The dry old vegetable patch

I have got to move the vegetable patch shortly.
After three years of watering the growing vegetables every other day, I have eventually worked out that the large tree nearby is using all the water. It is a Lepidodendron Gigantium or Giant Redwood.
When digging up some potatos I saw a cluser of new tree roots that have appeared and now they are everywhere. A couple of days ago, an inch and a half of rain fell and it soaked well into the ground. I dug some potatos a day or two later and found the top 3 inches damp and then it was dry as a bone lower down. These little roots cleaarly suck the water straight out of the ground.
Mind you, the tree is a Wellingtonia and is about 80' high. Someone told me they use about 2500 gallons of water a day in summer. No wonder the vegetable patch is dry, and the pootatos are never larger than a tangerine.

The new vegetable patch is going to be about 25 yards away, but it is in a direct line away from that huge tree. I have killed the grass . I did not do this the last time, and spent the next 3 years pulling tufts of grass out from between the vegetables.
The new patch is also close to an old cow shed, so I can use the rainwater off the roof to do much of the watering.
I have put a 1000 litre IBC container under one end of the gutter and it fills with a very rustic tea coloured liquid after every rain storm. I think the colour leaches out of the moss that is growing on the corrugated roof. Either that, or there are some bugs doing something unspeakable in the water!
The next job is to scape the old grass off and level the site. I will ask John, the JCB driver , to do this when he comes over to dig some other holes that we need.

Then I need to get the edges in. I am going to use old railway sleepers. I have some round the old veg patch and will shift them when I feel I need some excercise. Actually it is not too difficult with a large wheel barrow. I bought these some time ago. Now you can not buy sleepers that have been treated with creosote (i.e. nearly all sleepers). You have to buy fresh ones which are twice the price.