New to Gardening, Please advice

Hi all,

Im 23 and have a fairly empty garden, im quite into my fitness and health so I think it makes sense to try and grow some of my own vegetables and salad.

I have bought the below seeds..

• Spring Onions (White Lisbon)
• Tomato (Money Maker)
• Carrot (Autumn King 2 & Kingston F1 Hybrid)
• Onion (Ailsa Craig)
• Charlotte Potato's

I have the below two free areas in my gardern so im not sure how much I can fit in. The first picture of the garden gets the most sun and the second pictures is more shaded. Both bits of the garden have quite a few stones in should this be a concern?





Can I start planting now?

I have some chicken poo should I mix this in with the mud?

Thanks for your help all.

 

Hi spooter,

I would definately add the poultry manure and I would start by picking up all the stones on the surface, buying some compost and mixing that into the soil.

Soil next to walls can often be very dry as it is in the 'rain shadow' that can be created by a wall. Which direction do these beds face?

The tomatoes can be planted in a grow bag and will love it on a warm wall in the sunshine, or you can plant them direct in the soil if you improve it first with the manure and compost.

The carrots, and both types of onions should be ok in the soil but with all the crops you will have to watch the watering for the shadow reason I stated above.

All the veg will grow in either bed, unless its very acidic but I would advise growing the spuds in empty compost bags, as they take up a lot of room in open soil.

I hope this helps, best of luck.:thmb:

 

I think outdoor Tomatoes are a challenge ... fruit ripens late in the season (compared to grown in greenhouse) and can be prone to blight. Taste good fresh from the bush though! I wouldn't use up your valuable soil space for them but grow them in a bag as TopCat said. Have you got some patio space you could use for that? South facing wall would be briliant, and you might consider a Grow House (frame with polythene cover - about £15 I think) which should speed them up.

Spuds take up a lot of space (relative to the crop you get) ... but ... my advice to people starting to grow vegetables is "Grow what you like to eat"

 

Hi spooter

Lots of good advice from TopCat.

As you can see from my username, I'm familiar with the problem of stones. It will certainly help if you remove any stones that are walnut sized or bigger.

I note that you've bought seeds but if your soil is poor, it's worth starting them off in seed trays or buying in young plants and then planting them out (not recommended for carrots). When you've improved your soil over the years, you can sow direct into the ground.

 

" It will certainly help if you remove any stones that are walnut sized or bigger"

Forget to mention that is all the more important if you are growing Carrots (and other root crops). When the tap root grows down and "hits" a stone it is inclined to fork into two. Funny to look at, hell to peel!