I decided to create a bed system at the top of the small plot that will sit alongside the large section which is dug over and manured for the potatoes. I’m doing this not because the plot gets waterlogged or the soil isn’t well drained, on the contrary, it’s so i can have something more manageable as i meander my way through my new found hobby.

I’m going to try a 3 year rotation system on this side of the plot which will mean the rotation of crops like Potatoes, Onions/Shallots/Garlic and Brussel Sprouts. More on that later.

To start off i just dug over the soil once with a spade and forked it through to get the roots of the Perennial weeds out. I got some rough pre-treated wooden planks from B@Q (£3 each) which measure 8ft long, 5 inches wide and 1 inch thick. The plan is to make beds 8ft long x 4 wide so 3 planks will do the job, cutting one in half for the top and bottom and screwing them together. I then hammered some stakes in each corner about 8-inches into the ground and added a few more screws, securing them to the planks. Notice i said screw and not nail. I figure i might want to dismantle them at some point and i think screwing them together is a better solution.

Finally got to use the Mantis Tiller ripping through the soil right down to a depth of 8 inches, removing any remaining weed roots before levelling off with a rake.

I then added 2 big bags of Humax Multi-Compost and 2 bags of Westland top soil. Mixed it all together with the Mantis and ‘hey presto’, a nice easy to manage bed system.

I bought enough planks to make 4 beds and i’ll put a couple more in behind these to take up the remaining space. I left a 2ft gap between the beds which i’ll cover with plastic sheet and add some gravel or bark so i can walk in between without getting the wellies muddy.

I should now be able to grow enough vegetables and flowers to keep me occupied throughout the growing season and get some experience with success or failure.

While i had the mantis out and the fact the weather this weekend has been amazingly dry & sunny for this time of year, i’d rotavate the Potato bed. Took me a 2 weekends to dig and fork it over and an hour to rotavate it. Job done!!