Advice for a novice

Hi,
I'm new to the forum and looing for some advice. I have never done any "real" gardening before, and am looking to dig up the lawn at the rear of my house to grow vegetables, potatoes, carrots etc.
When should I remove the lawn in order to prepare the soil, and when do I need to start planting. Any tips on the best way to approach this task would also be appreciated. Thanks.

 

"When should I remove the lawn in order to prepare the soil"

Any time now, although if you are going to do it by hand, and do it well (e.g. "double dig") then I expect it is too dry / hard to do now, and waiting for some Autumn rain will make the job easier.

You could strip the turf off (by hand, or hire a turf-cutter, but in my experience they don't do a brilliant job, and they do a poor job in Summer if the ground is rock hard), stack it face down (and use next year when well rotted) and then rotavate the soil. Make sure you hire a large/powerful rotavator that is self-driven and propels the wheels, NOT one that just turns the tines - that will kill you attempting to dig a virgin plot, rather than cultivating an existing one.

"when do I need to start planting"

There are a few things you could plant now, but assuming it takes you more than just a weekend to get the area sorted then you will be running out of time this year. You could sow a green-manure to dig in a bit later on, and add some extra "heart" to the soil.

"Any tips on the best way to approach this task would also be appreciated."

Double dig (that's double deep, not twice!!, don't mix the soil from top & bottom spits [a "spit" = the depth of the spade], speak up if you don't find an easy explanation of double digging). Plenty of manure into the bottom of the top spit, and strip off the top inch or two of turf and bury, grass down, at the bottom of the top spit.

Personally I would make raised beds, but if you have great soil, and/or do not have heavy clay that might be an overkill.

Split into four zones ideally (Potatoes, Roots, Cabbages, Peas & Beans), three if you are too limited for space. Rotate the crops around between these zones - so that the same type of crops are grouped in a single zone, and that zone is not re-used for that crop for 3 /4 years [helps prevent diseases getting a hold].

I have a spreadsheet which may help with planning. Details in this thread

 

You could do it any time between now and when you want to start planting, but there are a few things to consider (lets assume you plan to start sowing seeds in spring):

If you do it now, as Kristen says the ground might be very hard. Also there will still be lots of airborne weeds seeds about for the next couple of months. Currently the grass will be offering some resistance to them, but freshly dug soil won't.

If you wait a couple of months, if we get a lot of rain it will make it a nightmare to dig once you've done a bit, as the ground will end up soggy and will stick to your spade.

If you do it in winter, and time it for a frost free day, there will be no airborne weed seeds about, the cool air will make it less of a chore.

If you do it in early spring, you will be rushing around trying to get the ground ready before sowing/planting.

My personal preference for timing of digging over is early spring, about a month before I plant anything, but it does create a bit of a mad rush that way.

 

I dig in the Autumn because we are on heavy clay, and just leaving it rough lets the frost break the clods down. As Clueless says doing it in the Spring can mean that any delay prevents making a timely start on sowing and planting, and thus harvest starts later too. (Although it is a common beginner's error to want to start too soon in the Spring, and things die, or make poor progress, because the soil is not warm enough and, even if you avoid that pitfall, things planted a bit later have even warmer soil / weather and pretty much catch up)

 

I can vouch for that. I've made that mistake many a time (planted too early). All that happens is either seeds rot in the ground because it is too cold to germinate, or if they do germinate, they grow too weak and the first rainfall batters them in, or a late frost gets them. I planted some gooseberries and currents on my land one year in early march. A blizzard came along and between the freezing cold and the high winds, that was the end of them.

 

Hi all,
Excuse my ignorance but I need some more advice, I have managed to remove all the turf and have now dug the plot.
1. Should I rotovate now or can I leave this until just before I start planting (I don't intend to plant until the new year)
2. I noticed that about 1/3 of the plot seemed much drier than the rest, this part is sheltered by trees and only gets the sun until about midday, what would grow best in these conditions?
3. There are horses on the field behind our plot, so we have a free supply of manure, can I add manure now or again should I wait until later.:cnfs:

 

1. Its up to you, there are different views about best time to dig, with pros and cons to each. Just bear in mind that while a rotovator will do much of the work, you'll still need to allow time to pick out weed roots, and level and rake the surface.

2. Not sure veg wise. Someone will know though.

3. Don't use fresh manure. It is quite acidic. It needs to be left to rot for a while. That said, my dad and I have used nearly fresh manure when growing potatoes, with great success. If it was me doing it, I'd dig the manure in now, just roughly, then do my final dig in spring, but the 'orthodox' way would be to compost the manure for several months before use.

 

2) if you fancy some fruit, a blackcurrant bush should do OK in partial shade like that. (Plus a fruit bush might benefit from the annual leaf fall from the tree).

You'll probably find that the general advice is not to even bother growing veg in part shade, and that's fair. However, I've found that many things apart from the most sun-loving (like toms) will do OK. Try french beans, turnips, spuds, carrots, brocolli etc and see what works.

(Plus it will probably get more sun in mid summer than you've observed now, depending on the aspect)

 

Just to add - I've grow sweetcorn in similar shady conditions your tree spot this year, Paul.

I have a long growing season (am in a town in the South so the last frost is early, and the first frost late). Also, I start stuff off very very early indoors so it's raring to go as soon as the risk of frost has passed. Sometimes I warm the soil for a couple of weeks before planting out my baby veg plants by covering it with polythene.

I'm sure this all helps where shadier veg growing is concerned.