In article ,
Jo wrote:

My garden is on a slope and the lower / damper side is yet to be organised
(there is basically a rotten old tree stump, grass and a few weeds next to
the fence). I would like to turn a part of this side of the garden into a
vegetable patch (I currently use a greenhouse but would like to grow
vegetables outdoors too). If I dig over an area, would it be fitting to
simply incorporate some of my homemade compost in order to grow vegetables
or would the damp soil require other additions to lessen the
water-retentiveness of the soil?

It depends why it is damp. Dig a hole a foot or two deep and check
the soil. You can actually measure the proportions of sand, silt
and clay quite easily. Fill a transparent, straight-sided plastic
or glass bottle 1/3 full of soil, and top it up to 2/3 with water.
Add a small amount of washing machine powder to deflocculate the
clay, and shake it well. That means thoroughly for some minutes,
until it is all suspended.

The leave it to settle. If I recall, sand drops out in under
a minute, silt in under 30 minutes, and clay drops out over the
following hours or days (yes, days). So measure the soil heights
above the base after a minute, 30 minutes and when the water is
clear. Anything floating is organic matter.

I was hoping to grow French beans in this area. What other veg and/or fruit
are not fussy about having too much sunlight at ground level?

Bad idea. They don't like poor drainage. Runners would do a
bit better, and so would climbing cucurbits. If the soil is
soggy because it is clay or because water seeps into it, you
might do better to dig holes separated by mounds, with the compost
in the mounds, and plant runners, French beans and climbing
cucurbits on the mounds.

Regards,
Nick maclaren.