"Mark" wrote in message

I'd like to grow a few fruit, veg, and herbs in my garden this year. I
live in a small terraced house and my small garden faces ENE. I think
alongside the left-hand fence would be the best area; the sun shines
there for the longest.

The garden is currently 'peashingled', and I don't really know what the
ground beneath is like. There are certainly a lot of weeds in the
summer! Can I just remove the plastic and shingle, then dig the ground
over before sowing seeds? I presume I'll need to work in some compost or
other soil improvement matter. Can I use regular organic (peat free)
compost from a garden centre, or are there materials specifically for
improving soil? Can I dig the ground now?

Depends what you find under the plastic, if the plastic is proper pourous
stuff you may be OK but if it's solid plastic sheeting the ground underneath
may have gone sour and anyway it may be hiding builders rubble. :-(

It will be expensive to dig in bags of compost so why not see if your local
Council compost the green waste, and if so, some give the resultant compost
out free to ratepayers.


I intend to grow tomatoes, courgettes and a several herbs (rosemary,
thyme, basil, parsley). I'd also like to grow runner beans and peas, if
possible. Can I plant all of these in the same area? I don't intend to
grow a huge amount of anything, just enough to make it worthwhile.

Keep the herbs in a seperate part of the garden to the rest, the Rosemary
and thyme will be there for years, they need as much sun as possible and a
well drained soil.

I'll start the tomatoes off indoors, then grow them on in the (small)
greenhouse that I have before planting them out finally. How does that
sound?

That's what we do every year, don't plant them too early because you can't
put them out in the garden until the end of May at the earliest.

--
Regards
Bob

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