New to gardening - new plot

steeeb

Hi guys,

Firstly, thanks in advance for any advice.

I am new to gardening and have just got a new home which has a sizable back garden - I plan on using part of this to grow my own vegatables (I love to cook).

I have a few questions I am looking on having answered to set me off on my way.

There is an area of my back garden which looks like the previous owners used to grow vegetables which is where I plan on beginning my venture.

It looks like it was mainly used for Rhubarb which I assume is dead/dying as well as various weeds. I plan on planting onions white/red with garlic and sping onions dotted in between as well as potatoes in potato bags.

When viewing the house several months ago after the several days of rainfall we got most of the back garden was waterlogged - especially this 'plot' - so I'm guessing the drainage is bad. There is also moss in various places on the lawn which might be there due to those reasons.

I plan on mixing in some sharp sand to help with drainage. Is there anything special I will need to do with my plot other than to dig it all out and turn it over with some sharp sand of course taking out all of the weeds and everything else. (I am assuming the neutriants are at least 'not bad' given it has been used for growing already - there is a compost bin here also so I will add some compost to the soil also).

I plan on doing the above this weekend, and am hoping to start planting the onions and garlic in a couple of weeks time.

Is the rhubarb definately a gonner (I don't know anything about it - and not sure I'd use it if continuing to grow it, really)?

Please find attached several pictures - someone might spot something that could be a potentional problem or something.

Thanks very much.

DaftyDuck

Your Rhubarb is likely just dormant at this time of year. Mine, in a Kentish seaside walled vegetable garden is just about up, but not really growing much. Wait a month THEN decide if it is past it! At a guess, those plants will be simply huge by then. They look healthy enough from what I can see.

I'd reckon three plants will do the average family for a few Rhubarb crumbles. One is never enough as, once cut, you should leave it to recover before harvesting again. Crumble is lovely, very healthy. There are all sorts of other recepies, including Rhubarb wine - which is super-potent!

Drainage may be bad, but last year was a stonker for rain, so it may not be THAT bad. Indeed, that bit of lawn in the picture looks OK.

However, and this is a guess, that veg patch looks like it might be in an old septic tank, or some such, so it may have limited drainage in itself. Good for nutrients though

Personally, I wouldn't worry too heavily about drainage and the like until you have been there longer. You might spend ages improving drainage, and actually find it isn't needed.

I'd try to identify the Rhubarb "crowns" - some others may be just below the soil surface, and tender, so use a small fork - and weed around them. Dig out any you don't want

Edit: - Actually, looking again, it might be the old base of a greenhouse, not a septic tank...

mrbadexample

Nothing wrong with the rhubarb! It's trying to sprout - wait for it to warm up a bit.

It would appreciate removal of the weeds though.

RAS

What you have there my friend is the base of an old greenhouse. Piccies 2 and 3 show rhubarb in it winter guise.

I would remove the weeds round the rhubarb plants and leave the rest. IF you can find and old bin and weight it down, you can foce a few stems to harvest in March.

There are two issues with drainage. Where does it come from (are you at the base of a slope, if so intercept the water at the top of your land)? And where does it go? Is there a blocked drain anywhere?

mrbadexample

Errr...by the way, do you like rhubarb?

You're going to get quite a lot.

I'd give the whole area a good weed to start with - on the whole it looks in pretty good nick. Assuming you want to keep all the rhubarb, it would appreciate some well rotted manure around (not on top of) the crowns.

Then I'd dig some more manure into the other side, on the assumption that it hasn't been fed for a bit. I think I'd be inclined to start with a few spuds, just to see how it goes. Don't forget that last year was inordinately wet, so the drainage might not be as bad as you fear.

Oh, I see Dafty has edited to say pretty much the same thing. Must be right then. :whistle:

steeeb

Thanks very much for the answers.

I will weed round the rhubarb (and the rest of the plot) and keep a couple to see if I can do anything with it or give it away if not. (I would keep them all - but I want that space for my onions mainly).

Regarding the drainage - the land is pretty flat - although there is a flagged path around the house which also suffers from water logging - so I'm guessing this really isn't helping the situation so I'll try and improve that first to direct it down drains and see if it improves the waterlogging within the garden.

Interesting that it is an old greenhouse - looking on google maps it looks indeed as if there was a greenhouse there. Will those bits be okay to plant in still? I assume the concrete doesn't go down very far (this I can confirm once I come to get the weeds out).

DaftyDuck

If the greenhouse staging is in reasonable condition, you could plonk a new one there - tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, salad crops all year round.... never grown onions in a greenhouse, and it looks like you neeeed your onions!

If the whole garden is a bit soggy, as a longer project you could dig a big soakaway in the middle of the lawn, put drainage in from the rest of the garden, dig up the old greenhouse base and chuck that (crushed) into your new soakaway, gaining more space (for more onions! ).

steeeb

It's all about the onions!

Yeah a greenhouse would probably be the 'next step' once I decide if it's for me or not. (Which is again why I want to re-use this plot as it's already there without too much work).

Lavendyr

One more thing to add - if you are going to grow onions, you should consider a crop rotation system. Onions can develop onion white-rot, and the more frequently you use a patch to grow onions, the more likely this disease is to develop. Once it's there it lives in the soil for several years.

We are going to grow onions too (also moved into a new house with fruit and veggie patches!), but we will move them around so that they're not in the same bed each season.

Your rhubarbs are definitely growing (we have one and it looks very similar to yours)! Crowns have a tendency to push upwards through the soil though so you could do to weed carefully around them (their roots will be quite shallow so hand-weed), then top them up with some well rotted manure or general purpose compost.

DawnW

Just a thought about the possible drainage issue. It MAY be because there has been so much rain over the last x number of months

Is it also possible there may be a burst pipe or something?

Are your neighbours' gardens similarly waterlogged? If not, could you ask them if your garden has always been particularly wet?

I mention this because we had a burst pipe under a patio once, and it soon waterlogged the whole garden - the patio had to be all dug up to repair it, so it might be worth asking about this possibility before you do a lot of work in the garden.

steeeb

Lavendyr wrote: »

One more thing to add - if you are going to grow onions, you should consider a crop rotation system. Onions can develop onion white-rot, and the more frequently you use a patch to grow onions, the more likely this disease is to develop. Once it's there it lives in the soil for several years.

We are going to grow onions too (also moved into a new house with fruit and veggie patches!), but we will move them around so that they're not in the same bed each season.

Your rhubarbs are definitely growing (we have one and it looks very similar to yours)! Crowns have a tendency to push upwards through the soil though so you could do to weed carefully around them (their roots will be quite shallow so hand-weed), then top them up with some well rotted manure or general purpose compost.

Excellent - yeah - I'm aware about rotating onions I found this when I researched them - I'll be sure to move them elsewhere if this "trial" is successful.

Thanks for the advice on the rhubarbs - I'll be keeping a couple of them around, for sure - although will get rid of most of them - far too many

DawnW wrote: »

Just a thought about the possible drainage issue. It MAY be because there has been so much rain over the last x number of months

Is it also possible there may be a burst pipe or something?

Are your neighbours' gardens similarly waterlogged? If not, could you ask them if your garden has always been particularly wet?

I mention this because we had a burst pipe under a patio once, and it soon waterlogged the whole garden - the patio had to be all dug up to repair it, so it might be worth asking about this possibility before you do a lot of work in the garden.

It is only waterlogged when we have loads of rain. But it did seem more waterlogged than others, which is why I thought we had a bit of a problem. I doubt we have a burst water pipe although I will bear that in mind (we're on a water meter, so depending where it was, we'd be able to tell anyway).