My first vegetable patch, I'm clueless??

twoflower169

OK, so I've spent all winter nagging my DH to put in the wood for the raised bed for my veg patch, which he finally did today, which entailed removing the turf to give me a blank canvas! But only after he put it all together that I realised I have raised beds but the soil is not raised its at ground level, so I have a 120com(width) by 240cm(Length) by 30cm(height) small patch that is empty ofthe extra soil to make it a raised bed.

So when DH asked what I was going to fill it with months ago I was thinking (and please remember I know absolutely nothing about gardening) that I would get a couple of bags of top soil and a couple of bags of veg compost, as my 1st year of composting has not yet produced ready to use compost!

SO I had a look at a few websites and I'm thinking I shouldn't be doing this at all! SO this is a big shout for help what do I do next????????? I think our soil is on the clay side of things, its PH is 7.2 I think! I will have to redo test as it was last year that I did it!

Thanks for any suggestions, and please remember I'm a clueless beginner!

misskool

you dig up the soil to loosen it as grass will have compacted the soil under it. Fork it through and then fill it up with a mix of compost and topsoil. Which website says not to fill with compost and topsoil?

twoflower169

Hi thanks for reply.

My guess wasn't too bad then! Don't know the name of the websites, but I did a search about veg growing, and a couple of them said, don't add to the natural soil, topsoil as it will ruin what nutrients are already there.

So taking your advise I can just add compost and topsoil.

I plan to dig over the patch tomorrow then when dh comes home with car I can go and look at soil.

When I am sowing seeds, for example tomatoes, do I grow them in general purpose compost or should it be specific for toms?

misskool

Don't just add the topsoil and compost on top. Remember you have to loosen the soil underneath or else the roots will hit the soil that is compacted and you'll stunt the growth.

For seed sowing, you can get specific seed compost which is supposed to be finer but I just use multi purpose compost. Just make sure it is fine enough (crumbly) when you run in through your hands.

lolly5648

We are hoping to make a raised bed about 2400x1200x250. How much soil/compost would I need to buy to fill it? I am hopeless at maths.

mazinmouse

I get muddled with the decimal points but I'd buy about 32 cubic feet which would probably be more than you'd need but allowing for compaction etc...

Also with new beds, as long as there is sufficient depth of well worked soil below then I don't think you'd necessarily need to fill the beds right to the rim with soil/compost etc straightaway.

Our 'soil' is solid clay underneath and I am thinking that when the garden is sorted I'll have to move the beds over to the other side of the garden and will get the sides raised higher as although I worked the ground underneath the beds I feel I have just created four sumps into which the water drains... so with next beds am going to have to have some sort of underground porous pipes to take water away.

Lotus-eater

Don't try and fill the whole thing at one go, as you add organic matter every year, it will steadily build up.
If your soil is horrible and not able to take the seeds or seedlings you plant in it, add a bit of compost or topsoil where you want to plant/sow. That works well, but it can dry out quickly if you are not careful, especially if you use multipurpose compost.

lolly5648

mazinmouse wrote: »

I get muddled with the decimal points but I'd buy about 32 cubic feet which would probably be more than you'd need but allowing for compaction etc...

Also with new beds, as long as there is sufficient depth of well worked soil below then I don't think you'd necessarily need to fill the beds right to the rim with soil/compost etc straightaway.

Our 'soil' is solid clay underneath and I am thinking that when the garden is sorted I'll have to move the beds over to the other side of the garden and will get the sides raised higher as although I worked the ground underneath the beds I feel I have just created four sumps into which the water drains... so with next beds am going to have to have some sort of underground porous pipes to take water away.

Thanks for the info. All the topsoil I have seen is in litres so that works out at about 15 x 60 litre bags, I think. What with making the box, buying the topsoil and compost and then plants, it really doesn't seem worth it.

We have solid London clay in our garden which gets very hard and cracks in the sun in summer and very boggy when it rains which is why I thought a raised bed would be good as the plants would not get so waterlogged.

I am now having second thoughts about the whole thing.

Lotus-eater

lolly5648 wrote: »

I am now having second thoughts about the whole thing.

Did you see what I wrote about not filling the whole thing in one year?
Growing your own, costs as much as you want it to cost. Recently I've seen people spend fortunes getting ready to grow something/anything.

Try first to get a local source of rotted manure, try all the riding stables. They even have them in London I believe.

I just use whatever I can get hold of to fill my beds, all old compost from pots, compost from the garden bin, leaf compost I make (go to parks to pick up bags of leaves), manure I get from horses, sand I picked up here and there.

Dig over your beds and add whatever you can, where you need to plant stuff, or sow stuff, add multipurpose compost just in that bit, plants will grow in your clay, you will be suprised.

knithryn

You could always go for the cheap/gradual option of growing only potatoes this year. They will help to break up the heavy ground underneath, and youu can start them off with only a shallow amount of dug over ground/soil, building up over the months as you find cheapo growbags or compost bags. OK it's not hugely inspring to only grow potatoes, esp as they are cheap to buy, but consider this first year as a 'sorting things out' stage. Perhaps grow some other veg in pots. Then next year you will have the compost from the pots, plus your own homemade compost to add to the rasied beds.
I agree that the first year of veg growing is never cheap, and can be offputting. Thankfully we are now well into composting and although I've just renovated a bed and raised it, we've ended up with too much good soil (so it has been added to the flower beds) and we still need to clear out the compost bin!

ukmaggie45

Clay is very nutrient rich soil if you can get it workable. Dig it over and add sharp grit and lots of organic matter - the peat free compost from B&Q is very twiggy this year - suspect that would be good stuff to dig in as a soil conditioner. Not very nice for planting in containers as it is though.

We lived in London till I was 12, and my Mum grew wonderful roses - definitely one upside to clay. (assuming one likes roses of course!)