Need some soil advice on my new veg patch

Naykon

Hi all,

I've recently moved house and at the bottom of my garden is a plot that previously used to house a big trampoline. I think it's only ever been used for this purpose....

It has a thick layer of woodchips/mulch probably 8" deep with a plastic covering underneath this followed by what looks like pure grey clay underneath that.

I'm after some advice on what i can do to make it a usable veg patch. I was thinking of attempting to sieve a lot of the woodchips out and then buying a large amount of compost to mix in with it but i'm not really sure what my best options are...

Any help appreciated,
thanks.

cootambear

get rid if the woodchips, make a raised bed

misskool

how much money do you want to spend?

We just dug and dug and dug and we now have almost friable soil. Add spent compost, manure, leaf mould, sharp sand and lots of swearing. It's taken 3 years and we're now about to edge the beds and raise it a little but it's hard work.

Naykon

raised bed's not an option as its a rented house. Could i mix soil and compost in with the woodchips or would it be better to remove them?

my guess was that the woodchips would rot down eventually releasing nitrogen and that the vegetables could still grow with them there. I'm looking to spend as little as possible.

cootambear

Naykon wrote: »

raised bed's not an option as its a rented house. Could i mix soil and compost in with the woodchips or would it be better to remove them?

my guess was that the woodchips would rot down eventually releasing nitrogen and that the vegetables could still grow with them there. I'm looking to spend as little as possible.

I am not aware of any law, or any stipulation in a standard rental agreement that precludes raised beds, unless your contract has especially cited them?

*miaomiao*

cootambear wrote: »

I am not aware of any law, or any stipulation in a standard rental agreement that precludes raised beds, unless your contract has especially cited them?

One option for when you don't want to cause any damage plus have the ability to take the equipment with you when you move could be this:
http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/HarrodSite/pages/category/category.asp?ctgry=Raised_Bed_Gardening&cookie_test=1

We've just ordered one along with a liner. It will be sitting on pebbles so nothing left if we move the bed! Admittedly this is an expensive raised bed but other places sell them for less money. Just be sure to use a liner!

Good luck! :A

Lotus-eater

If you've got woodchips covering grey clay, then it's going to take alot of time and effort to make anything worth growing in. The woodchips all need removing and putting somewhere else and you need to either put alot of organic matter into the clay, or build some kind of raised bed on it.

How long are you planning to stay in the house? Because it's not going to be a short term or cheap thing.

Naykon

Lotus-eater wrote: »

If you've got woodchips covering grey clay, then it's going to take alot of time and effort to make anything worth growing in. The woodchips all need removing and putting somewhere else and you need to either put alot of organic matter into the clay, or build some kind of raised bed on it.

How long are you planning to stay in the house? Because it's not going to be a short term or cheap thing.

My current theory is that if i add a lot of compost, fert, and nitrogen to the woodchip then it will eventually rot down in a year or 2. Removing all the woodchip and replacing it with soil would be far too time consuming and expensive

The clay is a seperate layer deep down which i wont be going near.

Mojisola

Woodchips will rot down eventually but they'll use so much nitrogen while doing so that you'll have trouble growing plants at the same time. Also your 8" of woodchips will reduce considerably so you won't have much depth to grow plants in.

If you can get poultry manure - which is very high in nitrogen - you could use that to speed things up.

Naykon

Mojisola wrote: »

Woodchips will rot down eventually but they'll use so much nitrogen while doing so that you'll have trouble growing plants at the same time. Also your 8" of woodchips will reduce considerably so you won't have much depth to grow plants in.

If you can get poultry manure - which is very high in nitrogen - you could use that to speed things up.

Thanks! :T

cootambear

Naykon wrote: »

My current theory is that if i add a lot of compost, fert, and nitrogen to the woodchip then it will eventually rot down in a year or 2. Removing all the woodchip and replacing it with soil would be far too time consuming and expensive

The clay is a seperate layer deep down which i wont be going near.

my original question was, why cant you make raised beds in a rented house?