New patch

Hi,

Could anyone advise on how to create a new veg patch on a plot which has only 4" of soil down to slatey rock and morning sun until only 1pm. I realise i will probably need to build raised beds but access to the site - which is about 4m x 8m and flat - is difficult and topsoil will need to be moved by hand. Will the lack of sun restrict range of plants or crop levels. I have some experience of gardening but not vegetables. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Barry

 

Hi Barry

Welcome to the Forum.

You're not alone.
Check out this post: http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/new-growing-veggies-21773.html
Also this one: http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/bad-soil-help-21927.html

Your raised beds don't have to be raised by much. The sides on mine are only 150mm high but it's been enough for me to add a better mix of compost, manure and soil improvers on to the existing soil which was very poor and had never supported any kind of serious cultivation before. It's hard work and will take a few years to produce your best crops but you should be able to get something edible in your first season. I'd start with the quick growing stuff like lettuce, radishes, or summer cabbage. And it's not too late to sow dwarf French beans direct into the soil.

Good luck.

 

Flinty - thanks for the reply and links.

Do you think I would be OK with only 250mm of soil? Doesn't seem very deep to grow root vegetables or would they adapt to the available depth?

Cheers

 

Sorry for the delay in replying - I've been away for a few days.

I reckon 250mm would be adequate for most veggies; after all you can grow all sorts of stuff in containers and grow bags. Most root vegetables can be grown in that depth unless you were aiming to grow extra large parsnips or carrots (mind you, specialist growers of root vegetables use all sorts of devices like lengths of plastic drain pipe to achieve their prize winning results). Even if you found that your root vegetables didn't give you satifactory results in the depth of soil you can achieve, you could always choose stump rooted varieties which give reasonable results in virtually any situation.

i find that raised beds dry out very quickly and it'll be interesting to see if you suffer the same problem with yours which will be over a rock foundation. You may also find that blackbirds take delight in throwing your nice, friable soil out of your raised beds. My local blackbirds seem to have raised this activity in my garden to the status of a competitive sport!

 

The blackbirds round here have figured out that any pots that appear with fresh compost in them usually have a sunflower seed in them that my wife planted.