I want a vegetable garden, where do I start

Happy_Bunny_6

Forgive this question from a complete novice!

I've fenced off a small patch I want to turn into a veg garden.

It's about 10 foot by 18 ft, but the top 6ft is a bit too messy at the moment.

It was part of a paddock, so I dug the grass and dock up as best I could and then put old carpet over the plot.
I've got loads of horse manure in a pile there, (fresh not rotted).
I also have 2 compost bins which I filled ages ago and haven't looked at since! So they might be full of good stuff by now

The soil is good as far as I can tell under the carpet, but it is very stony and impossible to dig below a few inches down

I wondered if I actually left the carpet down, (wool) and put loads of horse manure over the top and used the whole thing as a compost plot for a while if that would work and I would end up with good soil and how long it would take

Or should I pull the carpet out and dig the manure into it

I've also seen piles of tyres in vegetable gardens, are these for growing potatoes in and how does that work?

moggins

I think you've made a good start, as far as I know horse manure shouldn't be dug in until it's well rotted so leaving it on the top would be a good plan.

Yes the tyres are used for growing potatoes, as the plant grows you just shove another tyre on and earth up, then you get more potatoes per plant.

studentphil

Runner beans are fairly high yeld

Corgettes and tomatoes too

louise_1981

Another onlooker here. I have just bought a house (to complete mid Jan) and would love a veg patch. Grown sprouts, tomatoes, carrots, peas and potatoes as a youngster, so have a fair knowledge.

I often grew in planters, old washing baskets, anything I could get my hands on really. Don't just limit yourself to your plot.

Would like to get into organic and collecting my own seeds.

But for now, complete on the house fingers crossed

DawnW

for decent results, you will probably need to dig the patch over. If the soil is stony and hard, you will not be able to dig very deep the first year (the depth of the spade is ideal). Crops will not be great the first year if you can't do this - though you will get something - , but will improve in subsequent years, especially if you add manure or compost each year. It will probably be too wet to dig at the moment. Why not wait till March/April time, when you can dig without the soil sticking to the spade too much, and try then. I wouldn't leave the carpet down, but would try to dig the manure etc in as far as possible. There ARE no-cultivation methods where you don't have to dig, but just keep putting compost down. I don't know how successful this is, as I have never done it (have 30+ years of growing veg though). Our patch is far too wet to do anything with at the moment, though cabbage, sprouts and purple sprouting plants are quite happy (and tasty in the case of the sprouts, others aren't ready till spring).

culpepper

I started mine about a year ago and dug it bit by bit with a pick axe. It took a long time but it has been worth it. I did get out some quite big bits of stone. You can build the beds up above whatever you have if you use something to help hold the soil in. A lot of people use old wood to make edges. Then fill with compost and grow in that. There is a man who sometimes posts on the downsizer site who grows all his produce in old plastic containers. So it can be done whatever the initial soil.

thriftlady_2

I've been toying with the idea of growing veg in my small garden for years. I've grown a bit but always given up.

The thing is I have 4 trees in my garden which is about 30 foot by 40 foot (very roughly speaking as it is triangular). The trees (a quince, a crab apple, and 2 ornamental trees) are between 15-20 ft. I like my trees, they provide shade and interest, so many of our neighbour's gardens are just lawn with a bed round the edge. My question is to those who know 'is it worth growing veg in a small garden with a lot of tree shade ? '

Apologies to Happy Bunny I don't mean to hijack your thread I didn't want to start another thread on a similar topic

vivaladiva

It seems that a lot of people's New Year resolution is to grow own veg - many starting from scratch. Could we have a Sticky gardening from scratch thread?

janiebaby29

i got 20 packets of veg seed from this place .https://www.alanromans.com
for 10.80 . worth a look

thriftlady_2

There's a new series about vegetable gardening starting on this Friday at 8.30 BBC 2. It's being presented by Carol Klein, looks good. They are going to follow the progress of a family who are turning their garden into a productive plot.

Addiscomber

Whilst the carpet is good for keeping weeds down, by excluding the light they need to germinate and grow, I don't think that trying to grow on through it will work. There are ways of building your growing soil up on top of a stony or thin soil if you cannot or do not want to dig your patch. I think you should probably replace the carpet with cardboard boxes or even several thicknesses of newspaper as a base layer to prevent weeds and grow through.

Have a look here http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf582744.tip.html and try googling for "lasagna gardening" - I just got loads of leads but for some reason cannot connect to some of them at the moment.