Removed lawn for vegetable patch - please advise correct method?

[valleyboy]

Hi, new here so hello all!

I have recently decided to try and grow some veg, never tried tis before and unfortunately havent a clue. After browsing the net for the last few hours I feel as though it is probably a little late in the year to prepare the plot. Trouble is, I have already started but not sure I'm going down the right road.

I have a small area of garden that was always filled with very rough looking grass, and out of control. Over the last few days I have removed large clodges of grass with a fork, shook the loose soil from them and disposed of the pile of grass and it's roots. I am left with an area of loose soil about 20cm deep.

My intention was to buy some bags of compost and mix this through the existing soil with a fork, then get planting immediately. Problem is, I have removed as much grass and grass roots as possible by hand but there are lots of very fine roots (like hair) still within te soil. I am concerned that the grass will just start growing again and ruin the plot.

Have I done the right thing so far? Could somebody please point me in the right direction? I am happy to continue reading about planning the crops etc. but am worried about this initial preparation so I'd be very grateful for a few pointers if somebody could spare a few minutes please?

VB

[airconednightmare]

it's not too late, but you will need to improve the soil before you plant anything. most veg needs 2 or 3 times the 200mm depth of loose, well drained soil to thrive. adding compost will help, as would well rotted manure, leaf mold, seaweed, etc. double digging the area would also be a good idea if it's not been worked for a long time. How to Double Dig a Garden - wikiHow

normal (thin and like hair) grass roots should just rot down and improve the soil, but couch grass will grow back, this has thicker white roots.

[valleyboy]

Thanks for the help.

I had already read about double digging. I noticed that beneath the loose soil is dense material, mostly clay. Should I double dig this or just remove to a good depth and replace with soil/compost?

VB

[airconednightmare]

i'd leave the sub soil where it is but dig compost, manure etc into it, then put the soil back on top with a good bit of compost dug into that as well. you might end up with a sightly rasied bed but thats a good thing

[valleyboy]

I was thinking that was probably the best way of going about it. Thanks for confirming it.

Not sure what to plant now though! Can anybody post a link to a good information source please.....what to plant when etc?

[Nicola_D]

Hi Valleyboy,

I'm not an expert, but had a few thoughts for you to consider, if you plot is smallish, have you thought of errecting a raised bed, i.e. putting wooden sides around the edge of your plot and filling this with compost - this would give your extra depth. There's some fairly cheap kits you can buy at the minute - try B&Q, we got two for £15 each.

If you soil is very clay, then I think you can dig in some sharp sand to improve the drainage.

As for what to plant - most things should be started off now in spring, I would say, try growing the things you like to eat, there's little point in growing cougettes for instance, which usually produce loads of fruits, if you can't stand them! Last year was my first year of growing, we just grew things in containers and had tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, cougettes, lettuces, chillies, aubergine and various herbs. We had the chillies indoors on windowsils, the aubergines in a 5 tier plastic greehouse/coldframe type thing (again only £15 from a garden centre). This year we have the raised beds and containers and doing loads more stuff including manhe tout, french beans, peas for the pea shoots in salads, spring onions, broccoli, cauliflower, chard, kale, potatoes (in potato grow bags) and in the raised bed we have onions, garlic and radishes and will be adding leeks when the seedlings are bigger. Hopefully that might give you a few ideas.

You could also look in charity shops, or discount book shops for books on growing veg or even your local library for ideas and advice.

Nicola

[valleyboy]

Thank you very much for taking the time to offer advice.

I've ended up with carrots, onions, spring onions, garlic, french beans and a few types of herbs. Can't wait to see what happens!

[Nicola_D]

ooh good luck, you might already know this but carrots don't like freshly fertilised soil and don't like feeding with fertiliser such as tomato feed during the growing season as it can make them split. Also i think took much watering can make them split too so good drainage is required.

Treat this year as a learning year and don't be afraid to ask more questions, you'll get some great advice on here.

nicola

[Kimby]

If you don't have any luck finding a book you can always look on the Royal Horticultural Society website as they have lots of advice and a veg plot planner which you can print and keep

[valleyboy]

Originally Posted by Kimby

If you don't have any luck finding a book you can always look on the Royal Horticultural Society website as they have lots of advice and a veg plot planner which you can print and keep

Excellent, .......what's a book!? Don't want to dust a book off when I can switch the laptop or phone on!

[malcolmx]

best plan skim off old grass stack in a heap face down cover in black poly leave to autumn .in autumn sieve soil and use on plot in meentime as soon as you have skimmed the grass off dig over to about a spade depth add some soil improver (bags from garden centre)and some growmore did over again and rake to a working tilth , sow plants not seed first year and ignore peas potatoes as these take up too mouch room
crop lettuces between cabbage etc
hope this helps

[airconednightmare]

Originally Posted by malcolmx

best plan skim off old grass stack in a heap face down cover in black poly leave to autumn .in autumn sieve soil and use on plot in meentime as soon as you have skimmed the grass off dig over to about a spade depth add some soil improver (bags from garden centre)and some growmore did over again and rake to a working tilth , sow plants not seed first year and ignore peas potatoes as these take up too mouch room
crop lettuces between cabbage etc
hope this helps

i agree appart from the bit about no tatties or peas, they might take up lots of space but they both require minimal attention and the tatties have deep roots which help to prepare new ground while peas, beans, etc help to fix nitrogen in the soil for the next years greens.....no need to add growmore to get good lettuace, cabbage etc

on the book front, i'd get a copy of 'the vegetable and herb expert', it has been around for years and years, can be picked up for pennies and has clear, easy to follow advice on how to grow most veg plus the common pests etc you are likely to come across

[Mikey & Annie]

Isn't it a bad idea to put lettuce next to cabbage? I read somewhere, when I was finding out about companion planting, that the lettuce encourage slugs and snails, which then eat the cabbages. Getting stuff growing is easy, it's keeping the pests off that is the hard part! Happy growing all the same, Valleyboy.

[Josephine]

I have decided to give over a portion of my small garden to try my hand at vegetable growing. My plot will be approx 10ft by 4ft and I am wondering what to try first.
Obviously I want to grow the things I like to eat, and I don't want to try anything very difficult, or that takes 3 years to produce edible stuff!
Basically I would like to plant something that can yield a reasonable amount of veg from a small patch, and if it's not wildly optimistic I would be happy to divide my patch up and grow more plants than one thing at a time!
I would also like to be able to utilize it all year around, i.e. when one thing gets harvested, another gets planted.
I await your suggestions with eagerness!

[Pot man UK]

This the time of year to sow garlic, purple sprouting broc and other brassicas. You can also try winter lettuce varieties such as winter density. Look at the Chase organic gardening website it's very helpful!

What i would do tho if you plan to leave it until the spring is cover with old carpet or something that will cut out the light. this way you will have a weed free bed next year.

Plant pots

[anfa34]

This was my first year of growing fruit and veg, It was a good learning curve, 2Food from your garden, Readers diegest 1976" was like a bible this year, and with so much advice on this website, I'm going for it, next spring. Thank you

[Lesley Jay]

Originally Posted by Pot man UK

What i would do tho if you plan to leave it until the spring is cover with old carpet

Hi, I wouldn't cover the area with carpet as these can contain chemicals which will be washed into the ground by the rain.

[lillipod]

hi lesley,just wondering what yd recommend to cover the area as i have a similar situation?

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Lillipod, welcome to our forum!!

You can cover the ground with black polythene, sheets of cardboard (although this will get soaked with the rain), or a weed suppressing membrane which you can buy from garden centres. However, I do think that you can't beat digging out weed roots!

The advice from "Airconed" on this thread is excellent!