Paralysed by blank space for kitchen garden..

[Ciri]

We've recently had building work which ruined my kitchen garden. Its now freshly levelled bare earth but I don't know where to start!

The area is about 10m x 10m at the back of the house which is south east facing but there are trees along the south/eastern boundary. Open aspect to the south west. There is a low stone wall (about 1m high) along the south western boundary.

I already have seven large raised beds at 8ft x 4ft to place somewhere. I can get more.

Where do I even start?! I'm spending time looking at pinterest and instagram but I'm finding it much harder than if I was just going into an existing space and trying to improve it. Help!!

I have some rescued plants, tons of raspberry canes, four rhubarb plants, blackcurrants and red currants, two small gooseberry bushes and two very small blueberries which somehow managed to survive under a pile of rubble.

Raspberries don't need a really sunny spot so they can go down by the trees. Don't feel you have to plant them all! Then it sounds like you need a little fruit area for the berries and currants. The rhubarb will need good fertile soil., So keep that away from the rubble.
Why not get out there and take photos, draw a plan of what you've got, (doesn't need to be artist quality) mark in where you think some things will go, then take your time planning the rest. You can always change your mind. With the plan and with the plants!

Sounds like it will be great! We've been planning our new allotment plot using graph paper so we can draw beds to scale. Process has been to draw anything we already have and place it on the patch, think about the circulation and how we wanted to move around, move things around accordingly and then start to full in gaps. We've ended up with new beds that were defined by the length of the wood available to make them. Then listed any permanent plants and their requirements and added those where it made sense.

Graph paper is a good idea. I just keep standing in the space at the moment wondering where to start!

Sounds a lovely problem to have! I guess since you have all the fruit bushes plant those first. Give each bush (not raspebrrries) ideally a metre of space (I like to underplant with spare strawberry plants). Blueberries need ericaceous soil can you do a separate bed/half bed for those and order in some soil? I ordered a pallet of ericaceous soil when I did mine.

then write a list of veg you like to eat and then order in seeds or plug plants. Still just about enough time to put in asparagus if you want an asparagus bed.

potatoes can still go in now if you pick some up from the garden centre.

Remember have fun and enjoy the process!

I find it much easier to plan on graph paper, and by having a list of what I want and a rough idea of how much space to allocate to it. There’s an app called growveg.com which does it really nicely for you.

I've decided to put a rosemary hedge along one side where there is a drop down to the patio. That's the north edge of the kitchen garden but its still sunny.

Take a chair outside and sit in the space. Try and visualise how it could be. I did this at my allotment the other day, with a pencil and a writing pad. I love the idea of a rosemary hedge, I might nick that idea!