New Vegetable Patch in Progress

Hi All

Hoping someone out there may be able to give me some useful advice. Today I started digging my first bed with the intent of starting to grow some vegetables.

I have no experience in this so want to take it steady. The soil was very stony so I intend to dig deep enough lay some thick membrane then build up raised bed but I'm really not sure what I should be filling the area with.

I live in Glasgow Scotland and hoping to start with some basics. Completely open minded and would welcome any advice you may have. I've attached a photo of the bed so far. Still a bit of digging to do as you can see but will get there this week.

Thanks
Nick

 

Welcome to the forum!

I know there are members here that hail from your neck of the woods who can offer great advice... @Sheal are you available to advise?

 

Thanks for this.

 

Welcome Nikos. I'm sorry but I'm not a vegetable grower as such, so can't really help you with anything but growing in the weather conditions this far north. I've lived in Scotland for three and a half years and with the exception of growing tomatoes - a complete failure, and runner beans - a success last year, that's about as much as I grow.

However, the basics are the same and there's plenty of friendly members here that will be along to help you. Good luck!

 

No problem at all. Appreciate you reaching out anyway. I'm hoping to do carrots, beetroot and maybe some potatoes if it's all possible

 

What a fantastic reply. Many thanks.

Firstly the area was full of chukie stones on the top and they are obviously and issue. I've dug out a lot of them but they are obviously a bit of an issue. I'll have to go deeper for sure.

Out with that there are also some natural stones in the bed as well as some small roots from a tree about 10m away. I was proposing to double dig and get a bit of depth to the bed.

As for compost I do have one store nearby which is open and sells a multi purpose peat compost. The also sell topsoil. Given that all the garden centres are closed I wasnt sure how good a plan this was.

So was thinking the following:

- Dig to about 20inches.
- lay a porous membrane
- sift the soil I have an use it to create a base layer
- top up with the multi purpose compost
- finish with a top soil.
- seed

Am I making any mistakes here? I can also take some close ups tomorrow and send photos if it helps.

Thanks

 

Hello Nikos.
I wouldn’t over worry about the stones, just get rid of what you can, keeping it sensible. Over a period of time, and as you dig out your crops, just get rid of the remaining stones as you see them. You don’t say if you already have the timber to build the raised beds? Are you able to source any? As it happens, I’m in the process of putting together some raised beds, and sourced mine from B&Q, being delivered tomorrow, hopefully. Here’s what I’ll be doing. I’ll assemble them, then put them in place. Then I’ll take out the earth, about a spade depth, then just loosen the bottom layer. I’ll then put the earth back in and top up with earth from the surrounding area, mixed (roughly 50/50) with multi-purpose compost. No need to sieve, no need to go down 20”. Not quite sure why you’d want to use membrane?
Incidentally, although the garden centres around here are closed to the public, I was able to order the MPC, which has subsequently been delivered.

 

Re membrane underneath, you might want to read this.

Weed suppressing membrane myth: why it doesn't work

I've had exactly the problem he describes. Once tiny roots have grown through the holes in the fabric, the roots get bigger. And then you have to dig out a weed which is attached to metres of fabric, which ain't fun.

 

Thanks Freddy and Graham

The membrane was simply to stop the roots pushing through but from what you are saying it seem unnecessary.

I will certainly rethink this. As for the timber I was hoping I could fill the bed with out it. The are is about 8m2

If I mix stony soil with compost wouldn't this give me problems growing root veg?

Thanks

 

Hello Nikos.
Sorry, I’d assumed you were going to use timber. Can I ask, how much more are you going to raise the bed?

 

Well I was going to dig it as deep as possible and the surrounding wall boundary should provide about 15 inch depth?

See attached.

 

I think now you've said it I'll raise it with timber to maximize depth and minimize dig

 

Hiya Nikos.
If you can raise the level by (say) 6”, the stones won’t be an issue, imo. If you are able, top the bed up with a 50/50 mix of MPC and topsoil (either bought in or your own). Just a word of caution, it won’t be cheap.
As the season goes on, you’ll notice that the level drops as the MPC breaks down, so at the end of the season (November?) top it up with some form of organic matter. If you can, make your own compost.

 

Would you suggest reusing any of the soil I've dug out to create a base layer and therefore reduce the cost of filling the bed?