How do I make a garden?

[stella]

I am moving soon and want to turn the back garden into something that can grow veg. It is large but has had nothing done to it for ever. Once I have cleared all the rubbish and weeds and thought about positioning everthing how do I get the land ready to grow anything. There is no grass just knee high weeds, the ground has never been fed, where do I start. Also in S london how/where do I get loads of muck, never seen a stable or farm around here. Thanks

[Snadger]

I am moving soon and want to turn the back garden into something that can grow veg. It is large but has had nothing done to it for ever. Once I have cleared all the rubbish and weeds and thought about positioning everthing how do I get the land ready to grow anything. There is no grass just knee high weeds, the ground has never been fed, where do I start. Also in S london how/where do I get loads of muck, never seen a stable or farm around here. Thanks

The Queens got horses...............ask her!!!!!!Lol

[shaunbrook]

Its lots of hard work and its better to prepare ground before winter so get a move on=] Lots of manure and sweat haha

[taff]

don't chuck the weeds, either dig out or pull up and then either let dry or drown the persistent ones, like dandelions and nettle roots to put on a compost pile. Any non-flowering top growth can be cut and put into a compost bin or heap.
make a plan first about how you're going to grow. There's no point feeding land you'll be walking on for instance.
try freecycle for muck, or look in the yellow pages for stables nearby.

[shaunbrook]

Homebase do a good 4 for 3 on organic manure same for organic compost! If the ground is as bad as you say go for high sided raised beds that way you can put fresh new compost onto the older top soil and dig in some manure. Remove the grassy weed top lay first tho and the worms will do most of the work for you over winter. Then just go for what i do..... trial and error=]

[stella]

Saw a pile of it in the road a few days ago and felt like rushing out with a spade it is like gold dust round here. Sweat we have its feeding the land that is the problem.
Also there is a HUGE sycamore at the end of the garden which is going to make shade and take water from the soil can I get away with leaving it there, my OH says it will be a big problem to get it out.

[shaunbrook]

Your right in it will cast a large shadow on the garden. Just watch the shadow on a sunny day and learn its path for the seasons. fairling that keep the tree well pruned=] As for taking the water it probably has deep roots and as you veg is on top it wouldnt affect it to much i would have thought. Especially in raised beds! Careful when digging near the tree tho my father broke his wrist when he hit a tree root with the spade

[Jeanied]

I had a google for stables in south London - not sure where you are Stella but there are a few. Also you could try your local council for soil conditioner - that is all the green waste collections which have been shredded and composted. Ours sells it back in bags - good stuff too.

[stella]

Pruning the tree is out I would need to stand on the top of 2 double decker buses I will watch out for roots.
I will ring the council and see if I have any luck.
Anyone got any hints do I need to turn the soil and cut out the turf/weeds on can I just plonk whatever I manage to get on topand leave it for the winter?

[Glutton4...]

Being a really lazy gardener myself, I bung it on top - a sort of 'suck-it-and-see' approach...

[Two_Sheds]

Stella, I thought you had a garden in Italy?

[stella]

Yep but now I am going to make one here

[Aberdeenplotter]

For me, the first year would be a case of planting spuds from wall to wall. This is with a view to cleaning the ground for future use. With spuds, you dig the ground, then you set up ridges for planting, then you pull them down over the spuds, then you earth the spuds up several times as the stems grow, then you lift the potatoes when mature. as you can see, the soil is kept on the move and that helps eliminate weeds so that you have a clean plot the following season.

[Florence Fennel]

I have been amazed at the bed I dug out of the lawn for potatoes. AP's right, it eliminates weeds, the bed is beautifully clean. I'll be doing that again with another piece of lawn I've "pinched". Take is steady Stella, it sounds like very hard work.

[stella]

When you say dig do I slice say 6ins off the top and then dig the underneath bit or dig 2 spades deep (is that double digging) and sort of turn it over. The idea of a green manure sound as if it would feed the soil, when is the latest I can put it in?
Thanks