Getting Started - Choosing a site

• Choose a level, open spot away from the shade of trees or walls.
• Keep well away from classrooms, where noisy children and machinery may disturb other classes.
• Ensure there is an outdoor water supply nearby. If not, it is usually fairly cheap to install an outdoor tap. Alternatively, use a water butt or large plastic dustbin which can be filled from a hose as required.

Preparing the ground
Digging over an area of lawn is very hard work. Covering the ground with black plastic or similar light-excluding material looks ugly and takes at least a year to clear the ground of weeds properly.

The simplest way to create a new vegetable plot is raised beds. A raised bed is simply a small area enclosed by planks of wood or other material and filled with soil or compost. For small children, beds 1m x 2m and 15cm high are ideal. This allows the children to gather round the plot for instruction, and work around the bed without walking on the soil. Three beds would allow ample growing space for a wide range of vegetables, and a simple crop rotation to be practiced (see below).

To make your own raised beds, you will need to buy treated 15cm x 2.5cm planks (6" x 1"), from a timber merchant or DIY shop, and saw it into 1m and 2m lengths. You will also need some 5cm x 5cm (2" x 2") wood sawn into 15cm lengths for the corners, and some 5cm screws.

Simply screw the wood into the corner posts to make the container. If all that sawing and screwing sounds too much like hard work, you can buy small ready-made raised beds made from recycled plastic at www.link-a-bord.com or www.organiccatalog.com .

The completed bed can be placed directly onto a lawn, playing field or other porous surface, though if the grass is very long it is advisable to strim or mow it first. You can then fill your bed with soil, well rotted compost or potting compost, or topsoil can be purchased from a local supplier (see the local paper or yellow pages). Allow at least two tonnes for three 2m x 1m beds. You can put rotted leaves, compost, shredded newspaper or other organic material in the bed first, where it will quickly rot down under the topsoil and add valuable nutrients.

Compost
Composting is nothing more than helping nature get on with what she is best at - recycling all your garden waste so it can go back to the garden where it came from.

A compost bin can be a simple structure made of chicken wire fixed to four wooden stakes in a square shape, or you can buy ready made bins from Herefordshire Council very cheaply. It is advisable to make or buy two bins, so that you can be using the compost from one while the other is being filled.

So what can you put in your compost bin? Well, almost anything that was once living - lawn mowings, weeds, fruit and vegetable waste, paper, card, even hedge clippings will all rot down and make good compost. The golden rule is to have a good mix of ingredients and don't put too much of one thing in at any one time.

You can also put leftover food on the heap, but animal products like meat or fish should be avoided, and cover up any food well or it will quickly attract rats.  If you put your school fruit waste in the bin, it must be very well covered or it will soon be swarming with insects. Large quantities of paper or card should also be avoided, as should glossy magazines.

As you fill your bin, the contents will decompose and sink down, so you can keep adding stuff on top. When it is really as full as you can get it, start using your second bin, and don't be tempted to 'top-up' the first bin as its contents slowly turn into compost.

It is best to leave your bin to rot down for at least six months, longer if you can. Eventually you will find it has turned into a dark, moist, crumbly mixture that looks like potting compost. This can now be spread thickly on your vegetable plot, where it will improve the health of your soil and keep down weeds. Use your compost as part of the crop rotation process (see below).

You can use the empty compost bin while the contents of the second bin turn to compost.

Crop Rotation
It is important to avoid growing the same type of crop in the same place year after year, as this can lead to a build-up of diseases and viruses in the soil. Crop rotation is simply the process of moving your crops around the plot year by year.

The easiest form of crop rotation is based on three different vegetable types - roots such as carrots and parsnips; 'brassicas' or greens like cabbage and sprouts; and all others including beans, peas and onions. If you have three raised beds, you simply rotate your crops between the beds each year. With a traditional vegetable plot, allocate a section of the plot to each type each year.

The usual practice is to add compost to the area to be used for crops other than roots and brassicas. Any surplus compost can be used for brassicas, but roots do not like too rich a soil.