Hi everyone - I'm in sunny Kent and am new to this gardening lark. I have recently moved into a new house with a sadly neglected garden and want to make a vegetable plot which will be about 6mx1.4m, only I have no idea how to do it! The site now has some rather ratty grass - patchy and weedy and a bed with an 8ft high apple tree, 5ft high holly and 5ft 'thing', all of which are planted right next to a wooden fence, and some hostas underneath them all. Any ideas on where to start are really going to go down well. thanks for your advice
Hello & welcome fleabag! Do you mean that the trees are in the position where you want to plant veg? If so I would be loathe to suggest chopping them down as soon as you have moved into your house. Sounds like you have quite a lot to do just to tidy up, so I would suggest you leave any major hacking or pruning until you get to know if the trees have any hidden talents (for instance you might get a load of apples this autumn). Why not start with a small part of the veg patch, dig out all the weeds, roots and grass, you may have to improve the soil with some bought in 'soil conditioner' from the garden centre. Then you could start with a few quick growing salad type plants, radish, lettuce, rocket & spinach. Whatever you do, enjoy it!
