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Help required with new veggie patch please!

• Message 1. 

  Posted by i_amMonkers (U13770213) on Thursday, 15th July 2010

  I don't have an allotment but I now have the next best thing, a raised bed in my garden (faces south east) which currently has flowers in, to be changed to a vegetable bed for next year.
  
  Sorry if I'm in the wrong board but wasn't sure where to post.
  
  I'm after advice on where to start really. Do I need to decide what I want to grow before I decide what soil I need etc? I'm going to start up my own compost bin, but any advice will be welcome.
  
  Thank you in advance!

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by northwards (U14324094) on Thursday, 15th July 2010

  Hi, and welcome to the list!
  
  Personally I think the best place to start is by deciding what you want to grow. If you only have a small garden I would suggest things that you like and that can be expensive to buy in the shops. Potatoes, for example, can take up a LOT of room and aren't that expensive to buy, so how about courgettes, French beans, all kinds of salads, beetroot, herbs, etc.
  
  Once you decide what would be good, then you just need to Google (or ask this list) to find out how to grow the things you want.
  
  I don't think you need to worry too much about your soil at this point - you're usually pretty much stuck with what you've got (acid, alkaline, sand, clay etc.) and all you need to do is add lots of good compost and other organic matter to it
  
  Good luck!

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Jasmin (U14270220) on Thursday, 15th July 2010

  Hi,
  
  My 'allotment' is in my front garden, too!
  
  You need to decide what sort of soil you have already before you decide what crops to grow. After it's rained (shouldn't be too difficult at the moment! ) or you've watered a little area, lift up a handful & squeeze it, then open your hand. If it stays compacted, it's clay, if it falls out of your hand like sand on a beach would, it's sandy. You're aiming for something in between. Most crops also prefer well-drained soil.
  
  You also need to know when the sun will hit your patch. Get up really early one day & track the sun round your patch to see how long it's there & how much shade it gets.
  
  Then, armed with the soil info & the sun info, you can choose your crops. Get a gardening catalogue or a book about sowing fruit & veg. I have a very good beginners one called The Allotment Book by Andi Clevely. Choose crops you like eating &, for the first year, don't go wild - only aim for about 6, depending on the size of your patch. Otherwise you might get overwhelmed & disheartened. Choices are also between those that plant straight into the ground & some that start off in a warm place first & are transplanted; & those that take a long time to grow & those that are virtually instanteneous!
  
  Once you've worked out which crops you're growing, you have to add nutrients to your soil, according to soil type & plants - hungry crops like courgettes will eat all the compost & manure you can add, but things like carrots prefer last-year's soil, i.e. without anything added. It'll give you that info in the blurb when you're choosing your plants. The book I've recommended will also tell you how to improve your soil for the plants you've chosen.
  
  Have fun.

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Playingtimeaddedon (U14150224) on Thursday, 15th July 2010

  A lot would depend on the size of the raised bed!
  
  I would suggest that when the flowers are removed, you dig it over and add some multi-purpose compost to improve the soil condition, and also add some fish, blood and bone to provide some nutrition.
  
  Get yourself a basic gardening book, which would explain rotation, and then go from there.
  
  I would imagine that, by the time you have done this your first sowing would be broad beans in October, and then go from there.
  
  Good Luck!

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• Message 5

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  Posted by Goggomobil (U14202831) on Thursday, 15th July 2010

  1) Plant the appropriate things for the season.
  2) Plant what you really like eating.
  3) It's YOUR veg patch, have fun and do whatever you want, if it doesn't work you try again!
  
  I agree that you should steer clear of things that take up lot of space or take very long before harvest, or are cheap and plentiful in the shops, like potatoes, pumpkins and onions.
  
  I'm also limited to 2 raised beds and now only plant "special treats" that are either rare, expensive or too poor quality in the shops, such as tomatoes and strawberries.
  
  If your raised bed is in shade, plant lettuce and beetroot, they won't mind a lack of sun.

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• Message 6

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  Posted by i_amMonkers (U13770213) on Friday, 16th July 2010

  Wow thank you all very much. A lot to look at and plan. Very exciting!

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• Message 7

  , in reply to message 5.

  Posted by royn45 (U3572483) on Sunday, 18th July 2010

  Hi, I to have 2 raised beds one is partly in the shade so i try & plant salad crops that seem to do well what brand of cabbage would you think is best for raised beds? as i have not had much luck with these & what spacing do you use?

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• Message 8

  , in reply to message 7.

  Posted by bookertoo (U3655866) on Monday, 19th July 2010

  The trouble with cabbage, or any of the brassicas, in raised beds, is that the soil is usually of free draining nice loam - and brassicas like to have their feet very firmly put in the ground. You need to really almost squeeze the soil around the roots, without damaging them of course, to get brassicas to grow and to keep them happy - and in raised beds the soil is often just too good for that. When the seedlings get to be of a decent size, you will need to go out and really firm them in quite vigourously, you mght have to top up the compost around them, and you may need to do this again while they grow. Hope this helps a bit, good luck.

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