The vegetable garden

As we have a huge amount of grass and therefore grass clippings I decided to put them to good use to kill off/mulch the new vegetable garden.
I marked out the area and we piled the first lot of grass clipping on to it about a month ago. It seems to have worked well because not only do they block out the light but they heat up too. Last week covered the next section by laying out all our many empty cardboard boxes, with all the plastic tape stripped off, and piled the clippings on top of those. It will be interesting to see if there is much difference.

Nearest half just grass clippings,
furthest half cardboard and grass clippings

I try to avoid digging as much as possible but the edges were rather untidy so I tidied them up by turning the turf over.

Vince then got very enthusiastic and started clearing back the original clippings and turning the almost dead turf over.

Then I rummaged through my seed tin and sowed some seeds. Very exciting!

It's not the best time of year to be sowing stuff but there are quite a few things that can go in now. I've sowed some kale. It's a bit late really, but if we get a mild autumn ...this is Cornwall after all... they might get going. I also sowed chard which may not get big enough to eat this autumn but will be ready to get going early next year. If we do get some cold weather (below -4/5) I'll give them some protection with some glass or fleece.
I sowed some thyme, just because I had some seeds, and today I'm planning to sow a few Sweet Williams for flowers next year and some parsley, although I think the seed's a bit old so it may not grow. Some seed, notably brassicas (the cabbage family) will keep for years, some, like parsnips ands parsley won't germinate very well at all after a year or tow. I'll do a separate post about seeds/saving and viability sometime.
I'm a great believer in using what you have so when I took on my first Devon allotment I had a access to some mouldy hay and used that to mulch the areas I wasn't cultivating to start with. Another allotment I started was mainly covered with old carpet to start with. I'm a great believer in starting with a small area and not trying to get the whole area under cultivation at once. Ultimately the veg garden will probably be about twice the size of the currently mulched bit, but it will be two or three years until it's all properly under cultivation. Gardening isn't something that should be rushed.
The long term plan is to have no dig (or minimal dig) beds. Here is my current allotment in Devon, and this is what the veg beds will look like eventually.

New Garden in Cornwall

We have moved down to Cornwall, and with the house comes an almost blank canvas of garden. There is a large area of grass, a few shrubs dotted around the edges and a small area of what could loosely be called woodland. It's the first time in my life I've moved into a property that's actually mine and where I'm planning to stay for a long time. The nearest I've come to this in the past is having an allotment for about 10 years (which I still have.... in Devon) and owning a property in France for about 5 years, where I started creating a garden but then had to give up and leave all my plants behind.
I decided I'd like to start a blog documenting the development of the garden from scratch, partly as a record for myself, and partly to share my experiences and successes and failures with others. Hopefully, having been a professional gardener and also a keen hobby gardener for over 25 years, there will be more success's than failures!
I am planning to spend as little money as possible on the garden, mostly growing plants from cuttings and seeds and scrounging bits of plants from family and friends. I have some gift vouchers from friends to buy a couple of choice plants that aren't easy to propagate. On my wish list so far are a parrotia persica, a  red japanese maple, some hedging plants and a butyl pond liner (I know, that's not a plant).
The garden is about 1/2 acre altogether, with another 1/4 acre taken up with house, shed and parking space. It's quite a windy spot so hedges and windbreaks will be high priority.
Here are some images of the garden as it is at the moment. This is a panorama, which distorts the perspective a little but gives an idea of how the lawn/woodland is laid out

 This is a view from the back of the house looking to the right. The greenery on the right is a stone wall and a few shrubs that marks the boundary with the neighbours. The little building is my bookbinding studio where I plan to run workshops. We are planning to rent our house out for holidays in the summer  so the area to the right of the studio will be fenced/hedged off to provide a garden for the cottage visitors. The trees behind my studio are along the far boundary.

 This is the view looking left. If you look closely you will just see the faint outline of part of a circle over to the right. This is where the circular formal lawn will be. I'm not a big fan of formal (i.e. short) lawns but Vince wants one so this will be his domain. Also as we have a small house and like having party's from time to time this will be the place for a marquee for our party's. I don't currently have a marquee but I'm creatively visualising that someone will give me a scruffy old one that will be good enough for our party's!
The area between the gravel on the left and the large trees  in the centre of the photo will be the vegetable garden with fruit and a wildlife pond beyond. The bit of grass jutting toward you will be a herb garden and other areas will be a mix of shrubs and herbaceous plants, with an emphasis on easy care and wildlife friendly.

Along the edge of the gravel will be a hedge. We initially thought of a beech hedge, but as it's windy and possibly a bit salt laden (tho we are 3 miles from the sea) beech might not do very well. Next on our list are escallonia, griselina and eleagnus, or possibly a mix of all three.

We've had the property for 2 1/2 months and I've already planted a dogwood

a monteray pine

and a hydrangea, all in the woodland.
Last but not least, the MOST important thing in the garden..

The compost heap.

Lots more to say, don't want to cram it into one post.