planning a plot

[smudgersmith]

Hi everyone
just joined and recently moved into a house with a largish garden and want to start a vegetable plot.

All my back garden is laid to lawn so I want to create a veg patch,the area im looking at to convert is about 12 feet wide by about 16 feet long.I can go bigger if people think this will be too small,theres only me and my lad living here and he doesnt eat veg much so it will mainly be for me

How do I go about it do i just mark out the area with string or suchlike and take off the grass in turf like lumps and dig over and add manure.Should I leave a grass path through the middle for access or just dig the lot?

Any advice please

[Two_Sheds]

The aspect is really important - does it face south? (ideally)


Also consider what veg you like to eat: this will dictate, to a large extent, how much land you need

[smudgersmith]

Yes the garden faces south west,I was thinking of runner beans,french beans salad crops perhaps carrotts things like that.There is a greenhouse next to the area im looking to dig over

[Two_Sheds]

Oh, you've just found the biggest French bean fan (I am, I am, Zazen and Flum aren't really ) although I grow them for the dried bean, not the fresh green one

[smudgersmith]

do you reckon that area will be ok for what I want to do?

[Two_Sheds]

do i just mark out the area with string or suchlike and take off the grass in turf like lumps and dig over and add manure.

If you have 'normal' lawn grass, just dig it over: the grass will rot down and feed the soil

Should I leave a grass path through the middle for access or just dig the lot?

You need a path, for access (planting, weeding etc) Beds are usually twice your arm-span (so you can reach all parts of the bed without walking on it)

[smudgersmith]

oh thanks,so Ill have a path through middle.I have some bags of manure should I dig that in.
I am planning on doing it tomorrow

[Two_Sheds]

I've never used manure, myself

[smudgersmith]

ok thanks for the advice,its going to take some breaking down the soil as its thick clay here

[Two_Sheds]

its thick clay here

Clay is hard digging, but it retains water and is rich in nutrients

I'm on *almost* pure sand (yards from the beach)

[Kristen]

I have "beds" rather than a "plot". Its akin to raised beds, but I haven't gone to the expense of timber frames around them. The important point is that I never walk on the beds, and the paths are permanent.

With Beds that are 4' wide, maximum, you can reach the middle from either side.

My paths are 18" wide. You could leave the grass on them (chose a width to match your mower maybe), I dug mine out and put the extra soil on the beds to raise them up a bit.

That would (if you steal a bit more than 12', or make the beds narrower) give you 3 beds. You should really use a crop rotation so that the same crops don't grow in the same place each year. The three beds would be Roots (Parsnips, Carrots, Spuds, Beetroot etc), Brasscias (Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower etc) and "Others" (Beans, Lettuce, Onions, Sweetcorn etc)

Your lad might like the Sweetcorn? (Home grown sweetcorn which you pick straight to the pan tastes fantastic compared to shop bought - simply because of the time it takes to get to the shop)

Three and four year systems are common (crop not grown on the same soil again for 3, or 4, years).

You could put the turf, upside down, at the bottom of the trench as you dig it, or stack it away in a corner to rot down for a year, which will make great "loam" for potting, or to put back on the garden.

For a small area I suggest you consider:

Productivity / Value: Grow crops that have high yield, or cost lots in the shop, or both. Runners are high yield and prolific

Sweetcorn have great taste, but much lower productivity.

There is a system called "Square Foot Gardening" which aims to get maximum productivity from a given area. Concentrating on having follow-on crops at just the right time will help too.

Dr D G Hessayon's "Vegetable and Herb Expert" should be the first book you buy, and may well be the only one you ever need. Simple, filled with all the information you need, brilliant layout.

How much area do you need? That's the 64-million-dollar question! My advice would be that taking on too much to start with can be disheartening, so maybe have a design plan which means you can dig up more lawn later if you get on well with it, keeping in mind the 3-year crop rotation. (4 year plans are common too, but you need 4 areas for that of course).

But above all stick to growing what you like to eat

[smudgersmith]

Thank you kristen some brilliant advice .I have printed it out
cheers