Grow your own veg.

[whyme]

HI, I would appreciate any tips on preparing the ground ready to grow veg next year. Fed up with rubbish they sell in shops , so gonna give it a go myself. My garden is laid to lawn only, so whats best way of killing that off first?

[Catso]

If it's just grass, there's no need to kill it, just dig it over and turn over the sod. The grass, after it has rotted down, will add to the quality of the soil.

[WendyS]

If your ground has been previously laid to lawn, as Catso says, just dig up the turf, turn it over and lay them on top of one another in a corner somewhere, where it will rot down and provide good soil. Please don't put any weedkiller on the ground otherwise you'll poison the soil for future veggies. Dig the soil deep and well, removing as many stones as possible as root veggies such as carrots & parnsips will grow forked if the soil is stoney. Then try and get some well rotted manure and dig in it. If you can't get any from stables, etc. most garden centres now sells sealed bags of composted stable manure, either 3 or 4 for �10. Dig this in and leave the winter frosts to break down clumps of soil. On mild winter days get out and pull out any weeds which start appearing, unless you want to cover the whole area with black plastic to prevent them germinating. Good luck with your new hobby. Am sure you will find it very rewarding.

[Siamsal]

Wendy is being very thorough!

We didn't do any of that when we started our veg patch. We just dug it over in the autumn, left over winter, and basically started growing next spring. Though we did have good soil under the grass.

Being a lawn, we didn't have any trouble with weeds sprouting from it, but once we had the bare soil in the spring, they started then!

[jake-the-peg]

Great idea if you've never tasted veg like carrots or peas cooked within minutes of picking, boy are you in for a pleasent surprise!

As for preparing a certain amount depends on your soil and your level of fitness.

Traditionally if you've heavy clay soil (and are reasonably fit) you're advised to double-dig. This basically means digging down two spades depth. see here:

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0105/doub le_digging.asp

Sometimes people follow a compromise of digging a single depth trench and then forking the soil in that trench to break it up a bit.

Don't kill yourself double digging the whole plot straight off - You can lay down some shallow cardbord boxes filled with soil over some of the area in the first year. Grow some crops in them the first year, then dig that patch over in the
next.

[Clanad]

May I offer an alternate idea. Since you've never tried gardening before, why not try something that can easily be converted back into lawn if you find it doesn't fit your idea of what it should be. I built an inexpensive raised garden bed for an elderly neighbor and it has worked quite well. I use 2" / 8" treated lumber. One simply builds a box of whatever size you need. Mine happened to be 3' X 10' and I used 3 of them. You can lay them so there's access from all sides for seeding and weeding. They are easy to water and will raise an amazing amount of produce. I filled them with bagged garden top soil from the DIY and mixed in a few bags of bagged, composted manure. You'll find the bagged type won't produce the tremendous amount of weeds as will the local farm variety. Lay down some weed block fabric and fill the forms nearly full of the top soil. If you find you don't enjoy gardening, they can be taken apart and the soil spread througout your yard. By the way, use 4" treated deck screws to build the boxes. I also laid some paving block 8" X 15" pavers in the walkways between the boxes so you don't have to mow that grass. I, again, laid the weed blocker, added a bed of about 4 inches of common sand and put the blocks down. Added a nice touch and the neighbor doesn't have to concern herself with attending unusual sized strips. of lawn. All totaled, I had about $100 invested. At least give it some consideration. Best of luck if you use any of the other previously posted good ideas!

[wlrus]

Clanad has the best idea.
Good luck

[flumpet]

You dont need to spend a lot of money here. You can take the grass up yourself with a spade and fork. If you are going to be growing veggies do not start pouring any kind of chemical on the grass.
You then need to prepare the soil for growing veggies.

The best way to get good advice is to collect secondhand gardening books from charity shops. I have Percy Throwers, Geoff hamilton and so on and in all I have about ten big books that cover everything I need to know.(and they didn't cost a lot either)
You must get the soil right b4 you do anything. Also if you have a cat then think about fencing the area off with tall wire fencing as they cannot get a grip on it to climb up.
I made the mistake of not doing this and after double digging the ground in our new patch, came out the next morning to find all the local cats had used it as a litter tray. B****y Annoying!

Also I joined our local allotment club and I get most things I need at half the shop price and theres always someone around to give good advice.
We grow enough veg to feed our family and give away and it roughly costs us no more than the seeds and the manpower.
You will find your own way of doing things in the end and its great fun and very rewarding.