By Davy101112
United Kingdom 
I have a patch of land on which I would like to cultivate Vegetables. It is approximately eight square metres in total. I have turned the soil over, and got rid of excess Weeds, but am now unclear about what to do next. I do realise that this is not the best time for planting Veg', so should I be doing anything with the soil, which is has an abundance of Clay in its property. I would be very grateful for your advice. thanks
9 Jul, 2011
Answers
You could dig some compost or other feed with a high humus content into the soil and then sow a green manure crop such as Phalacea to cover the ground over winter. Dig the green manure crop in at the end of the winter before it flowers.
9 Jul, 2011
Oh dear my beloved SO never could spell he is recommending Phacelia tanacetifolia
9 Jul, 2011
Preparation depends on what you want to grow.
To grow veg properly means dividing up your patch into 3, and rotating what grows in each patch year by year.
Give us the shape of your patch.
10 Jul, 2011
We divide our patch into 4 as we grown by the moon... roots, veg you eat the flowers of, veg you eat the leaves of and veg you eat the fruits of.
In a 'normal' veggie garden you would still practice 4 crop rotation…
Potatoes
Roots
Brassicas
Legumes
10 Jul, 2011
Some people advocate a 5 year rotation.
I mentioned 3 because of the small space involved, thinking that onions, runner beans, and brassicas would be the best chance of getting a bit of variety from the clay soil. Not enough space to make potatoes a worthwile crop....and certainly no carrots.
Ideally as you say 4 is what's recommended.
10 Jul, 2011
Carrots wont work I agree but potatoes are good for breaking up the soil and a row or two of early potatoes doesn't need to take up a lot of space.
11 Jul, 2011
A nice bit of double digging will break the soil up nicely :)
I left spuds out because they can be grown in containers,though i suppose if earlies are grown you can use the space when they've been dug up for a follow up crop of something, but really we need to get a bit more feedback from the questioner.
11 Jul, 2011
I agree Scrumpy some feed back from Davy would be nice!
12 Jul, 2011
Dig in lots of good compost or well rotted manure. Possibly also some grit to help to open the soil up. You can grow salad leaves, lettuce, rocket, radishes and salad type leaves but it is a bit late for most things. Unless, of course, you can get hold of seed of winter cabbage such as savoy.
9 Jul, 2011