Edible things for easy care garden :-)

Gigglepig

If all goes well I should be moving to a new place later this summer with a garden. I have very little time for gardening but would love to have a few nice edible things :-)

At the moment, the garden is laid to lawn. Most of it isn't that sunny. Due to phone lines etc. it will not be possible to plant treas, so no fruit unfortunately.

So far I have thought of planting: blackberries and redcurrant bushes, lavender (a pot somewhere sunny), chives, parsley.

I would love some herbs but I'm not sure which ones would happily grow outside in Central Scotland... :cool:

Any ideas regarding other things I could plant that are easy to care for?

tanith

Raspberrys, Rhubarb, Gooseberrys all need minimal care and I'm sure they'll be lots more suggestions..

RAS

Globe artichokes; mine came from Skye.

You could grow cordon fruit trees - apples and pears anyway. Pears are traditional to the Carse of Gowrie and the Clyde valley; Coul Blush comes from Invernessshire and apples grow well on the Sognefjord in Norway.

J_J_Carter

Neeps, tatties, beetroot, gooseberries

Gigglepig

Thanks for the ideas so far. I hadn't even heard of cordon fruit trees but that sounds great! I googled cordon trees and read that it doesn't work so well on fruits that have stones. That is a shame since I would love cherries :-) Perhaps I can find some sort of miniature cherry tree too :-)

ginvzt

You can get dwarf cherries, that go to about 6-7 feet. I have one in the pot, it is the second year, and there are 3 cherries ripening.

You could also add some blueberries and strawberries to the list. They are so tasty... My strawberries are in odd containers, not all of them getting much sun, but the taste is so much better than from the shop.

Gigglepig

sounds good but I guess patience is requred :-) do you know how much the dwarf cherry will yield eventually?

RAS

Hi

You need a cherry on Gisela 5 - limits it to about 8 foot.

You can of course fan-train stone fruits.

valk_scot

I live near Edinburgh and there's not much I can't grow outside here. Melons and grapes, nope, things like aubergines, nope. Sweetcorn/spuds/salads/most soft fruit/rhubarb/artichokes/carrots/most herbs except basil/onions/garlic/errr....lits of things. You might need to put a bit of fleece over things on a night when frost is forecast but otherwise it's not a problem. Rule of thumb is when reading the gardening books or the backs of the seed packets add on another 2-3 weeks to the sowing or planting dates. So if the book says "Sow start April" you should wait till at least mid-April.

MrsAtobe

Rocket is soooo much better from the garden than the packet.

Bunnygirl

If you are after fruit trees saw the post on Allotments4All

Got a flyer throught the post from Chris Bowers, really good special offer NOT AVAILABLE ONLINE!

To order, ring: 01366 388752

Any 3 pot grown fruit trees for £15, £4.99 postage per three trees.

Or complete collection, 1 of all 26 trees for £149.99 all in!

Trees 3-4 foot high, in 3l pots.

Choose from:

Apples

Lord Lambourne
Elstar
Red Millers Seddling
Sunset
Gavin
Limelight
Winter Gem
Idared
Beauty of Bath
Cox's Orange Pippin
Blamley's Seedling
Arthur Turner
Honeycrisp
James Grieve
Red Falstaff

All available on either dwarf M27 (for containers)
or M26 (for cordons/espallier)

Plums/Gages/Damsons
Plum Victoria
Violetta
Opal
Damson Blue Violet
Cherry Plum Gipsy
Greengage Stella's Star

All available on Pixy rootstock, 6-8 ft high, or St Julian 12 ft plus.

Cherries

Kordia
Stella
Summer Sun
Morello

Available on Colt rootstock 8-12 ft orchard or fan training, or minature Gisele 5 6 ft containers, mini trees.

Quince
L'escovatza, self fertile.