As a self-professed Monty Don fan,  I’ve always harboured ambitions to have my own vegetable patch filled to the brim with organic produce. The reality is that life, or rather my own excuses have previously prevented such a project coming to fruition. ‘There’s not enough space‘, or ‘I’ll set it up once we move into the new house‘ and the most recent ‘I’ve got a baby now so how on earth will I possibly have the time‘ were all too familiar gripes. Once I’d stopped procrastinating though and told myself to get a grip, (after all if my ninety year old granddad can do it then I have no excuse) plans for Project Patch were put into play.

Location

Our house refurb is still taking place (I threw a couple of spanners into the works with a few redesigns) so it looks like we’ll be staying Chez Mama’s for a while yet. Luckily her garden is huge and south facing and whilst the majority of the grounds are teeming with plant life (think rambling roses, laburnum and lilac trees, manicured lawns and terracotta pots for as far as the eye can see) there is a small area next to the orangery that has been neglected for a few years. I say ‘neglected’ but perhaps a better word would be unkempt because there are plenty of living, breathing, wonderful plants occupying the plot. Lady’s mantle, lemon balm, peppermint, spearmint, a unwieldy fuchsia, ferns and chives to name but a few.

It’s clear that this area must have been used as a kitchen garden at some point in its history (for the history buffs amongst you, the house was built in 1851 and you can see some images of the back of the house on my Instagram feed if you fancy a peek) because there was a clear rectangular bed so to speak underneath the masses of foliage (more on that in a moment) and because of the type of plants that are still growing in the space today (mainly herbs). It seemed silly then not to restore the area back to its former function.

Clearing The Plot

Once we’d landed on the location, the next step was to clear the existing plants from the area. I was initially keen to keep some of the mint varieties in situ as I’ve heard that they can be a good deterrent for some types of vegetable pests but I was advised against it from a maintenance point of view since mint can run rampant.

The Fuchsia was hacked back considerably despite not actually being a part of the bed itself for easier access and lots of Lady’s Mantle went on the compost heap accompanied by several piles of herbs to boot. The remaining soil was aerated and raked over to ensure that no weeds remained.

Improving The Raised Bed

After googling how deep a raised bed should be to be able to grow carrots we made an executive decision to add new sleepers on top of the existing walls of the plot for that extra bit of necessary depth. I’d like to say that I did this myself, I didn’t; instead I watched my husband do all the hard work instead. The additional depth was topped up by more soil and a healthy dose of homemade compost mulch that was raked in.

Rather than buying bamboo canes, I chose to chop down a few stalks from an existing plant in the garden to create supportive tripods to grow sweet peas along. Yes, it sounds a little destructive in hindsight but my mum hates the plant so she was happy to see a part of it disappear. I allowed them to dry out and then drove them into the soil at the very back of the bed before tying the canes into threes for the sweet peas to grow up against. With the basic structure in place we were good to go.

Planting

Before choosing which plants to grow I watched videos on the Gardener’s World website religiously. I’d grown sweet peas before and I’m a dab hand at keeping Viburnums, Hydrangeas, Lavender and Wisteria alive but I’ve never grown vegetables before. Like ever. So I was a bit anxious about the potential pitfalls in place. If I’m honest, I still am but I’m holding onto the notion that this is all a learning curve and mistakes are bound to be made.

I also remembered what another Rock My Style reader and commenter had said on one of Lauren’s posts about the importance of planning before planting. I knew I had to keep the tallest plants positioned at the back because of the brick wall on that side of the bed so by default the sweet peas would be situated here (yes I know that sweet peas aren’t veg but they remind me of my Granddad and I love their enticing scent so they found their way into the bed!).

I started my sweet peas off prior to them being planted out in the bed in rootrainers purchased from Sarah Raven. I always plant sweet peas in pairs and the rootrainers ensure that they develop a healthy and strong root system. A mixture of Amethyst Sweet Pea mix with Muse and Vintage Silk were all planted and once they had grown at least three pairs of leaves I pinched them out for bushier growth.

A friend of mine (thanks Nath!) gave me three courgette plants from his own stock which I knew from watching the tutorials on the Gardener’s World website needed plenty of space so I decided to plant these at the front of the bed. I’ve not grown courgettes before but I was assured by lots of green fingered friends that they were easy to grow.

I also invested in carrots – namely Purple Sun –  and Salad Leaves from Thompson & Morgan. I also purchased some Rocket seeds but they haven’t arrived as yet.; all were planted in drills between the courgettes and the sweet peas (I’ll add the rocket later when it lands on my doormat.)

As to whether this plan will work remains to be seen, granted I’m not growing a huge amount at the moment but I figured I had my hands full with these plants for the time being; I’m sure that something will flourish and other plants won’t even germinate but if I can grow just one small carrot by the end of the summer I’ll consider the whole thing a success.

Do any of you seasoned growers have any tips for me? Have I made any serious errors so far (please say I haven’t)? Are any of you like me and growing your own for the first time? If so what have you chosen to eat?

Granted it looks a bit bare at the moment but I’ll be sharing more stories about my patch later in the year along with the lessons I’ve learnt, what grew (hopefully everything!), what failed (inevitably something) and any tips and tricks I might pick up along the way. Please feel free to leave me any advice in the comments below particularly of the keeping pests away in the most humane way variety. If you’re really keen to keep up with my green adventures then I’ll be posting my progress on my personal Instagram account as well. I really really hope I’ve got something to write home about….