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Since moving into my house in November the garden has been too wet to work the soil (going by the 'if the soil sticks to your boots then it's too wet' rule) I've found toads in the long grass and ferns are growing merrily. I thought I'd leave it til it dried out a bit but that has meant that I haven't done anything yet.
I have bought some seeds and planned where the raised beds are going and have begun making the chicken run/house.

The garden is covered in grass, it's not very weedy but it is pretty damp (despite being South faacing and in South Devon)
If I start making the raised beds now will that be ok or is it too late in the season?
Would it be better for me to put the chickens on the whole area (obviously shut them up at night) to dig the soil up for me, eat the grass and to poo all over it or would you just crack on with making the raised beds?
I think that maybe the chickens on the land idea is better but then I wouldn't get my vegetables in which I've been looking forward to doing.

What would you do?
Any suggestions or ideas?

I would remove the turf and try to dig on the occasional dry days - or at least get the wood in place (or whatever you are using as the surround of the raised beds). Chickens will clear the grass eventually but that will take some time.

I know the feeling because this winter we've (or rather my OH!) has only so far managed to dig over 1 and a bit out of 5 plots. Just non stop rain through Nov through to the freeze in December/Jan! Now it's raining again.

It's not too late to build raised beds. This is especially a good idea if as you say it's a damp garden, as most things will tolerate cold, but not wet and cold. I am about to do my last round of raised beds , but the way I'm doing it is to double dig the earth before putting the bed on top, it helps the drainage and opens the soil (I add leaf mould and muck).

Don't be too worried about getting seeds in early, as the cold can set them back more than if you just planted them when things are warming up.

There are plenty of seed you can plant in early Feb, if you have a heated propagator or S facing window, things like tomatoes, chillies, peppers etc need to get an early start if they are to ripen in our short summer. These can be grown in pots so you don't have to go mad with the raised beds. Salads can be started off inside and kept in pots ready for planting out, or just used from pots.

As a general rule, when the weed seeds start to germinate in you garden, then the soil is warm enough for your veg seeds.

It sounds like you are in a similar position to me - I am basically starting from scratch (well, a grassy field) at the moment.

I have left it a little late - I know that manure is supposed to go on the ground in the autumn, for example. But I figure it is better to start now than not at all. In the past I have left it as late as May and been fine. Your veg may not be as good as they could have been, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't grow any!

In my experience chooks take about three months to remove grass completely. I have hired a rotivator and it seems to have destroyed the grass - or macerated it enough for me to be able to pick over anyhow. I plan on putting the hens on the new beds (using some wire and bamboo canes) for a couple of days once the weeds germinate (which have now been exposed to the light) to keep it weed-free until I have a chance to dig it over.

Good luck!

When my mother moved into a new property a few summers ago, she set about digging. It got very wet pretty quickly as we had a very wet summer, but she concentrated her efforts on a couple of raised beds which she threw some seeds into, she still managed some crops that year, so I dont think it matters when you begin, just accept that it won't necseesarily be exactly how you want it until next year.

I'm sure you will be surprised how much you can still grow, there aren't that many veg that mind when manure was added to a plot. Parsnips are apparently a bit picky about when the ground was dug over, but I think most other things are fine.

I'm not sure if perfection is possible, I know I'm still looking . Enjoy the journey that's what I say. It gives me a good excuse when it all goes Pete Tong

Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like it'll be ok for me to start the beds tomorrow. I'll have to clean out all the cat poo from the next door neighbour's cat first ( the first thing this neighbour ever said to me when we moved in was "my cat uses your garden as a toilet.") you're not supposed to handle cat poo when pregnant but to be honest I'd feel a bit mean asking OH to shift it as the garden is my domain really, so rubber gloves it is!

Should I be digging in manure (Seaweed/horse manure/comfrey-sludge etc) to each bed except carrots and parsnips? My compost bin isn't going to be any help for a little while as it's very new so I'll be buying in compost for this first year. I've been buying a 100% seaweed plant feed for my pot plants at work and was thinking that I could add this to the soil when I'm digging it. It's not a massive veg plot so won't cost the earth to add this seaweed stuff but it's not very ish I suppose.

I can't wait to spring out of bed tomorrow and get started, reckon it's just what I need to shake the winter out of my bones and welcome in the spring.

Dig dig dig!

im in south devon, and have been happily digging my raised beds. they are a jumble of brick ones and wooden ones looks odd but im past caring as im more interested in having a good crop of veg!

if all else fails and you cant get all your beds done, do what i did last year and use grow bags for tomatoes and courgettes etc i even had success with brocoli in them!

last year was just so busy , with decorating the house etc that the garden got sidelined. this year however im several steps ahead! still gonna grow in grow bags though :-)

In reality most of us don't get manure or compost dug in during the previous autumn because the veg patch is usually still full of veg! Mine gets dug in as and when it becomes free, or we dig around things like the leeks.

I'd save your fertiliser for a top dressing after you have done the digging and usually a few weeks before you start planting (rake it over a bit after spreading) - and do dig in as much compost/manure as you can as it really helps!

I have found my chickens to be incredibly helpful in the veg garden but what I have done is make all the beds the same size (we have 12 right now but will have 16 when we are finished) and I have built a movable chicken run (chook tractor) that fits directly over the bed.

So I reccomend that you do that

It takes minimal preparation from you - a rough dig over the ground. Then pop the chickens over the bed (it takes my 5 girls 2 days to completely work over a 2x1 metre bed - though usually longer as I let them freerange often and pen them back in in the evening)

This way, within a week you have a bed just about ready for your seeds - ground fertilised, beasties and weed seeds eaten


I envy those of you in the south.... we won't see the back of winter up here for..... oh for about a month I reckon.... and that is on a good year

Annpan wrote:I envy those of you in the south.... we won't see the back of winter up here for..... oh for about a month I reckon.... and that is on a good year

Only a month? Blimey think I'll move up there then!

dont feel so bad, we had snow this morning! and its coming every now and again. glad i got what i could last week.

Tomorrow it's February and I can remember a few years back we were working up on a roof in T-shirts in February it was so hot. Somehow I don't think it's going to be like that this year.
My allotment has never seen so much frost as this year.

t-shirts? im usually already digging my flip flops out !

It snowed! The ground was too frozen to do anything to so we started on decorating the sitting room instead.

Annpann - that's a great idea! I'll make a movable pen for the chickens and make it the same size as the beds, rather than letting them loose over the whole area. Fab plan. Happy Chickens, Happy Me!

I have a friend from Aberdeen who didn't believe me when I mentioned that people enjoy swimming in the sea down here; I had to show her a photo! She makes Scotland sound like a different world.