Where do I begin?

Hello,

I am new to posting on here, but would like a little help and advice. I am grown by own vegetables and herbs before, but it is part of my 5 year plan to completely renovate the garden so I can be self sufficient in fruit and vegetables, all year round. I would also like to keep my own poultry - which I ahve also done previously.

The trouble is, I don't know where to begin with designing my plot. I have around 3/4 of an acre. My land is south facing, but on the coast, so it gets a little breezy, to say the least. I am based in the north of England.

Any help/support/advice, guidance of where I can/should start would be warmly appreciated.

Thank you

Welcome to Permies!

Have you been on this land long? One of the first pieces of advice that I have received that I like to pass on is to observe your land. See how it changes with the seasons. See where the shady spots and the sunny spots are and work to incorporate the strengths of those spaces for what you want to plant.

For example, I own about a third of an acre so I am really tight on space. One of the first moves I made was make raised garden beds in a spot that is half full sun and half partial shade. I started planting different species in the beds to see what worked best where and changed each season. I had to actually prune up some pre-existing trees because one of my beds was getting too much shade and I had the ability to safely trim the trees. Hindsight, I would of adjusted the position of my raised beds but we can only do so much with what we know at the time.

How does your soil look? Is it nice and loamy? Super sandy? Maybe some clay? I'm a deep mulch kind of guy and found great success turning lawn into edible spaces through thick layers of wood chip. The only downside is that you need time for the chip to turn into friable organic matter.

Perhaps if you have some pictures we could give you some more specifically tailored advice.

Hello C,
I also welcome you to Permies!

I think your comment about keeping poultry is an excellent part of a good garden. Their manure and presence on the land can help increase the biodiversity of the soil, which will benefit the garden by microbes and fertilizer.

There are myriads of things to study for technique. Tall stuff on the north, short stuff on the south, micro climates, following contours, etc. That is too much for one post.

A method that I have seen people use (and I do something similar, just on the computer), is to write a list of everything they want to put in. Then cut out shapes that are to scale for a scale map you make. Then you can play around with placement of the items for the best growing and aesthetics. Much easier to move pieces of paper first, than a 2ft raised bed :)

Both Timothy and Matt have given you some great advice.

I would like to add that placing the garden in a sunny location is best.  

Placing taller plants against the wind might help block the wind from smaller plants.

Here is a thread that might help you or others:

https://permies.com/t/plan-your-new-garden

Hello,

Thank you so much for your replies. I have attached an image of the garden, this is south facing, but there is river at the bottom end, so as I mentioned, the wind is quite brutal sometimes.

As you can see, it is a blank canvass, not sure on the quality of the soil

Hello and a belated welcome!

Wind....I can tell you about wind :P Seriously though:

I like the garden - looks like you are open to the West and maybe rather shaded by those big trees on the left. Are they sycamores? Plus points: lots of biomass form leaves and twig fall, attract birds and other predators (bats?) and they will possibly provide shelter, minus - they will shade the garden and their roots may be a nuisance. I think they are pretty deep rooting though, so that maybe not as big a problem as you'd think. You've got your hedge on the West side too which will provide a bit of shelter. If you are anything like here, shelter is more important than sun.
You say you want to be self sufficient in veg and fruit - top fruit is great and soft fruit gives massive £ return for your efforts in the medium term. You say you want poultry - chickens? ducks? I'm not an expert on those so hopefully someone with some experience will chip in there.

I would draw the garden out on paper roughly to scale - put in the sun, wind directions, other aspects like views, smells, access points, water supplies. Then work out what sort of area you need for the different components of the garden - space for the chickens/ducks, fruit bushes, top fruit, composting area, sitting areas etc.. Then play with the layout: zones may help here - what will you need to access more than once a day, once a day, every few days, once a week, every now and again?
How much time do you have for gardening? How much money to buy plants and landscaping? Any special needs or wants?
I'm not a fan of straight lines, but they can be useful - putting the fruit in lines perpendicular to the wind may provide some shelter for annual crops. Alternatively earth banks/berms can provide microclimates for particularly susceptible plants. People who don't have wind, say jerusalem artichokes can be grown as windbreaks but I would suggest getting dwarf forms if you want to get a crop off them - rocking around in the wind doesn't induce root growth.

If this is a new garden, as Timothy says, a year's observation can make the difference between a successful design and one that could have been better. It's a good idea to make a plan, but probably don't put in anything other than annual crop and other moveable things for the first year. Fruit bushes from cuttings are best transplanted after they get their roots anyhow (side note - I may have some cuttings/roots available soon keep an eye on our flea market). Dig a few test pits to see what the soil quality is like - it's texture and pH - you can sometimes find a surprise under the surface like an old sand pit or shed base. Use this next year getting to know the garden and your neighbours, stick around and tell us how you get on!

(edited : typos!)

The things we invested in first at our house were a fruit-bearing hedge (because perennial fruit is awesome!) and the soil quality.

We had some structural work done around the house, so we just topped everything with good wood chips to lessen erosion, keep the surroundings clean and start building up the soil. And we keep on piling organic material year after year: compost, leaves, chop and drop comfrey... So that when the time comes where we can do something useful in that area, the soil is already rich, well structured and full of microorganisms. You could also plant fertilizer crops and live mulches, like peas, while you think of what's next. I've had great results with daikon radish to break up hard compacted clay and start building up organic material in soil that was basically dead.  Year after year, we're just adding and expanding beds all around the lawn until the day where there will be no lawn left

Do you have clover in that lawn? It's also an easy addition to start building nitrogen there so your soil improves while you build up the rest.
A perennial herb garden close to the house is an easy investment that pays both in the short and long term. You know you want that close to the kitchen, and herbs typically need less sun than a traditional annual vegetable garden so placement is not as tricky (plus herbs can easily be moved elsewhere if needed). We have sage, oregano, savory, thyme, lavender, plus chamomile and dill that self-seed. These can also be easily done in large pots, so you don't need to commit to a location right away.

Things in the mint family spread, so you want to contain them, but they are also a good addition to places where nothing else would grow. My lemon balm is in a narrow strip of poor sandy soil between the house and the driveway (it cannot really spread) and it's thriving despite being in a terrible location.

Start just out the door.  Plant a bed of mint, or set out the basil plants that you overwintered inside, or perhaps flowers that make you smile.  Watch the patterns of light and shadow, observe the flow of water across the ground, that will show you where your first building of berm should go.

Observe, take photos if that would help, watch, listen and learn.  The land will teach what it needs.

Peace