How to set up a vegetable bed...

[SpaceDinosaur]

I literally have no idea what I'm doing!

We bought a house with a ridiculous but well constructed fish pond in the garden which our 18month old immediately identified as having her homing beacon and tried to climb in to at any opportunity 🤦🏻‍♀️ so we pretty swiftly and with no real planning drained and filled the pond with bricks and rubble

Fast forward 12 months and we're finally in a position to make something of the garden. We've got some sleepers and are building up where the pond used to be to create a raised bed. The plan is to grow food stuffs in it.

I get that I can't plant anything out there until next year but how do I prepare the soil? Also, what soil should we buy? It will be going on top of the rubble so will have good drainage (we removed the pond liner.)

I'm quite excited to buy some composting worms too. DD will love to meet them... what do I put on the soil?

Finally. What's really easy to grow and edible please... except dandelions?!

I think it's really sad you drained the pond, you could have fenced it off and put a grille over the top.

I would use a mix of topsoil and compost.

Easy to grow and edible; well Dandelions actually are edible!

You can get coffee made from the roots, you can use the flowers and leaves in salads or cook the leaves as you would any other green.

I grow lots of herbs in my garden, chives, bay, lemon balm, oregano, mint, sweet Cecily, lovage, lavender, sage, mace, roman chamomile, winter savoury, thyme, sorrel, bergamot are all hardy perennials.

They just need a hefty trim once or twice a year to stop them going too woody.

Radishes and beetroot are meant to be quite easy vegetables, think your supposed to sow new seed every two weeks.

Look up square foot gardening. I really wished I'd have used this method when planning my veg patch!

Soil wise, a mixture is probably best. I like mushroom compost and well rotted manure with some general purpose too.

Thanks @Fucksandflowers I do know that dandelions are edible. That's why I said "apart from". And I'm sorry you think draining the pond was sad but we honestly had absolutely no interest in fish or open water (even if covered) in a family garden.

Thank you @DonPablo I'll look into that :-)

Most people don't know that dandelions are edible and think of them purely as annoying weeds.
I was only mentioning it on the assumption that you, like most people, didn't know.
They are a very versatile herb/vegetable and really good for you.

I also have young children, and a pond, they can easily be made safe.

Aquatic habitats are in decline as are many, many species that depend on them; the bigger semi aquatic species like newts and frogs would have been really beneficial for your garden as slugs and snails make up a huge portion of their diet.

So I think it's really sad that you've taken an established aquatic habitat that could have been made safe away and contributed to the problem.

Anyway, it's done now.
Good luck with your veg.

Some topsoil, some compost and some manure....

Whereabouts in the country are you.? If not far north there’s stuff you can sow now to Overwinter. Turnips, lovely when picked young, cabbage...onions and garlic. Spinach, you’d get baby leaves. Broad beans sown a little bit later are v easy.

(New house has pond....not sure I’m going to keep it).