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Hi all,
I hope someone might be able to help me with this.
I've long had the ambition to grow some of my own veg. Not quite to the scale of Tom and Barbara in The Good Life, but I do have a couple of small raised flowerbeds that I feel could be put to better use. The only trouble is, I am unsure what to try growing. I don't get huge amounts of free time for gardening so it'd have to be something easy to grow and hardy enough to not wilt the first time I forget to water it. And as for sowing things in cloches, thinning them out, transplanting them..... there's a greater chance dodo's will breed in Northamptonshire!
So, any suggestions?
Reedbed, freshwater scrapes, saltmarsh and wet meadow. Frampton Marsh has it all! Come and pay us a visit soon.
Hi Chris. I have had my first try at veg this year. Potatoes are a good start although I have mine in pots. If you need the instructions I will send you them. Everlasting Spinach that you just take off from the outside the leaves you need grows well. Lettuce. Tomatoes in pots that have water wells look to be successful as well. Again I'l let you know where I got them from if you need to know. Cabbage is Ok so long as you can cover them from cabbage white butterflies. Broccoli and courgettes do well, my carrotsare taking their time.
Good luck
Onions Chris ! Lots of onions. For your salads but cooking onions go in so much of our cooking. I put red onions in my salad instead of spring onions and even a humble bolognaise can't do without onions in it.
Oh yes, and I read on a Springwatch page of the RSPB (I think it was) - it's quite easy to just 'pick off' the butterfly caterpillars but why not grow a small patch simply for them !! Make some of your veg patch a breathing space fo nature :)
Good luck with your attempts. I'm sure you'll be successful. Wish I had a patch I could use. The best I've got is a black currant bush amongst my shrubs.
I reckon you can't go wrong with runner beans. You can grow them in pots to start with, then plant them outside in your raised bed once they're big enough and the weather's OK. Give them some canes to grow up (tie them on gently with string) and leave them to get on with it.
Courgettes are also dead easy. I've planted mine in pots indoors to start with, but then planted them outside. You don't need to do anything fancy with them. But keep an eye on them when the courgettes start growing... Unless you pick them at the right size, they will turn into whopping great marrows that don't taste as good!
You could also try growing herbs (if you let them flower, bees love 'em but they aren't as good for eating then).
Hey yeah you should also check out and sign up to the RSPBs Homes for Wildlife! That'll give you plenty of useful ideas and tips: http://www.rspb.org.uk/hfw/about/index.asp
Thanks for the suggestions. Onions and spring onions may well be the way forward for me, I love anything in that family. I wonder how hard it is to grow garlic...
hi dude, i sort of grow on the good life scale, but for you??
it's a bit late in the season to be starting but not to late.
first what do you like? Then whats expencive that you like? and last how much time and money and effot do you want to spend.
Eg, a row of asparagus, two to three years to grow to harvest then 20-25 years of harvesting. happy days. and only a little weeding required a couple of times a year. no effot, but a bit of waiting.
onions, over winter onions can be sown this month or sets can be put in september with garlic and shallots bung them in and wait till next year,. spring onions can sill be harvested this year. little effort and weeding but dead easy. Its totaly up to you, but now/november is time to prep your ground and feed it.
hope this helps
Garlic and onions are the easiest crops to grow. Pop down to your local Garden Centre, they should be getting onion sets and garlic in very soon. All the instructions will be on the packets, all you do is poke an onion set or clove of garlic in the ground and next June you harvest.
Build it and they will come.
I agree with Katie above. Easiest plants to grow are courgettes. They are very productive. Runner beans are excellent as are French beans and they do not need any support (I don't think that you get such a good crop as runners). Tomatoes are not too difficult and radish grow very quickly. Have a look in your library for some books that will help you plan your patch amd you will be ready to plant next year.
I am no expert on growing veg - the clay soil that turns rock solid at the first dry spell has put me off for years - but tried to grow thing in tubs this year. I can thoroughly recommend radish and salad lettuce as good beginner's choices. All you need to do is to sow them where they are to grow and harvest later in the season. If you sow little batches at weekly/fortnightly intervals you can have fresh produce all through the summer. Just one hint - sow the seeds VERY thinly, as this saves on the need to thin them out as they grow, and makes your packets of seed go further.
Not a veggie gardener myself. I tried to grow peas in a pot this year but the slugs got to them before they'd bearly grown 3" so they were abandoned!
Anyway, what I came to say is that my 7yr old nephew suddenly developed a passion for growing veggies and with the help of Granny (my Mum) grew a whole heap of things in those brightly coloured trug things this year. I'll need to ask my Sister's permission if I can post a photo. From memory he grew tatties (sorry, potatoes!), carrots, runner beans, tomatoes, strawberries and others but I can't remember what! He was chuffed to bits with his achievements. It wasn't difficult or a lot of hard work.....just slug / snail patrol!
Make the most of today because, unlike Sky+, there isn't a rewind button.