[Rexmundi]

Creating a veg patch at the bottom of my south facing garden. There are no overhanging trees to shade it and I expect it will be in full sun most of the day (if we get any this year) come the summer. It measures approx 40m2. Just a few months ago it was all grass - pretty poor quality at that.
 
The soil appears to be clay and holds water and pools a bit on one side. In December I spread as much horse manure as I could on it and since then have been attempting to dig it in, but have struggled with the weight of the soil, there are still large lumps requiring broken down.

You will see from the photo that I don't have any paths yet and I'm using a railway sleeper and some scaffolding planks as 'mobile paths' at the moment. I have a load of palletts getting delivered over the next few days which I'm looking to use to create beds and divide the plot up a bit.

I intend to grow potatoes, onions, cabbage, leeks and carrots this year.

I'm wondering whether I should rotovate or wait till the ground dries a bit more?

Or, do you think if I create some manageable beds, that I should apply a layer of compost on them?

[devonbarmygardener]

I should think you ought to wait a little longer if the water is pooling on the earth as you'll ruin your soil structure.

Put as much organic stuff in as you can find to mix with the clay.

I have only just dug my plot over as the ground has been saturated and I have normal soil!
 

[Wiltshire Worms]

you could also consider sharp sand to dig into the clay to improve the structure of the soil.

good luck

[yaxley]

Looking at the photo it looks wet so you should wait a while for it to dry before trying to dig will dry out quickly if we get a week or so of dry weather hopefully ...

[angelavdavis]

I would agree it looks far too wet to be working yet.

I would also agree that you should dig in a good amount of horticultural grit or sand (as well as the manure) into the clay to help with the drainage in future.

[Rexmundi]

Many thanks for all your replies.

I will look into obtaining some horticulural sand to see if that helps to improve things. 

[Yorkie]

But don't go onto the soil again if it sticks to your boots.

[Totty]

Looks like you have a perfect size to have a path running where your sleepers are, and one through the middle the other way. Giving you 4 equal sized beds you can work on without having to walk on the soil much. If you have heavy soil it can take years to really sort it out. As well as digging in as much organic matter as you can lay your hands on, being able to keep off the beds will help your soil hugely over coming years.

Totty

[angelavdavis]

Ref your bed layout, I think the recommendation is that you have your beds (if possible) running North->South.  This means you get to make the most of the sunshine in the summer (if we get any  ).

Other than that, think about crop placement, with taller crops at the back of the plot farthest from the sun, so they don't cast shade on the other plants in the bed.

As a cheap path, you can always lay weed suppressant and cover with a 2 inch minimum layer of bark chips.  This is what I use on the allotment and it works well.  You will need a timber edge to edge your lawn to stop it creeping back.  Of course, you may be able to pave it, but the suggestion above works well on a budget. 

As an ornamental edge, why not try stepover espaliered apple trees?  I have started these off on my plot.  It will take a while for them to fully develop, but I have had a couple of apples from mine already after just two years.

[devonbarmygardener]

You can get really cheap nice looking paving if you know where to look.
We have a a couple of bargain garden centres down here and I managed to get the yellow 'York stone' paving slabs 30x30cm I think, for little over a £1 each.
Also some people give slabs away when trying to get rid of them so you could even get them for free if lucky.

[simonwatson]

If you're after cheap slabs then scouring eBay and Freecycle can be very rewarding.

[Rexmundi]

Thank you for all the advice, it's much appreciated.

I intend to put a main path in where you can see the railway sleeper in the picture to divide it in two, then I may create as many as 4 beds in each half - each bed would then be approx 1.2m x 1.8m. I'm thinking that these might be more manageable size and stop me from having to stand on the soil?

I'm on the look out for pallets which I will use to put in an edge between the lawn and the patch (i've been reading the threads in the pallet posts on the site). I really like the idea of an ornamental edge of stepover espaliered, so thanks to angelavdavis for that link.

And I'm on the look out for slabs and will check out ebay, I already have a post on the works noticeboard with a request.

Thanks again folks.