[Stereo]

We had big ideas this year about growing much of our own food. We already have a good supply of home grown cockerels and have been using a couple raised beds to grow the odd bit for a few years. This year we took on the family farm so space is not a problem. Most of the land is let for this year but we kept a couple acres back for the hens and stuff. To be honest, we've failed. The raised beds are outside the house and our bloody cat has decided to dump in it frequently. We've been very busy with other stuff and to be honest it's all been abandoned as I don't want to be eating food from a cat toilet. Scumbag. Anyway, we have kind of decided to do away with the raised bed and convert the area (about 20 x 20' ) to a deck and BBQ area with higher / narrow planters around for salads / herbs. Will also have a greenhouse for tomatoes / peppers and maybe cucumbers.

So, if I wanted to do something right now on half an acre or less of flat pasture, what is my best bet for getting something in? I've looked at the no dig stuff and that looks interesting. Or I can get digging but that seems a lot of hard work!

If it was you, what would you plant right now? We are in the SW so mild climate. Thanks. I'm pretty much a newbie to veg growing and it all seems so overwhelming. I'd like to at least start something!

[doganjo]

How high were your raised beds and were they netted?  Mine are two and a half feet high - I'd prefer them higher to be honest, like I had in my last place - 3 and a bit high with a perch I could sit on the edge of to potter from.

Mine have four corner posts with netting attached to keep out pigeons, butterflies (not small enough last year so brassicas got eaten)  Keeps out my cat and my puppy.

I'd go down that route if i were you.  But ask Rosemary - she has a few cats and her raised beds are only JUST raised.

[Stereo]

Only about 8" high. I think the problem is that we left it bare soil all winter which was a mistake. Should have had a cover crop. Live and learn. But the cat has now decided that it's her bog. The area is next to the path to our front door so we want it to be beautiful as well as functional, hence the idea for much higher, narrower, long planters around a deck seating area. We could also do pots for herbs and flowers. It catches the last of the sun so would be perfect for a stone built BBQ etc. Having this plan has sort of meant we have given up on the existing beds which means all we will get this year is strawbs, which is fine. They are so thick that the cat can't get into that one. I've picked the first few today.

I'm thinking more of using some of the field to really get something going. Could throw up a rabbit fence fairly easily and cheaply and just get a plot going with something. Got lots of spud grow bags. I know it's all too little, too late but I feel silly having a 50 acre farm and not growing a single bit of green food for my own family on it.

[clydesdaleclopper]

I would think that forest gardening would suit you. Much of the cropping is from trees and shrubs for berries, nuts and some leaves. It is much lower input and everything is out of cat reach. If you look up some of the permaculture sites they will give you more information. The idea is to have as much as possible perennial so that you don't have the big slog associated with growing annual crops.

[pgkevet]

You've still got time to sow lots of stuff...peas, beans etc so long as you can get the ground readied..and that's the rub.. cos spraying it down to kill off the current meadow/scrub would take 2 weeks+ which you can't really spare.

Perhaps the best practical way if you have decent depth of soil woudl be to just lift the turf from planting areas beween rows - leaving a path width that's easily mowable between. Stack the turf upside down on spare rows for ploughing in in the winter for next year.

Then my usual way of chicken wire tunnels over pulse seeds until they get established. There's still time to sow carrots and even brassicas (started in trays). I'd even be game for broad beans still... nowt to lose but a few seeds.

Once seeds are up then give a dressing of growmore since you can guess the land will be a bit poor.

I plant all my rows a rotorvator width apart since I have the space and it makes weeding easier. I've had setbacks this year with cold windy blasts... and it was only 2 weeks ago that i sowed my last lot of pulses and brassica seeds to make up for earlier losses. Radish and lettuce and spring onion i do in the greenhouse but should be OK outside if you need extra.

You can probably still buy leek seedlings. My reserve potful of 100+ is going in tomorrow The first 200 have been in for a month but with the cold and then dry have hardly grown any more.

[Stereo]

I would think that forest gardening would suit you. Much of the cropping is from trees and shrubs for berries, nuts and some leaves. It is much lower input and everything is out of cat reach. If you look up some of the permaculture sites they will give you more information. The idea is to have as much as possible perennial so that you don't have the big slog associated with growing annual crops.

Would like to get into that as well as we have a 5 or so acre wood and are planning to extend it. It's all so massive but I guess you just have to start somewhere.

[clydesdaleclopper]

Forest gardening is different from forest farming though and is about specifically planting edible tree species rather than utilising an existing woodland.

[Stereo]

Indeed. I'm lucky as I'm a stone's throw from Dartington where I believe one  of the leading practitioners 'practices'. Martin someone? Can't recall. Any new planting would certainly be along those lines.

[Fleecewife]

Herbs and lettuce are lovely, but you're never going to feed your family on them.  You need to grow bulky staples such as potatoes, onions, broad beans, beetroot, peas, brassicas.  If you plant EARLY potato tubers now, you will get a crop this year.  'Early' means fast maturing, rather than that they can only be planted early in the season.  Another staple you can plant now is the winter brassicas, such as kale, purple sprouting broccoli and cabbage, but you would at this stage have to send off pronto for small plants - advertised by all the seed companies, and available in garden centres.  It's an expensive way to do things, but it's too late to sow brassica seed now.  If you can find courgette or well grown squash plantlets, get a couple each of them in too.
You might get away with quick maturing peas.

I'm afraid the only way you will keep your cats off the veg patch is by fencing it effectively, or covering everything with horticultural fleece or chicken wire.  From their point of view, you have provided them with a perfect toilet, with soft, cultivated soil to be easy on their paws.  I'm sure they're really grateful.  But not only is it yuchy to eat food from ground where cats (or dogs) have crapped, but they carry parasites which affect humans, sometimes seriously.

Maybe you would be best preparing your large veg bed for next year, and researching how to go about things, so you're well prepared to start then.  Growing veg is hard work - it's not just a case of sowing and planting; the main job all year is weeding  to get any crops at all.  Potatoes are the traditional crop to 'clear the ground', as they need several earthing ups, so the weeds are destroyed then, and they have to be dug out when they are ready.

[Stereo]

That's what I'm thinking. Might just go for some spud in grow bags and work on planning next year as you say. I don't see the point in paying out loads for young plants, especially as I haven't done it before and will probably mess it up. The herb and salad area is just really going to be a nice place to sit out and as it's right next to the kitchen, will be handy for grabbing leaves and bits and bobs. Nothing better than nipping out and picking a bowl of fresh strawberries to put on your cornflakes either. So all that stuff I want near the house and we'll have to deal with the cat issue.

I did have an idea of providing a sacrificial area somewhere out of the way so the cat uses that. Like an out-door litter tray but with sand and a cover so kids / dogs can't get in.

[doganjo]

Tell your cat to SCOOT and use somebody else's garden 

Seriously, I wouldn't leave a place for him/her at all.  You'd have to clean out a sandpit!   As I said before I'd use higher raised beds for food growing with nets so the cat can't use them.