Advice needed preparing ground

newsseller12

I will be growing veg for the 1st time this year.
I have today lifted an area of concrete flags and dug the soil over deeply.
I have noticed the soil is very clay and heavy and also the flags were laid on a sand base around one inch deep. What I want to know is will this builders sand hinder veg growing and also do I need to do anything else to prepare the ground ie adding compost etc.

Linda32

Okay, I'm afraid I'm going to answer with questions, first off what would you like to grow, or rather what veg/salads do you eat?

Does the area get sun?

If you've done all that in a day, you also deserve a long hot bath and a glass of whatever you fancy :beer:

newsseller12

I want to grow potatoes, carrots, onions and beetroot. although open to ideas on what will grow fairly easily
The plot gets sun for around half of the day in the afternoon.

harpo1

Should be fine. Traditionally the first crop should be spuds because it clears the ground . What that really means is that you clear the ground because potatoes need cultivation aka digging!!. Any area under slabs will be very compacted so you need to start turning over the soil. The sand is great because on heavy (clay soil) it will help the drainage. Digging clay is heavy & hard so if you have one use a fork instead of a spade- goes through easier & the soil doesn't stick. So one spade deep & turn - now is a good time as frost will help make the clay crumble, if you get hold of compost or rotted down manure as well as the sand to mix in so much the better. Then let it settle. tred it down - just means walk over & you are ready to go. I grow peas in between my rows of spuds, they can be harvested without disturbing the potatoes as long as you are careful. Seaweed fertiliser is very good & maybe grow something like Cultra or Nicola spuds the first time - they seem very resistant to most of the bad guys
Good luck

Gabriel-Ernest

You're going to need lots of organic material (compost, manure) to break down the clay, but you shouldn't grow carrots etc on freshly fertilised ground because it can make them 'fork.' I endorse the idea of potatoes this first year.

chickadee

Hi, I'm in Lancashire too and my soil is also very heavy clay. We started growing veg last year so I'm no expert, but I have just had a digging day today and the bit of garden we grew in last year was quite easy to turn over this time. I don't know if it is recommended, but I didn't see any problem with it, so I forked into the clay soil the compost from last year's containers. I know there probably won't be any nutrients left in it, but it should help to improve the soil texture and hopefully stop it getting so waterlogged.

Does anyone know how long it takes for compost to rot down in a compost bin? I had a look in mine today and it doesn't appear to be any different. It has been in there about 9 months. Advice anyone?

teapot2

chickadee wrote:

Does anyone know how long it takes for compost to rot down in a compost bin? I had a look in mine today and it doesn't appear to be any different. It has been in there about 9 months. Advice anyone?

Hi chickadee, theres a thread on compost bins might be worth a look there as there's been quite a bit of advice everything from wee to worms - if that doesn't answer your questions maybe post re compost on that thread to get a reply? Link below hopefully

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=372917

Good luck
Teapot

tattooedhoney

Went down to my local tip today and they sell off soil improver - basically the council made compost in big bags. They were £2.90 a bag and until I get my composter ( £7 online from recycle now) i thought I'd buy one ( my garden is also very claggy and heavy with clay)
Imagine my surprise when the guys working there said I could have them for free as the bags were split so they couldn't sell!
The soil looks good and I think I could even use them as grow bags !
So get down you local tip and bat your eye lashes at the staff !

angie_loves_veg

as you have clay, then the sand is actually quite good - it opens up the structure of the soil, allowing roots to pass through it more easily.

as previously mentioned - to open up and improve clay soil, add as much compost / manure / grit / sand as you can get your hands on.

The only exception to this is the area where you want to grow carrots, don't add manure there as it makes root veg crops 'fork'. (as said by Gabriel-Earnest earlier)

I will again agree with everyone else that potatoes will be your best starter crop!

Linda32

Hi, Yes potatoes ar good as previously mentioned. Do you want to grow all of those in the first year though?

Its possible, depending on how big your space is. You need to be looking at onions now though. Potatoes are abit later on.

You can buy onion sets from wilkinsons or garden centres, these look like very very small onions, longish in shape rather than round. You need to break up the soil, and imagine it to be like breadcrumbs. The when you plant your onions, its best to dig a little hole with a trowel, only needs to be a couple of inches deep. Break up that soil so that its nice and soft for the onion to sit on. Then plant the onion so that its tip is showing above ground. You will know which way up it goes, as the top tapers to an end, where as the base will have tiny roots growing out.

Its tempting to just shove the onion in with your fingers, but this is said to create a hard pan of soil underneath the onion so that it can't grow.