vegetable patch

Hello everyone, I'm a newbie to the forum so be gentle! I'm 34 and have recently developed an interest in growing, probably from my self sustaining friends in France. My question relates to preparing a vegetable patch for next year. I have dug the patch over ready for planting next year and the soil is of a very high clay consistency. My simple first question is what would be best to grow? Potatoes? Carrots? The plot doesn't receive much sunlight.
My second question is a bit more tricky. The plot gets lots and lots of windfalls from a nearby apple tree. I'm not sure if I should dig them to fertilize the soil or should I remove them? Was thinking they could turn the soil too acidic?:Any advice greatly appreciated, many thanks.

 

Hi rich,

Welcome to the forum.

Potatoes are a good way to start, as you have to earth them up as they grow which helps to clear the ground of weeds as you go. My plot doesn't get direct sun till the afternoon but i'm getting spuds the size of grapefruits from it.

Clay is pretty fertile, but if you can dig in some organic stuff, like rotted horse poo or spent mushroom compost, it will help.

If you're not going to plant stuff till next year, then you could consider covering the ground till spring, either with a green manure, like mustard & alfalfa, or polythene or old carpet.

The green manure you dig in in the spring, it holds the nutrients that could be washed away by the winters rain.

Old carpet would keep the ground clean ready for planting.

 

Many thanks for the reply. Any suggestions on the apple windfall problem?

 

I would just dig the apples in, personally. Nature knows what it's doing. They will rot down and add structure and goodness to your soil in time.

Or, you could collect them up, press them, and make cider. Yum.

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag-nqo_6N3g&feature=related"]YouTube- I am a Cider Drinker (2007)[/nomedia]

 

Hi Rich
I don't think the apples will do any harm, you might get a few seeds
germinating, but that's not a problem is it. as ziggy said, dig in plenty
of organic matter and you should get some good results good luck with
your veggie patch

 

Hi Rich!
I'm going to disagree about the best way to deal with your fallen apples. I reckon you'd be better raking them and later the fallen leaves and composting them. The reason I say this is that leaving them on the ground increases the chances of carrying over disease/bugs from one year to the next. Another advantage is that you'll attract fewer wasps!

 

Hi

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the excellent and speedy replies, you're a friendly bunch on here! Could I ask for tips on growing potatoes please? Never done it before.
Thanks a lot.

 

Hi Rich,

No worries, always good to see people getting into growing stuff.:tnp:

You buy seed potatoes in the spring, these are less likely to suffer from disease than just growing spuds from the supermarket.

Dig a trench about 6inches deep, the earth from the trench goes at the side, you use that to earth up the potatoes as they grow.

Put your seed spuds in the bottom of the trench about 12inches apart, couple of feet between rows.

When the plant is about a foot high, carefully draw the earth back against the stems.

You're just making sure the light doesn't get to the tubers, if it does, they will go green & be poisonous.

There are problems with spuds sometimes, blight being the worse in a damp year. but if no other potato family has been grown there then you should be ok.