newbie advice please!?

hi guys,
i'd love to be able to grow some veg but i know NOTHING about gardening, can you please tell me where to start :confused:

any of these would be great...
carrot
cabbage
broccoli
beetroot
celery
lettuce

my soil looks pretty poor and theres only a few inches of it before you hit solid chalk :(

 

Mmmm sounds like a soil recipe for either raised bed, or container growing. That said my grandparents gardend down in Worthing and they managed to grow veggies - prolly the secret is masses of organic stuff dug in. Me I'd go with the raised bed - that way you got just a tad more control, and better for the back :D

 

yep Im with Fran. The place to start is with digging in as much organic stuff as you can. Dont get disheartened though, you can get good results from pretty small areas or containers. I would advise you to concentrate of a small area to start with to get you going then do the rest as you have time. Carrots and lettuce are particularly easy in pots. Cabbage and broccoli take up more space. Have you thought about growing berbs in pots? They are mainly pretty easy to grow and it is nice to pick them fresh for cooking. Good luck

 

right, so i'll start off with a couple of deep pots to get me going, then i think i'll go for a permanent brick raised bed. what exactly is this "organic stuff" i need to dig in? do i add it to my poor soil, or start with all new stuff? am i too late to grow anything this year?
thanks!

 

You could still plant garlic,shallots and broad beans this time of year for croping in spring and early summer.IN kent you could probably grow mixed leaf salad,rocket in containers or soil.Organic stuff includes manure and garden compost,sometimes available cheaply via the local council.Its also a good time to start a leaf mould bin and your own compost bin if you have room.Good luck,of coarse you could curl up by the fire with a glass of wine and a pile of seed catalogues and dream....