How do I begin?

Question

I have a quarter acre of land which has probably only ever had grass and weeds growing on it. It is fairly level and is sheltered from the wind by a growing hedge. The soil is quite peaty. I am in the Scottish Highlands.

I have never gardened before and would like to make a start, grow a few vegetables as well as some flowers.

I am far from fit, so I'd have to take things easy at first!

Any advice would be great.

Answer 1

It is a long slow process to create a garden. The best place to start is with what you have, the soil. You say it is has a high peat content. This make me think of several things. The soil may be very acid, it may be very wet in winter but dry in summer, and it may be fairly infertile. Unlike most other soil types peat rich soil is more than 20% organics so holds water like a sponge but can dry out totally in summer then it can be difficult to re-wet once it is dried out. They heavy organics in peaty soil have built a fibrous structure that can be damaged by to much cultivation or tilling. The high acidity means the organics, the decaying plant matter is not very decomposed. This means the nutrients are not readily available to the plants. A pH test would help you a lot.
You can do this yourself either with a kit from a nursery or buy some universal pH strips from the pharmacy. You will also need distilled water so you do not measure the pH of the water instead of the soil. The advantage of kits is they have more than just pH strips. They usually test N-P-K also. This tells you how fertile the soil is.
http://www.soil.ncsu.edu/publications/Soilfacts/AG-439-30/
http://scotland.ces.ncsu.edu/Publications/lawngarden.php
http://www.biconet.com/testing.html
http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/assessment/test_kit.html
http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=1317&bhcd2=1183515605
A good soil test is useful because it lets you know the specific nutrient needs of your garden so you do not waste money on the wrong fertilizers. The soil test will also let you know whether you need to raise the pH of your soil if it is very acid. Most kits have instructions of how to affect pH changes in soil.
This is what I do to test my soil.
Dig a number of holes 6-8 inches deep in the area you wish to test.
Take a thin slice from the wall of the hole and place it in a clean bucket.
Repeat for each of the holes you dug.
Thoroughly mix all the soil together.
If the soil is very wet spread it out on some newspaper to let it air dry. It is important to have a dry sample but it must not be heated to be dried.
A third method of test soil is to send the sample to a testing service. This is usually done by county extension agents or by agricultural colleges in the US .

Answer 2

To begin, I don't know the weather there, I'm in the southern US, but most gardeners go by trial and error. My advice is start small this year with a variety of vegetables, and see how they do. Also talk to some of the older farmers around you. They could probably give you the advice you need, plus some you haven't thought about. Hope everything works out and you have a great garden!!!!!

Answer 3

If you got a small bit of ground tackled and growing, at the same time you could also have some ground "getting ready" in the background for when you want to use it.

What we do is use old black plastic sheeting (we get it free from a local farmer who has finished with using it to cover his silage heap) and just lay it on the ground & weight it down with rocks or whatever. The vegetation under it (well, not brambles) will die off over a few months and that bit of ground will be ready for relatively easy digging over when you are ready.

Answer 4

For some specific info about plants for your area, you might try this website:
http://www.rampantscotland.com/features/flowers.htm

The site also has a feedback/comment area where you might direct specific questions to "Scottie, the sole editor of all these pages."

http://www.rampantscotland.com/feedback.htm

You mention you'd like to take things easy at first ... raised bed gardening may be easier for you. You could build one bed this year, two if you felt like it. Another one or two the next year, etc.

Here's a site with some good information:

http://www.noble.org/ag/horticulture/RaisedBedGardening/bed_layout.html

Here's another site with info and pictures of raised beds (fairly high off the ground; you could build lower to the ground if you wanted to do so):

http://mastergardenproducts.com/gardenerscorner/raised_bed_gardening.htm

*~ Good luck! ~*

Answer 5

you can grow alot things such as vegetables carrots, turnips,
potatoes. as far as flowers you can grow lilies, day lilies, bleeding hearts, bushes such dappled willows, snowballs bushes. i live in Newfoundland and i think we have similar climates and we grow all these. just dig up a small patch of ground and add to it each summer. it will take time if you do it yourself. by planting a few things it not as hard as doing large plot of land into beds.

Answer 6

It's a bit late to plant many vegetables now. You should dig a small patch for vegetables. Get some compost dug in and leave to go fallow for next year.

Then next may, plant some low maintenance vegetables i.e. broad beans, runner beans, potatoes, courgettes etc

You can extend the patch as you please in subsequent years. In accordance with your capabilities.

Good luck.

Answer 7

Being in the Scottish Highlands will limit the veggies you can grow.

Have you considered a greenhouse?

Answer 8

borrow or hire a rotervater spelt wrong to turn the ground over it takes a long time to make a garden but it is well worth it