Help a novice!Please?!

[laurenamium]

I moved in to my house in April and the garden had been looked after regularly by a gardener. I just about managed to keep on top of it through the summer and enjoyed keeping it nice.

What time of year do I start to go back out and take out the weeds etc that have grown over winter (there are lots)? Also, the garden is big enough to have an allotment and I think this will be nice for DD to learn about where food comes from and healthy eating as she grows up. Do I just dig up the grass and separate it from the rest of the garden? Or should I get raised beds?

Thanks in advance!

It sort of depends on the weather. If it is wet enough for the soil to stick to your boots then don't try and work it. Or if it is frosty I'd leave it alone. I was at allotment on Monday and did a fair bit of weeding then.

With vegetable growing it is totally up to you what you want to do. Raised beds will need constructing and you'll need to get something to fill them with . To some extent it will depend on your soil, if it is clay you might want to go the raised bed route.

As it is your garden you might want to grow things that look good as well as taste good. Look for things like crimson flowered broad beans, purple and yellow beans climbing tepees of nice thick bean poles. Rainbow chard, red cabbage, Scarlett kale, yellow courgettes, yellow or purple podded mange tout, chuck in some pot calendula, sweet peas and sunflowers to attract bees and it can look lovely.

Think about splitting it down into manageable size beds and grow things you will actually want to eat. It's a great feeling when you are eating your own fruit and veg.

A tip one of the old boys gave me is that once plants established then hoeing regularly means you can cut right back on watering. I now only water at the very beginning and don't through the summer. I think you do need to have fairly decent soil for that to work though. I have a Wolf Garden tool push pull hoe which is fantastic for dealing with the weeds.

Thank you wynken that's really helpful! Will write those plants down too so I don't forget!

I would leave weeds over winter for the reason that wynken says but do get a really good (sharp) hoe and start getting them out the moment the weather starts to warm up. Anything with tap roots (dandelions etc) need to be dug up.

And no, you don't need raised beds if your soil is good. What I would do now is start getting books on growing food out of the library (most have loads) and order some seed catalogues - Thomson & Morgan, Kings and Real Seeds are good. This is a time for planning :)

Thank you patti it's exciting! I have a whole range of gardening tools which I inherited when I moved in, including a garden Hoover! Which I'm impressed with so I'll check what kind of hoe it is

I know you already have a hoe but these are brilliant.

I'm a novice too, but a few practical points that I would make (and happy to be corrected on) are that you have to cut out the grass (ie lift out blocks of soil), and not just dig it over, otherwise it will just keep coming back. You will then need to double dig the soil (or attack it with a rototiller) to loose it up.

If you do go the raised bed route, and need to get a sizeable amount of soil to put in, then you can have it delivered by the tonne in giant bags which will likely work out as cheaper/easier than just getting sacks and sacks and sacks from the garden centre. I guess this just depends on how big a plot you are thinking of.

Also, I got seeds from www.moreveg.co.uk which is quite a bit cheaper than the big names, but I like being able to flip through the paper catalogues too

Thanks wynken I've ordered one as they will be good for between my flowers in the other part of garden

Thank you sparky I'll have a look on that site!

Well done Laurenamimum ! Hope you enjoy using it as much as I do, how sad am I.

Sparkly is right, you need to cut the turf off removing the roots. If you stack it in a pile, can't remember which way up, you'll need to google , it will make good compost over time (assuming it isn't couch grass). I am much to lazy to double dig and just get my fork in and break it down to depth of fork. Double digging is what you are supposed to do though if you aren't a slacker like me.

Moreveg are great, I get a lot from there. Also Wilko's own brand, Lidl worth a look. Realseeds are great as you can save seed from all their varieties, cost effective long term. In the autumn the Garden Centre Group garden centres have a sale for Garden Club members (free to join) where loads are 50p a pack . Not sure how many garden centres in that group but worth a look to see if a local one.

And talk to friends who garden. A lot of people get a bit over enthusiastic when it comes to sowing and have spare. Church/Village/gardening club plant sales and markets can be good source of cheap plants.

Thank you wynken that's definitely food for thought! Excuse the pun

hi lauren, I think you and I are after the same info! Useful stuff on your thread...

How about seed sharing? I have loads somewhere....

Oo what's seed sharing chaos? Or is it as simple as it sounds?haha xx

It means she will borrow you her fella for procriation purposes

crazynana

Lauren - simple as it sounds!! I mean, 200 seeds of that popping sweetcorn?! Really??!!! Even if you only have a 50% germination rate, who needs over 100 plants, or if you spread it out over 2 years, 25 - 50 plants each year.

So you buy some seeds, and share the excess. Or if you harvest some, you share them.