Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi everyone,
I am very new in the way of growing vegetables and I have just constructed some raised beds to be layed on top of my existing lawn (i will be turning the grass).
My soil is very heavy clay. I have no compost or any topsoil.
I have 2 small plots, 1 is 2m x 2m and the other 1.2m x 3m.
I havnt got a clue what to fill them with, whatever it is I will need to keep the cost down, beg, steal, borrow and buy as a last resort lol.
All of your ideas will be most welcome. I will be growing a mixture of crops from beans, carrots, parsnips, salad items, some herbs and broccoli just to see what will work best.

Any other suggestions on how to get a good crop from my first year will also be welcome.

Regards.

hi bassman, i am doing the same on my new allotment. i will have ten raised beds all 10ft X 4ft. My first two will be early and main crop spuds. As i have used old scaffolding boards there is polenty of room. well rotted compost, then place the spuds onto this then goes on a layer of stray say 4inch high then more compost and lastly more straw. As the shoots come up cover with more straw. over the season this bulk will fall and because of crop rotation you will soon over several years fill up the beds. Hope this is of some use.

__________________
good Diggin, Chuffa.

Vescere bracis meis.

You haven't put a location in your header thingy but... several local councils reckon to compost green waste, I live in Croydon where they are (or at least were) very keen on this, this does of course leave the council with a lot of very corse compost..... which they sell fairly cheaply.

Croydon will deliver it by the tonne bag for around £25 plus milage. It may be worth you contacting your local council to see if they do something similar.

Hi Thanks for your replies.
I have contacted my local council, but they dont do anything in the way of composting, but they do cheap compost bins so I ordered one of those
I have a potato barrell which I intend using this year for Main crop potatoes, I was thinking of getting another for the earlies.
Im going to go to the garden center this week to see if they have any offers on the bags of topsoil, bags of compost to start filling my raised beds so that I have got something to work with until I can get my compost bin working for me.

Hi Bassman,
before you buy from your GC, check out cheap stores near you, i have one called no frills, and i bought 150 litres of compost for £4.50.
it's worth the shop around!

welcome from me too bassman, for your spuds you dont need to spend too much, i put mine in clay soil last year with a toping of horse poo & they came through fine, and they break the soil up

__________________
The love of gardening is a seed once sown never dies ...

Living in milton keynes, I am struggling to find anywhere that I can buy cheap manure.
I think I am going to have to canvas the farms in the surrounding areas.

I put a request for Manure on Freeecycle in my area.

Had some cracking responses from local stables more than willing for me to come and collect manure. I was very lucky to find a huge pile so went straight to the back and starting digging!

Am now trying to find a cheap'n'cheeful trailer to aid in my quest! Not an easy task - couldn't believe how expensive they are even on Ebay.

Good luck with the raised beds. Am trying to do the same but cannot find cheap scaffolding planks. Was going to try without barriers for the short-term

Absolutely - try your local stables or dairy (if you have one). I get well rotted manure for £20 a tonne through my allotment association, but I don't know if such an organisation would deliver to a private address...

__________________
Resistance is fertile

Blimey paul wots your allotment association eating

sorry folks I just couldn't resist that. seriously though bassman if you really are thinking of buying topsoil you might be better getting it through a soil merchant than the gardencentre I am sure it will be a lot cheaper you will need a lot more than you think.

Who cares? As long as it's well rotted!

__________________
Resistance is fertile

Hi Bassman
I live in Kent and I placed a request for Top Soil on my local free cycle, I had a great response from good hearted people, they even offered to put the soil into bags for me,
24 bags later my car could not take it anymore, so I am going back for the next 2 week-ends. Please give it a try you may be surprised. Good Luck

Little-Weed

hello if you live near the coast you will have access to seaweed especially this time of the year as the winter storms dump the seaweed at the high water mark this will rot down fast and its free and sustainable hope this helps