A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening Starting a new veggie bed

I'm want to put in a vegetable garden, I've picked out the sunniest part of the yar whiche for most of the spring and summer get full sun starting atound 10am for the rest of the day. This part of the property is right next to our the area we use for parking in the winter (near the foot of the driveway). As we got the house last fall we didn't have time to do much work on the yard.
The are was over grown with weeds, I'm planning on removing them this weekend and hopefully turning over all the soil to kill the insect eggs and other little things that maybe living in there.
The area is about 10 feet by 20 feet.
Whats the best way to pre pare this area for the garden?
Should I lay newspaper for weed barrier?
What type of soil would be best? and how deep should I make the bed?
I was thinking of using city compost because its quite cheap would this be ok I know it usually comes with flects of garbage through out.

newspaper is good.

The first question I have, is have you or possibly the people in the house before you use rock salt or deicer on that driveway? If so, you won't want to put your garden there.
I would be leary of using compost that have flecks of garbage in it. You don't know what that garbage is or what sort of chemicals may be in it. I would assume it would be ok for a flower bed, but you are going to be eating those veggies.
Try starting your own compost. It isn't as hard as it may seem.
I would start looking at your current soil. Maybe add some manure to it after your get it turned and work that in.
Alot of really serious gardeners will tell you to get a soil sample and send it off for testing.
As to how deep you want your bed, that would depend on what you are planting and how. Most seeds only need sown 1" deep or less. If you use plants instead of seeds then you need to be able to dig a hole for them. Your best bet I would say would be around 6", but I never really paid attention to how deep my dirt was. My brother-in-law will be plowing mine. My dad always used a rotertiller(bad spelling)So you need enough loose soil to plant in and some extra for roots. 6 inches should be plenty.
No matter how much you turn that soil you will have bugs and weeds. It is a fact of nature, no garden will be without its bugs and weeds.

10 by 20 is small for a veggie bed but it is a nice size to start. Most veggies are heavy feeders so a mixture of 50% compost and 50% garden soil is a good start. I agree that I wouldn't use compost that you aren't sure about. A clarification if you use manure makes sure it is completely decomposed. Fresh manure would kill your plants because it is to high in nitrogen. How to tell if it is completely decomposed. It will look exactly like a black rich soil and smell wonderful. If it isn't completely decomposed. It will look and smell like poo.

A raised bed should be about 8 inches deep.

There are beneficial bugs like worms that you want in your garden.

Wait until your plants have sprouted before laying down newspaper or other weed barrier material.

There is some controversy concerning tilling. Some top soil is lost in this process. I don't till because I live on a steep slope and loss of top soil is a major concern for me.

Thanks for the advice. I'm looking forward to getting stared on it.

your welcome