Plan & Plant Your Kitchen Garden

Turn plans into reality as Lucy Chamberlain continues her design series with advice on how to build your edible plot

- By Lucy Chamberlain. Photographs by Neil Hepworth, Jason Ingram and Lucy Chamberlain

Head gardener Lucy Chamberlain manages a walled kitchen garden within a 100-acre estate. Inspired by its success, she has followed the key design principles in her own, much smaller garden, to create a beautiful and highly productive fruit and vegetable plot.

The addition of any fruit or veg to a garden gets a huge tick in my book. My hope is that last month, fuelled by part one of this series, you put pen to paper and drew up a design a for your dream edible plot. Now it's time to take those plans, whether grand or modest and get started on building your kitchen garden. In this issue I'll explain how to start adding all the fundamental areas to your plot, including the all-important growing spaces, and why a greenhouse is an important investment for your plot.

Getting started

There are two options when it comes to clearing your site - blitz it in one hit or tackle it in bite-sized chunks. Usually the first route is associated with a price tag - clearing ground quickly often requires renting machinery, such as a mini-digger or stump grinder. Unless you have a willing army of friends, you may also want to hire in a skilled gardener or two, especially if your plot needs physically demanding work like the removal of tree stumps or perennial weeds. If you're carrying out the task in stages yourself, be sure to cover over or cultivate any cleared areas as you go, to maintain the upper hand with weeds. Also, make sure you know how to dispose of the waste-it's amazing how much material garden clearance can generate.