Hi all,

I'm fairly new to the world vegetable plots, grown some tomatoes and
pickling cukes with good success, but that's about it. The part of the
lawn I dug up for my plot was mostly sand. We dug down about half a
metre (~2ft) or so, and mixed in some top soil, on top of which we put
about 500 litres of black soil, some sheep manure, and some peat moss.
There are lots of black ants, I assume they are harmless.

We started most of our veggies from seed; spinach, carrots, lettuces,
tomatoes, and peppers. Also planted a few onions and shallots. At one of
the garden I planted 10 strawberry plants I picked up for a couple
bucks. They don't seem to be doing very well, only one had leaves... I
am not sure which variety of strawberry they are.

I realise it is a bit late to be starting from seeds, and that the
weather around here has been too dry lately... I don't have a hose to
water with, just the watering can. The ground seems too dry, despite
daily soakings in the evenings.

Would I have been better to mix all my soil with the sand instead of
leaving the layer of topsoil on the top? The seeds were all planted in
rows, with raised mounds, is this a good thing or will it lead to
erosion later on?

A row of spinach is already sprouting, so not all is lost!