Beginners tips for fruit/veg growing

Hi all

I want to grow as much of our own food as possible, starting as soon as I can (realistically starting next spring I expect). The trouble is I'm not really sure what to do to get the best out of it. I also suspect there are lots of people in the same position as me in that regard. So I had an idea. Why don't we (ok I say 'we', more realistically most of you will have better ideas than me) see if we can fill this thread with lots of tips that someone popping by from google can quickly read and get ideas from.

For example, some might know a way to grow a range of fast growing veg in a large container on the patio/balcony. Others might know of some easy to grow, and very tasty veg that is less well known. We could make it a 'short nuggets of wisdom/ideas' type thread. For example, I might right:

"You can get a couple of pounds of potatoes by planting an old sprouted spud in large container half full of compost, topping up with compost as the plant grows."

Or "A small garden will accommodate an ample supply of herbs, many of which would not look out of place in an ornamental garden".

You get the idea. Is anyone up for this?

 

OK

One of those plastic 'coal scuttles' (or a hanging basket), filled with compost and sprinkled with a few cut-and-come-again salad leaf seeds will keep you going for ages.

A few carrot seeds sprinkled in the flower beds, foliage is fairly attractive and ... well, the rest is pretty self-explanatory.

 

Thanks Fidegtsmum. That's the kind of thing I'm after. I especially like the salad one, as there are some nice colours to be had, so a container could be made to look quite pretty, while being productive too.

I've been reading up on growing carrots too. It seems they do well in containers, and there are some smaller varieties that grow very quickly, and don't need much space. I'm definitely going to give that a go.

 

Any more ideas from anyone?