What edible stuff to plant in dark, small and boggy garden?

Lizbetty

Hi everyone! I'm in a real dilemma...we now have two children (one 6wks one 20months) and a very tiny garden. It's quite dark and the clay soil is very boggy, and there's a small border round a crazy paved area. It's not fit for the kids to be left til they're about 8 as I've grown roses and poisonous things (not intentionally!) pre children, so I was thinking of digging it up (or getting husband to help dig it up) and starting from scratch.

Then I thought veg and fruit might be better as Daisy (the eldest) loved my dad's garden with the blueberries and raspberries, etc. Good for em all that fresh air and learning about nature!

I bought the Carol Klein book to see what she did at Harlow Carr with the raised borders, but I don't think the 10'x10' raised bed would fit in our titchy yard! Also, we have lots of flies and crap soil - it really has been survival of the fittest. When dh made some raised beds for the front, small flies of varying species decimated most of the lettuces and radishes, seems even pots aren't safe. (Not sure if this is because we live in front of farmers fields and they leg it to our garden once he's sprayed??!)

Anyway. Sorry for the waffle. The question is, what do you think we should grow, and if anyone has any suggestions on how to go about starting to make it child friendly (tiny garden, but huge project when we've 2 titches to look after!)? Also, anyone any suggestions re raised beds on the cheap? We're very brassic (another reason to grow our own) but at the same time would prefer something that'd last.

It all seems a bit daunting. All questions welcomed if you need any further info to be able to help! I'm like a fart in a trance at the mo cos of lack of sleep so I'll apologise for typos, etc in advance.

Thanks lots!

Lucy

Linda32

Hi,

Thats quite a few problems to deal with there. However, I have a few gardening friends I shall ask for you. Give me a day or two and I promise I will reply back. (I'm always on here)

I can't promise an answer though.


Linda

conradmum

Could you give rough dimensions please? And when you say dig it all up, do you mean the crazy paving in the centre too? Boggy isn't necessarily bad as it means you won't have the drudgery of constant watering. Could you say what plants you have surviving there at the moment so we can get a better idea of the conditions?

Penny_Farthing_2

With the fly problem, you could get fine, water and light permeable fleece. Try cutting and pasting this link into your brouser for an example. It will earn its keep in the long run.

You can make raised beds/containers out of anything big with drainage holes in the bottom eg car tyres stacked high, old dustbins/water storage tanks/ baths set on a tilt etc etc


http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/HarrodSite/category/Garden%20Netting_Insect%20Netting/


You can grow spinach, lettuce, rocket black,white and red currants and purple sprouting broccoli in a degree of shade.

Linda32

I found this information when I asked around for you.


If the garden is that small could you use the fences etc for climbers and for raised beds, breeze blocks are pretty cheap or stacked up tyres to create containers. - Which is pretty much the same as Penny Farthing says

Is there any chance you could get an allotment instead? or is that a daft idea.

nodwah

You can get thornless blackberries ( don't want jaggy ones with the kids) tho I don't know how big they'll get but they'll do well I think.

My all time fav is alpine strawbs I suggest them all the time, mine seem to grow anywhere even the most dank corners of the garden, and mine is pretty boggy.

Are you able to have hanging baskets? A question on this thread recently about that - maybe higher up there'd be more light?

Interested in the expression 'fart in a trance' i thought it was peculiar to the w est of scotland! Nice to read it!!

lightisfading

I've got the boggy problem myself, so I'm going the raised bed route too...

On the cheap - ask on your local freecycle group for scrap wood/bricks/tires/anything for edges. Then just get digging! As I'm pretty skint myself I'm going this route, and adding extra compost as and when I can afford to buy it (fiver's worth here and there!). Also worth looking into manure (local farmers? freecycle again) as this would do the job too.

Lizbetty

conradmum wrote:

Could you give rough dimensions please? And when you say dig it all up, do you mean the crazy paving in the centre too? Boggy isn't necessarily bad as it means you won't have the drudgery of constant watering. Could you say what plants you have surviving there at the moment so we can get a better idea of the conditions?

I had to ask dh on the dimensions as I'm so spacially unaware at the mo it is quite shocking ...It's approx 12ft wide and about 18ft long. The borders are approx 1.5ft wide and are on 2 sides. On the left from the house, there's a 6ft fence at the side covered in roses and ivy, with a huge castor oil plant, some sorry looking elephants ears, a spindle tree which seems to have remained like a stick, lemon balm (dried up from last year), a dwarf pear tree in the corner (gets huge conference pears on it! But sometimes they get cracked so I guess it does get dry there), then at the bottom on the garden there's a 4ft fence with ivy, a small twisted willow (almost gone straight!), a gunnera in the corner, with one of those clematis that everyone has (the pink ones), then it's to the right hand side of the garden which is the garage wall - there's an ivy growing in a hole a bashed out of the crazy paving growing up the garage, a hop in a pot (sounds like something from Dr Seuss!), the rest of the plants are in pots. We have a Christmas box which has done well in a pot, some rosemary, and other various nice plants mum gets me once in a while from Leeds market whose different names escape me just now.

I really don't mind if we have to dig up the patio - Daisy can't run her trike over the crazy paving as it's so wonky she'd end up on her side, probably! We thought about grass so they'd have somewhere to play, but it's so small at the back it's hardly worth it. We'll probably end up using the long concrete drive for them to play once we've sorted out a gate, and the small front garden (once I've got rid of the euphorbia and gravel!!!), so they don't go stir crazy.

I never thought about hanging baskets - I know that people grow tomatoes in them, having said that I did try strawberries a few years ago in one but they got the dreaded vine weevil (which came in on the huge leafed ivy my dad said I should never have bought and was annoyingly right). I mentioned tyres to dh - he didn't seem too keen as he was worried about getting rid of them if we move, but I think they'd be good as the kids'd bounce off them so they'd be very child friendly! I'm going to print off the replies so we can get some ideas together this weekend. I'd not thought of fleece over the soil to keep the horrible flies off, ta for that! I did think about an allotment, but with the new baby I think I might struggle to keep up, dh has started a new job with longer hours so I'd be on my tod til the weekend with it.

I'm getting quite excited at the prospect of teaching Daisy about growing stuff! I spent most of my childhood outside with my dad in his veggie patch. I'm hoping if we grow enough, dh can cut his hours as we won't need to bother Mr Tesco for his expensive veg...wishful thinking, but that's my aim!!

Thanks again, all other suggestions welcome! (We're considering moving to somewhere with more garden but probably can't just yet as I'm not earning being a full time mum)

I really think this site is fab, and appreciate everyone's help loads :A

Lucy

pootle666

I'm glad you're getting exciting about growing stuff, I love it & it's great for kids to see how things grow & where food comes from. I'm by no means an expert, but I too have a small garden (not much more than 12 feet square & on steep slope & quite a bit of paving), so I grow nearly everything in containers, it means you can move them about, they're more manageable & they look interesting, too. The only thing is you have to be a bit religous about watering when it gets dry.

I don't know how suitable they'd be for you garden, but I tried & mostly succeeded with carrots (in old beehive - keeps them off ground level, so no worry about carrot fly), mangetout (in lined wooden crate), radishes (in variety of small tubs that I already had, these are great as the are ready to pick about 6 weeks after sowing, so kids don't get too bored waiting), beetroot (not so successful, but then I don't really like beetroot, so probably stupid idea in the first place, tomatoes & courgettes (in growbags - very thirsty, so water, water, water, but also prolific, so good value), I also had a few dwarf beans in the ground and lettuces in those wooden crates that grocers display their fruit & veg in - they were mare than happy to give me as many as I wanted & lined them with old compost sacks & newspaper to help with water retention.

The main problem I have is slugs, containers do help, & there are lots of suggestions - but I have to admit I occasionally resort to slug pellets.

I'm going to try potatoes this year in an old dustbin, which I'm very excited about. If you're a new gardener then you might want to buy a few plants as baby plants rather than doing everything from seed, so you've got a fall back position if they are not all successful, it is more expensive, but there's nothing more disheartening than raising all these tiny plants from seed & nuturing them only to have them all fall over dead, for no apparent reason - it can put you off entirely. So I would do a bit of both - seeds are great for kids, but sometimes baby plants are better for your morale.

Have fun & I hope you get some great produce. Good luck.

nodwah

I know the dreaded vine weevil.. They overwinter in your pots especially; and on a warm early spring day My boys and I turn them all out and pick out all the wee ******* from the compost and put them on the bird feeder.

For anyone who doesn't know they are little white grubs curled into a C shape with distinct yellowish brown bit at the head end. In the summer squash any adults you see they are a black beetle with with ridged back and red spots, in contrast to ground beetles they are very dull, not shiny. (I've never tried any of the chemical or bio controls -coz they cost money!)

Lizbetty

Thanks lots Pootle666, sounds like you have quite a lot going on there, I'm really envious as you're obviously a natural at it! I'm glad that carrots don't need to be stuck in the ground, thinking about the main stuff we eat, I guess it's onions, leeks, broccoli, tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, and spuds. I'm just wondering if anyone has had any success with onions in containers?

Went to look at a house yesterday (lovely but needs LOADS doing which puts it out of our price bracket, boo!) which had loads of space for a veg patch and for the kids to play. And a lovely play area down the road and school and small town within walking distance. Sigh... If it wasn't for the fact it desperately needs a new kitchen/bathroom/asbestos garage removing/porch knocking down before it falls down/etc, etc, ours'd be up or sale. It'd be daft to buy a house for it's veggie growing potential (although I'm sure I saw some mushrooms growing under the stairs, lol).