From grass patch to vegetable patch.......

Munster_Gal

My mother wants to start growing vegetables in the garden. We have a smallish section of the garden that we want to put the vegetables in (10ft x 15ft)
At the moment it's just a plot of grass and I know that we're gonna have to dig it up and rotate the plot but is there anything else that we would need to be doing???

The Sweeper

Depends on the type of soil you have. You could raise the bed a little to make life easier - you don't have to go a foot deep, but if you have something to edge the bed, edge it. Then you can use a garden fork to aerate and turn the soil, but don't overwork it. Use some well-rotted organic matter to improve the soil (commercial mushroom compost is good). Mix through a little blood & bone (comes in powder form, great fertiliser). If you bring the bed up about six inches by loosening the soil and then adding organic matter, the beds will drain better if you get rained out of it. Then leave it for a week or two to settle, and meantime decide what you want to plant.

Planting from seed isn't as hard as it might seem, especially not if you 'sow where it's to grow' - bringing seedlings along on a windowledge and then planting them out is often where new gardeners fail with their veggies, but if you sow in the veggie patch, while it may take longer to germanate you'll end up ahead of the game because all you have to do is thin out.

Read up a bit on each vegetable you want to plant - carrots, for instance, may not do well in a newly dug patch with fresh compost - the richness can cause them to split into a number of roots instead of just one root. You can either wait until the second season, or try them in a part of the bed with no organic matter added. Also watch for good winter veggies, and rotating crops - for instance green leafy veg steal all the nitrogen out of the soil, but beans and peas but it back in again, so a good idea is legumes over winter, then when you dig them out plant green leafies in the same patch over summer.

diywoman

hi i have just finished digging up my lawn and have my very first crop of peas and leeks planted, I bought scaffolding planks and built an L shaped raized bed,they are REALLY cheap at the moment , builders recession ! my whole double height 8x8 bed only cost 20€ I dug up the lawn turned the grass sods upside down and used them as the base then raized the level with fresh soil, ( i got it from another part of the garden)then added organic manure ( homebase )I also painted the scaffolding planks a pretty shade of lavender seeing as it is right outside my window and i will be looking at it a lot..................it was all a lot of effort but i am delighted i did it and am going to start getting seeds sorted out for next year and hope to have a feast

Ddad

diywoman wrote: »

hi i have just finished digging up my lawn and have my very first crop of peas and leeks planted, I bought scaffolding planks and built an L shaped raized bed,they are REALLY cheap at the moment , builders recession ! my whole double height 8x8 bed only cost 20€ I dug up the lawn turned the grass sods upside down and used them as the base then raized the level with fresh soil, ( i got it from another part of the garden)then added organic manure ( homebase )I also painted the scaffolding planks a pretty shade of lavender seeing as it is right outside my window and i will be looking at it a lot..................it was all a lot of effort but i am delighted i did it and am going to start getting seeds sorted out for next year and hope to have a feast

Fair dues, makes you feel great doesn't it:) I love checkin the progress in my garden in the morning, great way to start the day.

Munster_Gal

thanks guys.
Just need to get the mothers ass in gear to start buying stuff and getting a plan in action

MGLman

Is it hard to grow button mushroom at home?

Sonnenblumen

Munster_Gal wrote: »

My mother wants to start growing vegetables in the garden. We have a smallish section of the garden that we want to put the vegetables in (10ft x 15ft)
At the moment it's just a plot of grass and I know that we're gonna have to dig it up and rotate the plot but is there anything else that we would need to be doing???

Hi MunsterGal

sometime ago, I wrote some introductory articles on 'Grow Your Own' which can be found on our SUNBLOG: http://www.owenchubblandscapers.com/news/entry/category/grow-your-own/

Some of the info would be useful for GYO learners!

Keep up the good work and may you harvest almighty rewards!:D

Planet X

A couple of raised beds I put in this year on a grassy patch.....

Planet X

Didn't half grow either!!!

The Waxbill

Thanks Planet X looking at your photos has given me a great idea i.e using the plastic pipe in an arch as a support for netting over my strawberry bed, I've been wandering what to use.

Ger.

Planet X

No problem. Keeps the flyin' rats away!