planting veg advice

Hiya never grown any veg before, however would like to give it a try, thinking of potatoes, carrotts and onions. Ideally would be the bottom of the garden but unsure if this would be a great spot, there's good light but it is shady with trees, and not an awful lot of sun.
Any advice much appreciated.

 

For onions you would probably need quite a bit of sun (depending on the type), potatoes there is no sun required-I was watching an episode of Jamie At Home Last night and he basically just got a grow bag, stood it vertically and burried the potatoes in it! He has a pretty impressive crop from the last time he did it, so it may work.

Carrotts, completely unsure on that one.

Try the BBC gardening basics website:http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/ it is a great novice starting point .

Good luck!!

 

Thnks for that ill give it ago.

 

Too late to grow Onions this year. Spuds will be fine if you are quick - you will be very unlikely to find and seed potatoes in the garden centre ('coz its late in the season), and planting spuds from the supermarket aarries a risk of disease (which in turn means the soil may be infected for years :( ) so if you can find Seed Potatoes (basically certified disease free, and quite small - golf ball sized, say) buy them! and if not risk it with supermarket spuds.

If the soil isn't ready don;t worry - buy the Seed Potatoes anyway and start them off by chitting them (put in egg trays, or similar, in a cool dark place so that the shoots start to form - that will give thema bit of a head start. You may well find that any seed potatoes will available will already ahve shoots on them!)

Carrots are OK too, but you should check the seed packet and make sure its suitable for sowing now. Most varities can be sown until end of July.

Full Sun would be better for a veg garden, but heck! go with what you've got!

The spuds will do a good job of cleaning the soil fo weeds (well, their leaves are vigorous and will block out the light so that weeds can't grow :thumb

 

Oh heck it all sounds quite complex, might wait til next year. many thanks

 

Pah! Pull your finger out !! :D

 

Plumber,

Don't be like that. Plant something. I'd go for first early potatoes, there is still plenty of time. You'd be surprised how quick they grow, they can be monsters. Maybe try Charlotte or Pentland Javelin, or anything you can find in the local garden centre, they will all be ready to grow. They are all chitted now.

 

OK, by way of encouragement:

"Hiya never grown any veg before, ..."

Freshly dug new potatoes taste much better than what you can buy in the supermarket, because they are fresher.

Make sure you grow First Earlies - no point for your First Time growing main crop (unless you have lots of spare ground, in which case you could grow them too).

First Earlies will mature in the shortest time - so, given that you are planting them late, they will be ready "in time" (Cross your fingers that this won't be a bad year for blight).

If all the garden centres around you have sold out of Seed Potatoes that may be a bit of a challenge - you'll need to take a gardening book to the supermarket to work out which varieties are First Early!!

I expect you will be able to get Charlotte potatoes at the supermarket - they would be a good choice IMHO. (They are first early)

When you harvest them don't dig them and put them in the fridge like supermarket shopping :thumb: dig what you need for the meal and cook them immediately

Then, to borrow an advertising slogan, you REALLY will be able to "taste the difference" :D

 

Oops - Charlotte are Second Early. They will take two or three weeks longer to mature than a First Early. (and Main Crop will take another 4 weeks or so). First Early Varieties about 13 weeks, Main Crop about 22 weeks.

I have heard good things about these Seed Potatoe sellers

http://www.jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk/

scroll right down the bottom, just above the pictures is a section "These varieties are now available to buy online"

A 2.5kg pack is 25-30 tubers, and 12" apart. If you plant multiple rows the rows need to be 24" apart.