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Hi, welcome to my blog about growing veg and, from time-to-time, other random stuff that interests me.  Hope you find it useful. 

I’m 38, married with 2 children, so with working full-time the veg plot is just a hobby really, nothing too serious.  It all started when we moved house in March 2007 to a village just outside of Salisbury, South Wiltshire.  Our new house had a garden big enough to dedicate a small area to a veg plot and already had a small, glass greenhouse up and running.  So I decided to build some simple raised beds.  The first year saw the small, medium and greenhouse beds built.

Medium Bed 12' x 6'

Small bed 6' x 6'

I used 6′ gravel boards and stakes bought from my local Scats store.  First I marked the plot out and cut away the turf, I then dug a spade’s depth down and removed the existing, very chalky, soil to another part of the garden.  With the gravel boards I had a two-spade depth to the new beds which I then filled with well rotted manure and new top soil.  The medium bed is 12′ x 6′ so took 6 boards and 6 stakes to build and the small bed is 6′ x 6′ which took another 4 boards and 4 stakes.  The greenhouse bed is attached to the side of the greenhouse and is long and thin and used for salad crops.

2009 saw the large bed go in (18′ x 6′) and I also converted an existing bed at the front of the house to veg growing (9′ x 4′).  With the gravel boards, stakes, top soil and manure I spent approx £100 getting this up and running .  It would have been cheaper if there had been better soil to start but the chalky soil had to go.  The raised beds are in the back garden to the north side of the house so are not in full sun but they are well protected having fences on the west and north sides.  The front garden bed is in full sun so this is were I grow summer crops like squash, courgettes and strawberries.

Large bed 18'x 6'

Front garden bed

 

2010 projects will hopefully include a fruit cage and composting bins if I get the time!

2011 update – I did neither!!! Starting to dabble in growing some veg for showing. And have my name down for an allotment in the neighbouring village. Lots of plans this year as always!