want to start with growing vegetables but do not know what to do or where to start

Discussion in 'Edible Gardening' started by sarahandkevin, Mar 17, 2010.

  1. sarahandkevin

    sarahandkevin Gardener

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    hi all

    have not visited this place since late last year i think, i have been hiding away from the cold garden:hehe:

    this year i would like to start growing my own vegetables and fruit too i think, like tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, the most common fruit and vegetables i guess so i can experience home grown fruit and vegetables rather than going to supermarket all the time, as for how much i would go through, would have to say about 1 lettuce a week, so hopefully some of you can get an idea of what i need to do?

    i have looked in these cheap shops and farm shops and they have these things they sell called grow you own or something like that, includes pots, compost and seeds i think

    as the only gardening i have done before is stuff like digging, lawn mower and other things that are not related to growing vegetables, that is the reason i have no idea where to start or what to do, i keep wanting to do it but just hate knowing that i do not know what to do or where to start

    is there a guide on the internet or something that could tell me everything i need?

    i have seen this in wilkinson, is this where i should start? buying one of these? http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/Seed-T...cDPfxIrYzUvEu76RzzM6wutKTeo9AOCB tDs76aYYKg==

    do not even know what type of seed trays i would need for different vegetables and stuff

    well i guess you all know how much i know now, i hope i can get some help so i can start growing my own vegetables
     
  2. Marley Farley

    Marley Farley Affable Admin! Staff Member

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    Hi Sarahandkevin, nice to see you back again..
    Well sounds a good idea to me.. Prepare the soil by digging it over now. Then rake it down to a fine tilth ready for planting, removing any largee stones. Try to not to stand on the ground when working as it compacts the soil structure - especially on heavy, clay. ( not sure what soil you have there)
    I always use short scaffold planks to stand & walk on when planting and preparing. You can also warm the soil artificially, fleece, polythene, using plastic or glass cloches, to get an earlier start..
    Now March has arrived you can start with broad beans seeds or plants, onion and shallot sets, early peas and perpetual spinach.
    However First Early potatoes should wait until the end of March. Even then you will have to earth these up, or cover the tops with soil, to protect them from late frost.

    Once the soil warms up in April, sow carrots, parsnips, spinach, lettuce and beetroot. They will germinate best in warmer temperatures of around 12C. Frost-tender runner beans, French beans, tomatoes, peppers and aubergines demand even higher temperatures - so leave those until mid-May.

    Choose flavourful, tried and tested varieties. Also look out for RHS award winners shown by the letters AGM - or by a trophy logo on the packets.

    Growing your own vegetables is a very green thing to do. You can grow them organically, they taste delicious and, picked fresh, they are more nutritious as well.

    Go for crops that you enjoy eating and ones where thereâ??s a real difference in quality from shop-bought. If space is short and thereâ??s only room for one thing opt for a space-saving tripod of climbing beans.
    Plant a mixture of Climbing French and Runner beans on the same wigwam, alternating three seeds per cane of each variety, in mid-May.
    Runners love cooler summers and French beans do best in hot summers, so you are hedging your bets. If nothing else climbing beens are decorative when in flower..!! :dh::D

    Plant leaf lettuces like â??Salad Bowlâ?? (Mr Fothergillâ??s) in and around your tripod of beans. Sow the seeds in a tray, prick out and then transplant. The lettuces will act as decoy plants for slugs and help to protect the growing points of climbing beans. Dwarf French beans are equally good - but they take up more ground space.

    Two courgette plants could provide you with up to 60 courgettes from June until October. The smooth, dark-green â??El Grecoâ?? and the paler, nutty-flavoured Italian variety â??Romanesqueâ?? are both excellent. If thereâ??s slightly more room plant a winter squash. The orange-skinned, pumpkin-like â??Sunshineâ?? is one of the best.

    Early potatoes are full of flavour and they generally avoid disease because theyâ??re out of the ground by late July, long before blight and scab usually appear. Earlies can be grown in containers as well as in the ground. â??Foremostâ?? is a favourite waxy variety.Along with â?? Charlotteâ?? - a slightly later waxy variety.

    Buy tubers after Christmas and then place on a cool, light window sill and allow the potatoes to sprout or â??chitâ??. Harvest fresh after 12 - 14 weeks , as and when you need them. Earlies will not store.

    Leafy crops like iron-rich spinach are also excellent. If room grow a root crop. Beetroot is easy and heavy yielding.. Carrots are also deliciously nuttyflavour. Try to sow seeds thinly and remember, the more colourful the crop the more antioxidants.



    Containerise peppers, chillies, aubergines and tomatoes. Buy you plants at Easter, when the garden centres get them in, and put them into large pots filled with John Innes no 3. Keep them somewhere frost free until mid-May (against a warm wall will do) and then place in sun, standing the pots in saucers in dry weather. Feed with a high potash tomato food every two weeks once the flowers begin to set. You should get a good crop.. Just feed & waterugularly & you should be fine.. :old: So that is about it for me for the moment.. :dh::D
     
  3. Luido

    Luido Apprentice Gardener

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  4. Sussexgardener

    Sussexgardener Gardener

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    I would avoid these products. You've no idea how long they've been sitting in storage before being put out for sale. If the herbaceous perennials they sell are anything like them, avoid.

    A packet of seeds might seem like a lot of seeds but stored carefully, most will last more than more year.
     
  5. Marley Farley

    Marley Farley Affable Admin! Staff Member

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    :dh: Hi Luido, I'm so sorry looks like I missed your thread, but you have had some super answers I see..
    :thumb: Go with Aaron about the kits etc that you see in Wilkos.. I would go to your local garden centre & buy some seeds, pots, a propagator that holds about 12. 3"pots & seed compost & start some off..:thumb:
     
  6. Sussexgardener

    Sussexgardener Gardener

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    I know I've recommended this before, but if you want some fruit, try blueberries. The plants are not that expensive, for sale now, have lovely blossom in Spring, fruit in Summer, beautiful red leaves in Autumn and are fully hardy. They do fine in pots, providing they're big enough as well.
     
  7. sarahandkevin

    sarahandkevin Gardener

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    thank you for the all the amazing reply you all have made, especially the first reply, that is one long reply

    so as i know nothing, do i not grow vegetables and fruits in pots in that greenhouse type thing? what do i have to do? do i need to plant the seeds or bulbs in the ground? if i do, what would be the best way to do that?

    i must sound mad, but i want to learn, i will even let you all come and get some vegetables and fruit when they all grow:hehe:

    thank you all again and anyone can add my messenger email to messenger if you want, i would like if you could because it would be better to instant message about all of this i think:scratch:
     
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