Advice needed for my plants! :)

[rustylady]

OK. You have a very small space with I presume reasonable soil that gets quite a bit of sunshine. Which plants do you want to put in there?

Don't even think about using your manure at the moment if you want to plant, stack it and let it rot down. What exactly is your "storebought" compost?

[Griffin]

I'll check my compost tomorrow morning. I'm pretty sure it's all-purpose compost. I used it with some fruit trees (grafted, bare), along with the manure (didn't know I wasn't meant to use it out of the bag!) but they seem to be doing really well. They're all starting to bud and show signs of new growth after just a day or two.

Can I ask why manure needs to be rotted down? Just curious. Is it because of acids of some type that need to be broken down? How long would rotting down take? Just until it dries out and loses its smell?

I'll be planting .. well, anything! I hope?
But for now my seedlings which are all way too big for their pots are as follows:

Courgettes (Biggest one is about 7"+ tall)
Carrots (3" or so tall)
Corn (if it wasn't folding over, it would be about 9"+ tall)

Various salad plants, which are all looking miserable..


I guess I could widen the plot to 4ft wide.. I'll get some proper measurements soon

Thanks
Luke

[tamsin]

Compost is a bit confusing, because it means two different things. You get the compost that you make in a compost bin (food scraps, grass clippings etc) which rot down to make a nice 'compost' to improve the soil. Manure also comes under this category - and it also needs to rot down before use.

Then you have 'compost' you buy at the garden centre eg multi-purpose compost, which is what you grow seedlings in and pot plants. Think of that more like nice soil. It usually has enough 'food' added in to last 6 weeks or so, which is why seedling often put on a growth spurt when being potted up - the extra compost replenishes the food. You wouldn't usually add that to your garden unless you needed to fill a container/raised bed (although it won't do any harm if you do).

As someone that's chucked a few veggies in the garden borders on occasion, unless your soil is terrible, most things will grow even if you do nothing but dig it over a bit. They'll grow bigger/better with something to feed the soil, and you'll need to do that if you keep growing year on year in the same place, but don't panic too much about getting everything perfect first time. You can also feed them with liquid food later in the year if you find that easier

[Mato]

It's great to be so prepared. In my experience, you learn as you go. No matter how much you measure and plow right down to the last inch, sometimes things just go wrong. Be prepared to have a lot of trial and error.

[Two_Sheds]

I've got a little space between the back of the conservatory and the fence

It's going to be dry then, esp. if it's had a fir in there, sucking up all available moisture.

Would appreciate some help on the... build of a small vegetable patch!

There's no need to "build" at all: just fork over the soil as Rusty said, and plant your stuff. Things will grow: you'll need to keep on top of watering, possibly give a feed in the form of BFB or something.
Then over the years you'll need to replenish the nutrients that your veg takes out, by adding humus (homemade compost, well-rotted manure).

Can I ask why manure needs to be rotted down? How long would rotting down take?

It could burn your plants, it could contain pathogens ~ composing takes 6-18 months depending on how good you are at it. Just add the manure to your regular compost heap

unless your soil is terrible, most things will grow even if you do nothing but dig it over a bit.

Aye. Just get planting