Building the Potager

We decided to dedicate December to building the potager (the kitchen garden). This was our first real step into self-sufficiency, and it needed to be; easy to manage; easy on the eye; large enough to supply our needs, and to supply a basket of fresh fruit and veg. in a welcome pack for guests to the cottages.

The final plan covers a 20 metre2 plot, bordered on the west side by mature trees, and the south by low farm hedging.

It is a very sunny position and the sun does not go down behind the mature trees until 3pm in the winter, so all the raised beds will be in full sun for most of the day.

The garden has been separated into three main areas.

1.  The fruit and vegetable raised beds....  (click on pictures for larger image)

The raised beds are 10 foot x 5 foot, and between 12 and 20 inches in height - as the plot is on a sloping site.

There are two beds dedicated to fruit, the larger being 10 foot x 10 foot and containing the fruit bushes - raspberries, gooseberries and blueberries, with some rhubarb.  Whilst the smaller will be used to grow strawberries and melons.

The six vegetable beds have been divided into brassicas, root vegetables and legumes, to enable us to rotate the crops each year.  We have used companion planting principles where possible, and used flowers like nasturtiums and marigolds to help us keep pests down.  However this is all design from books and research, and like most novices, I'm sure when we start planting we will learn far more from our experiences as to what likes our plot, soil and weather conditions. 

2.  The Flowerbed and Vines

The greenhouse is situated to get the most sunshine through the day, and the bench and table will have a lovely view over the flowerbed, that will be full of plants to attract the insects - Buddleia; Alyssum; Cornflower; Cosmos and Zinnia.  We will also be planting flowering plants for 'infusions', and intend to experiment with mixes of herbal teas - Chamomile; Verbena; Valerian and Echinacea.

The two vines will be used for table grapes and kiwis, both of which should grow well in this climate.

3.  The Herb Garden and Maintenance

Although we have planted a small amount of herbs in each raised bed, the majority will grow at the entrance to the potager, surrounded by blackberry, sloe and elderflower bushes.

This part of the garden is screened by mature trees, so the compost bins, water butt and leaf mould containers will all be sited here, out of view.

The first step was to measure everything out on the plot and lay out tarpaulin cut to size...

Amazing how small the beds looked when spaced out in the plot.

Then it was down to the JCB to clear the turf and then scrape away the top soil to re-use.

We then had to run all the water pipes from the water butt to supply collected rainwater and agricultural water to each of the beds..

We decided to use seep pipes on each of the beds, so we had to install filters throughout the system to ensure the the pipes did not get clogged with debris.

Then we had to start building the beds.  

Nick pulled up the oak floorboards in the little cottage to re-use for the raised beds.  They were too far gone to keep for floorboards, but when cut down they were still solid enough to recycle.

At the same time we needed to dig through the top soil..

Weeding out two full wheelbarrows of dandelion roots!

We decided to line the raised beds, as we weren't sure if any insect repellants had been used on the floorboards, and didn't want anything seeping into the soil.    The plastic pipes will act as holders for hoops which we can insert when we want to drape parts of the bed with mesh or fleece...

It was finally time to start filling the beds, and again we used the JCB to redistribute the manure from the farm...

We worked on a ratio of one third well-rotted manure and straw, then a layer of clay soil we took from the top of the dried pond, a layer of compost and then a final layer of sifted top soil.  Hopefully this will provide enough nutrients, and will loosen the clay soil sufficiently.  We kept one bed manure-free for the root crops, and part of the fruit bush bed was cordoned off as an ericaceous bed for the blueberries, and we filled with ericaceous compost and top soil.

We finished each bed with the seep pipes...

Then it was time to lay some pathways, before the winter became too muddy and wet...

And with an interesting tipper action for the quad and trailer....

We laid the gravel for the pathways....

And feeling quite deserving of some downtime, we have now packed up our tools, set the wine mulling, and put our order into the sawmills for wood for the fencing....