I want to start growing my own veg and, perhaps, some fruit for a
family of four. Help!

I've got a roughly 20ft wide and 75ft long back garden running East/
West with the house at the Eastern end and a low hedge separating us
from a field running into a hillside on the Western end. There is a
7ft high hedge running the full length the Northern boundary and a
similar hedge which only covers the Eastern half of the Southern
boundary. It is a West to East fairly gentle downward slope and
currently laid to (very bumpy and unpampered) lawn as it has been for
at least 25 years.

We are in Derbyshire. I don't know what the soil is like as we
haven't dug any of it at all. I'm a totally inexperienced gardener.
In the distant past (and in a different garden) I have grown tomatoes
and strawberries successfully but that is it.

I am looking at building up to having half of the garden productive -
about a 20ft by 40ft space at the Western end. Being realistic about
time and ability I'm planning on starting small and working up to that
over the next few years. I've drawn up a scale plan of the space and
have eight 10ft x 10ft squares. I am thinking of eventually using the
one in the North West corner for a fair sized greenhouse. I am
thinking of eventually using the South East corner (the most shaded
space) for a fair sized shed as we need more storage space.

I assume that I need to lift the turf, but I also guess that lifting
the whole area of turf at once would open me up to a lot of weeding in
subsequent years. I am thinking of stacking the turfs face to face
and leaving them to rot down to compost for a future years.

Eager to get started I have bought some grow bags and some plants
(Shirley and Gardeners' Delight tomatoes; Coquette Iceberg lettuces;
Dundoo courgettes; Paska cucumbers; Loriot petit pois peas; White
Emergo runner beans). (All bought as they were what was available at
the garden centre.) I also have the RHS Fruit and Vegetable Gardening
book and Carol Klein's Grow Your Own Veg.

I've run into a bit of a brick wall with getting beyond planting up
the grow bags with the low veg. I don't know where to start with the
grass; I don't know how big a space I need for the beans and peas; I
don't know what I can sow at this time of year that will give me some
more veg later in the year; I don't know where in the garden to start
with what thinking about rotating crops; I don't know what to plant
with the veg that may act as natural pest deterrent; etc etc etc.

I currently have a spade, fork, trowel and old watering can.

Any advice about any of this gratefully received!

Thanks in advance.

jay