The Veg Patch - Divide And Conquer?

Last year our veg patch was nothing to be proud of.

It produced loads of veg to see us through the summer and beyond, but it was nothing to look at. From every edge the weeds encroached into the plot until I gave up the fight and let them win, and although it was productive I felt ashamed to walk anyone round it.

Early in the season everything looks great - this is a picture from last year

 But this year I'm taking a stand against the weeds. I'm going to be at home more so there should be no excuse for having a weed filled garden.



Just to prove I can keep it tidy, a picture of our old allotment (2010)



 My plan is to divide up the veg plot, separating them into beds, divided up with paving slabs. This means that it will stop me walking on the soil, be easy to alter if I want to move them and make it easier to set targets on weeding (e.g. I'll weed one bed tonight). I used to have raised beds at our last place and found it really easy to keep on top of, although it was much smaller than what I've got now!

A mild winter, chickens and a two year have left my garden looking far from picture perfect. I almost didn't put this picture up for the shame of it!

 If I divide it up into 4ft wide by 10ft long beds it means I'll have 16 beds to plant up in the main garden area, which should be plenty to keep up with at the moment. I normally organise my garden on a 6 year rotation should this should be even easier to manage, with a few plots spare for things like strawberries or salads.

This is the plan - to divide it into sixteen 4ftx10ft plots which should make it easier to manage

The first three plots done. Herb plot, Shallots & red onions then the last one white onions and garlic

 I managed to lay three of the new dividing paths this weekend before I ran out of slabs. I also weeded and planted up these areas as well.

The main downside is the space lost to the slabs and the cost. So far these slabs have cost nothing as they're second hand, but I now need to either wait and see if I can find more free ones or buy some. I phoned for a price today and for the 77 slabs I need it's going to come to £211, which I didn't think was too bad.

What do you think I should do? Buy the slabs and get organised ready for the summer or wait and save money? Also do you think I'm doing the right thing by dividing up the plot so much and loosing the space with the slabs?

10 minute path

One of the mistakes I made when I first moved here was thinking that I wanted to build everything so it was permanent. In my head I didn't want to do things that I'd have to redo at a later date.

On the face of it this seemed like a good idea, but it actually stopped me from doing projects as I thought I hadn't got the time or funds to complete it properly.

So I changed my out look and I no longer mind doing things for a temporary solution.

Like this roughly laid path by the side of our house. It doesn't look great but it keeps every ones feet out of the mud when we use the back door. It didn't cost anything to lay (the slabs are all second hand) and it only took me ten minutes to chuck them down. But now I'm walking over them without having to wash off my boots every time I go back to the house, I'm wondering why I didn't do this at the start of the winter. The path is right where our extension is going to go, so it's definitely temporary, and that's what probably put me off doing it in the first place.

I had the same type of problem with the old rickety wood shed when we first moved here. I didn't use it to store the firewood that first winter because I wanted to rip it down, when actually I used it last winter to keep our wood dry and it performed well and until we've got something else to replace it I'll keep using it. It's a temporary, low cost solution to the problem but at the moment that's all we can do and it's still better than having wet firewood.

Anyone else built any temporary projects lately?

Garden Path

Maybe a little like my own body, my garden lacks definition.

Although the veg garden fenced off, the muddy track down the middle is a haven for weeds and general messiness. I decided that I would use the free slabs I got back in the winter to add some paths and try to make it look a bit tidier.

The garden did look a bit wishy-washy and weedy

 I had intended to lay the paths on a hardcore base, bedded on mortar. But time and logistics are against me so I took the easy option and laid them on the soil. In fairness this means I can change anything I don't like and alter the layout if I want to at a later date.


The slabs make it easy to see the divides and to see where I should be weeding

I had to lug the slabs a fair distance (three at a time on a little push sack truck), and I levelled off the earth with a mattock, a tool I've always loved using!
 I was quite pleased to get around 80 slabs down today (although I can feel it now), and although I know they're settle yet and move a bit when it rains, it's really changed the whole feel of the garden. In fact now it feels like a proper garden!

Quite a long stretch up there!

I've got another pallet of slabs (about 50 I think) stored at my parents to bring over yet so they're will be more paths added around the fruit garden and up by the greenhouse. Hopefully this will help to keep it looking a bit more loved!
Quite pleased with my days work today. Anyone else have experience of laying slabs on dirt and how they fair?