[reaclon]

Hello all,

I came across this site and thought I'd give it a go, you all seem very authoritive! I hope to learn lots and eventually contribute, should I learn anything.

While I have helped my mother in her garden for most of my life at those mundane and heavy chores a son must help with, I have never until now attempted to grow anything. Now it's my turn to have a garden and turn my hand to this new (to me) skill and art.

So my blank and modest little patch of garden in suburban west Dublin has been shaped recently by my first attempts. My partner loves the kithchen and at her insistence I have concentrated on edibles so far. I have 2 semi-raised beds for growing. Each is easily 8-9 feet in length and 2 feet wide. While only raised less than a foot I have double-dug the heavy clay soil and mixed peat and also improved this with compost and better topsoil. The planted gooseberry and rhubarb seems to be going well.

I also have a wee greenhouse contraption where lettuce and herbs newly sown seem to be doing well also. So I might ask the occasional newbie question as I plant and sow more and I'd like to thank all contributors in advance.

Ray

[Good guy]

Welcome, Ray. I hope you find the site useful and a bit of fun and tha your gardening goes well.

[Dr. Sunny Thomson]

Welcome reaclon. I don't post as often as I like but ill hope to bump into and chat with you on these boards from time to time.

[Blowin]

Sounds as though space is the main governing factor, Ray? You can ask the cleverer people if you say what it is you want to grow but, if you browse 'Runner Beans' for example, you'll find one example of making good use of one square yard. Without going the whole hog, you could do a trial run with a pole, an old bike wheel and a few garden canes. Then, if it goes well, you could get a bit more sophisticated for subsequent years but there's nothing quite like finding veg on your plate that was growing an hour before.