carried away - trying to get gain points for Sunk!
Comment by TopVeg - February 11, 2008 6:47 pm
Deary me! I do recognise that soil; gives you the biggest carrots on earth! How do you treat it to “fluff” it up? In general swedes with clay soil toil it shortly before the first freeze to let the cold help with bursting the lumps, but I suppose this is not an option if you can’t rely on cold weather.
Comment by Rosengeranium (Indoor Gardener) - February 13, 2008 12:11 pm
Your soils sound a lot like our clay soils here in the US. If you work it when its wet its not good.
Comment by Curtis - February 15, 2008 1:08 am
Looking up at boats passing by…Hmmmm I have never experienced such a thing. It is difficult to imagine. I would wonder why the river didn’t pour into your garden. Interesting.
Comment by Lisa at Greenbow - February 16, 2008 9:35 am
Lisa
We have a very strong wall built of stone etc, which keeps the water out. It was strengthened, and raised, twenty years ago, so we put our trust in that!
It still fascinates me to look up at the boats sailing by!
Good to hear from you.
TopVeg
Comment by TopVeg - February 17, 2008 9:12 am
Rosengeranium
You are right about the soil. It will grow big root vegetables, but the problem is lifting them out of the heavy soil in a wet autumn!
We use to rely on the frosts to break up the dug soil, but we do have a lot of strong winds, which dry the soil out. The dry soil breaks up into small platelets, similar to a crumb.
Thanks for your comment
TopVeg
Comment by TopVeg - February 17, 2008 9:16 am
Well done! We appear to be the only English participants thus far
Comment by VP - February 27, 2008 8:38 pm
Oh, no, you deal with the dreaded fur-bearing mammal triple threat also! I never realized that deer were a problem in England the way they are here in the US. However, your squirrel & rabbit problems are the stuff of legend.
Comment by Mr. McGregor's Daughter - March 4, 2008 6:36 pm
Sunk Island sounds very much like my part of the Netherlands. Where I live is flat too, several meters below sea level, quite wet, maritime climate and vast skies. And I garden on very fertile soil too, mine is very heavy clay.
Comment by Yolanda Elizabet - March 6, 2008 1:39 pm
Yolanda
Good to hear from a fellow sub-sea level gardener! Not an easy soil, but rewarding!
Happy 2008 growing! TopVeg
Comment by TopVeg - March 8, 2008 8:04 pm