This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Advice for a novice on new veg garden planning?
dibblersan45357
Posts: 3
in Fruit & veg
Hello. I'm in the process of having a very overgrown garden cleared with a mini-digger with a view to using part of it for a couple of raised beds for growing. The entirety of my veg growing experience to date has been a single squash plant a few years ago, so I have no idea what I'm getting into...
The two spaces I have in mind are each ~3x4m, so I was thinking u-shaped beds would give me roughly 8 square metres of growing space in each, with the back of the u being against a south facing 6 foot fence allowing some support for climbers. Planned depth would be ~60cm for comfort/to minimise bending (please see attached).
My questions are manyfold, but I guess the first one is if there's anything obvious foolish about this 'plan' that my novice status is completely missing? Is there a better shape for the space or are the beds too narrow to be useful. Is my planned height going to cause me problems (other than the cost of filling them)? Anything like that.
I'd also appreciate any advice when it comes to what to actually grow and how to layout the beds sensibly (spacing and number of plants etc). I'm up in North Wales, so short season and on the damp side. I also have to be honest and say I'm not the kind of person to be in the garden every day for the year keeping things to size or picking the moment something's ripe and I'm not likely to be good at managing gluts, so a few of more types of plant is probably a better idea than an entire bed of one thing
Re what I eat - I'll try anything, but I very much like all kinds of squash, I sometimes buy courgettes but they can taste soapy which puts me off, and I cook with tomatoes a fair bit. I quite like the idea of a rhubarb, I've never tried to grow beans, or maybe some herbs and salad things (not radish!)? I've also seen adverts for thorn free raspberries, which sound interesting.
Right, well, that's probably more than enough from me. Thanks in advance for any thoughts/advice.
The two spaces I have in mind are each ~3x4m, so I was thinking u-shaped beds would give me roughly 8 square metres of growing space in each, with the back of the u being against a south facing 6 foot fence allowing some support for climbers. Planned depth would be ~60cm for comfort/to minimise bending (please see attached).
My questions are manyfold, but I guess the first one is if there's anything obvious foolish about this 'plan' that my novice status is completely missing? Is there a better shape for the space or are the beds too narrow to be useful. Is my planned height going to cause me problems (other than the cost of filling them)? Anything like that.
I'd also appreciate any advice when it comes to what to actually grow and how to layout the beds sensibly (spacing and number of plants etc). I'm up in North Wales, so short season and on the damp side. I also have to be honest and say I'm not the kind of person to be in the garden every day for the year keeping things to size or picking the moment something's ripe and I'm not likely to be good at managing gluts, so a few of more types of plant is probably a better idea than an entire bed of one thing
Re what I eat - I'll try anything, but I very much like all kinds of squash, I sometimes buy courgettes but they can taste soapy which puts me off, and I cook with tomatoes a fair bit. I quite like the idea of a rhubarb, I've never tried to grow beans, or maybe some herbs and salad things (not radish!)? I've also seen adverts for thorn free raspberries, which sound interesting.
Right, well, that's probably more than enough from me. Thanks in advance for any thoughts/advice.
0
Posts
https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Huw-Richards/Veg-in-One-Bed-New-Edition--How-to-Grow-an-Abundance-of-F/27688786 as it enables a wide range of crops and helps succession planning.
He's in Wales too (not sure where) so his timings etc are probably more suited to you than me.
I happen to have a U-shaped, 60cm high raised bed, though not the same proportions as yours.
A few things that came to mind while reading your post:
Think about how you're going to access the taller, climbing crops when they're starting at 60cm. I have one lower (30cm deep) section and my beds are made from sleepers so I can just walk along them picking climbing beans, but think about whether you'd want to do that, other ways of reducing the height, and also consider crop rotation (I always grow my beans in the same bed but that's not necessarily ideal).
I have rhubarb in mine and it's OK but I wouldn't recommend it. I think it's too free-draining and it took a very long time to get established and is not nearly as prolific as I think it would be in the ground. Maybe in your much wetter location it would work better though.
Squashes take up a lot of space - don't underestimate that! You can support them to climb à la Monty Don, or they could sprawl over and between your beds.
There is no point in growing fruit and veg. you do not eat or like. You would not be interested in caring for them. Growing small quantities of any one kind of veg would seem to suit you, no point in growing more than you need.
One thing is to rotate your crops each year, around the beds, this is to prevent the build-up of disease.
As you are a complete novice to gardening I would suggest you try and contain your excitement and take things slowly, do not try to fill all of your beds immediately as it is likely they will take off, you will feel overwhelmed, panic and give up. Which would be such a shame.
You admit you are not going to spend all of your time in your garden which is fine, just do what you can, when you feel like it. Eat and enjoy what you grow and a love of gardening will develop. Time will teach you what to grow, keep asking questions on this forum and in time you will enjoy taking up a wonderful hobby.
Good luck.
This link will provide an easy reference guide - https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/expert-advice/how-to-grow/how-to-grow-vegetables-and-herbs/planning-your-planting
The next thing you need to consider is what you like to eat that you can grow in your conditions - soil, average temperatures and rainfall, sunlight and exposure to harsh weather.
EG - here it gets so hot and dry in most summers I can't grow green or runner beans but I can grow broad beans if I sow them in autumn. I can grow melons but they require so much feeding and watering for a small crop that I prefer to buy locally grown in season from a nearby market gardener. I grow heritage tomatoes because varieties in shops are so limited and lots of chillies as they're very limited in the shops here. I grow purple sprouting broccoli and cavolo nero as they don't feature in local shops but I don't grow potatoes or sweet potatoes because of the rainfall needed to get good ones.
Apart from the good advice given above:
Don't take the instructions on seed packets as gospel - they are guidelines not rules.
Don't expect everything to work - even experts have failures - so don't get disheartened. It's not you, it's them.
If you want to grow climbing beans (runners or french), consider that the frame/teepee on top of the height of the raised beds will make it hard to reach the ones at the top, so maybe stick to dwarf types or perhaps grow them somewhere else.
Don't believe people who tell you carrots are easy. They're not and every animal and bird for twenty miles will want to eat them.
Chard is well worth trying, to see if you like it. It grows in most weather - lots of other things sulk if it's too wet/not wet enough/too warm/not warm enough
Net your brassicas and don't think butterflies are the size they appear to be when they're flying. They squeeze through tiny holes
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Do not be afraid to make a start and experiment, You will have disasters, we all do, and great successes, embrace them all.
Standing in your garden, on a warm sunny day to pick a fragrant fruit or veg. you have grown cannot be put into words, especially if there is only one, which can be eaten immediately.
- Ensure you can reach to the centre of the bed easily. I can touch the centre, but once I started growing things in the centre, it became harder. Trying to pinch out and tie up tomato plants that I'd put right in the middle was tricky. In high sight, I should have either made the beds slightly narrower, or put a crop down the centre that didn't need any fiddling about and could just be left.
- Grow things you like to eat. Yes, homegrown generally tastes better, but if the effort of say a handful of carrots ends up costing you 10x than from a farmers market, then maybe choose something else
- Also think about products that aren't as common, or are more expensive in a supermarket/farmers market.
- Eg, I grow mainly yellow raspberries, with only 1 red variety. Instead of regular courgettes, this year I tried a round variety called summer holidays and patty pans. I love kuri squash, but also grew a Qld Blue- but I'm yet to try this years crop. I grew pink fir potatoes which had a lovely flavour and not something I've seen in the shops. Jerusalem artichokes are practically maintenance free once planted. I keep them in a dedicated bed though, because they can take over. I also grew a white, yellow and stripy varieties of beetroot. I also tried yacon and cardoon, but again, yet to try them as yet.
2. it might be helpful if you gave full dimensions
of the beds in you diagram on each side
3. it also would be helpful if you included a
list of vegetable you like to eat.
4. you need to find out when your frost dates are.
5. the best book for you would all new square foot gardening by Mel Bartholomew
I detect a re-incarnation of an old gw troll called grid gardener - or a clone.
Don't forget to line wooden sides before filling with soil, plus you could put straw in the bottom the first year as that will help fill them and not mean so much soil is needed. It will rot down and leave room in the second year to top dress with compost.
How much time are you planning to give watering each day, what you choose will determine how long that takes.
So lots to think about.