"tina" wrote in message

Were new to growing veg so thats the first i have heard about crop
rotation.

Crop rotation doesn't seem to be much of an issue for gardeners who
grow organically because they work on the theory of feeding the soil
not the crop. Don't get too worried about it at this stage because
you'll learn as you go, just don't ever plant the same veg in the one
spot for year after year after year. That way you won't deplete the
soil and encourage pests and diseases that are attracted to that
particular plant.

Things we eat & therefore would like to attempt to grow are.
Carrots,
brocolli, potatoes, sweet corn (if thats possible). Peas. small
squashes, we love butternut squash, but have no idea where to start.

Forget the carrots at this stage although you will be able to as time
goes on and you develop soil depth be able to plant increasingly long
carrots. The little stubby ones (chatonnay - they are stubby little
mites and I hthnk it's a style of carrot rather than a specific
variety - but don't quote me on that, would be the first ones to
attempt).

All the other should grow but don't expect miracle crops in the first
few years.

We need to do a fair bit of research aswe havnt really grown
anything
before so feel a bit daunted.

Everyone had to start somewhere. I started here with a small grave
sized bed in pure clay which is interspersed with shale and quartz
rocks. I had no top soil at all just an inch of different coloured
clay. The different colour was due to old rotted grass. For the
first few years it was called "The Tomb of the Unknown Gardener" and
that was exactly how it looked.

Even after 15 years I still don't bother growing carrots but I grow
all the other things you mention and much more.

Start small so you don't get daunted and grow easy things like chard
and herbs and even garden/culinary related flowers (such as
calendulas). Build up the area each year and as you can get your
hands on materials. Do it well, keep it under control (thus small to
begin with) and it won't be depressing. And buy seedlings as they are
easier for beginners or use big seeds that other more experienced
gardeners say are easy to grow - eg beetroot.

Nothing is more discouraging than biting off more than you can chew
and seeing a sick looking veg bed.

But i did read something somewhere that said its a good idea to lay
paths through to make weeding easier so will probably buy some
paving
slabs to divide up the plot.

My advice would be to keep the beds narrow so that you can reach into
them from either side and don't have to walk on them. I also don't
like hard paving but that is a personal preference. I use the paths
as composting spots. I spread sawdust/pine needles/cardboard/old
cotton or woollen clothing onto the paths and then just drop weeds
onto them if I'm too lazy/busy to put them into the compost
heaps/chook or if the heaps are full. Once that is rotted down it
goes on the beds and is topped with manure then topped with
straw/hay/autumn leaves and left to fallow over winter.

I've never bought in soil as I've heard too many horror stories of
bringing in nasty weeds (plus I'm cheap and very fussy about what goes
into my garden). My veg garden is a messy looking spot but it works.
I see anything that has once lived as being a source of food for the
soil microbes and they work like Trojans turning all sorts of bletch
into soil.

When I first started there was not a worm in sight and I don't think
that there were too many microbes,
biota to be found - just sun baked clay that was set like concrete and
had to be chipped with a pickaxe. I could only manage to get half to
one inch indentation in the clay and then I'd water and go back and
have another go at it over subsequent days. The soil is very
different now.

Will it be ok to leave the clay base in & upu soil on top. Its only
1
spade depth down, or should I dig into the clay to try and break it
up?

If you can or add gypsum as a clay breaker and let the soil dwellers
do your work for you. Clay is rich with minerals and a good base.
There is an old gardening expression: "Clay, backbreak: Sand,
heartbreak".

Puce has recommended growing potatoes and they are considered good
soil breakers but it sounds like your soil is more like mine was to
begin with and putting spuds in such an environment is going to be
very hard work.

If you choose to grow spuds, I'd recommend a different approach that
will teach you a lot. I'd recommend that you grow them under straw.
This means just putting the spuds on the top of the soil and then
topping them with a generous layer of hay (lucerne by preference),
topping that layer with good old poop and then topping it with more
hay. Then water and add more straw as needed to keep the spuds
covered. Potatoes, like tomatoes will put out more roots from t he
stem as you build the growing media up around them. The pile should
be a minimum of half a metre to begin with - it quicly settles and
when the spuds break through you can add more hay.

The reason why I say this will teach you something is that you will
end up with what is effectively compost and a crop of spuds as well.
If you are new to veg gardening then the wonder of rotting and soil
creation is revealed to you with limited effort on your part and the
soil under the spud spot can then be used as a bed for the next year
and you'll be impressed with how much the clay under the spot has
improved.

On other piece of advice I'd give would be to decide early on if you
want to be an organic gardener or if you want to use the panoply of
chemical aids available to you.

I'd recommend organic as I've found it's frugal and easier than using
chemicals and if you have a good range of life in your garden then it
is surprising how much work the birds, spiders, soil microbes, lizards
etc will do for you. And they do it for free and give interest and
free entertainment as well. For example, each year I get aphids on my
roses but each year the wrens clean them up and they disappear in less
than 2 weeks. If I sprayed then I'd have to do it all season long.

Another trick an old gardener got me onto was to use prerotted bales
of hay. I buy good hay (lucerne [aka alfalfa] or clover by
preference) and then leave them lying in the garden so the weather can
get to them on the soil and then turn then regularly. Fresh hay seems
to be slightly growth inhibiting but once the rain and the soil
contact gets to work and they start rotting slightly, it makes
wonderful mulch. And do mulch so that you don't have any exposed soil
(but only once the soil has warmed up or needs to be kept warm).
Exposed soil grows weeds quickly whereas even a thin layer of muclh
stops the light from getting the weed seeds germinating and helps keep
the soil temperature even, stops soil splash etc.

Enjoy!