Garden produce

in_my_wellies

There are always second hand greenhouses for sale in the local paper from about £30 - £60. If you allow some time you can dismantle it and transport it home easily. It's like a giant jigsaw to put together but not difficult at all, though it is easier with two!

You may need to buy some new glass. A glass merchant will supply this cut to size (it's standard), about £1.20 per sheet I think.

You may need metal clips and bolts. These seem expensive from the garden centre so keep what you have when it's dismantled!

As for vegetables, I think the best value for least digging (and expensive to buy) are runner beans. Very easy to grow from seed, strating in early May ready to plant out after frost. You could dig a trench but I never bother, just start throwing all you kitchen waste on a piece of land where they will be planted. Not egg shells - rats. When the frost has finished push in some stakes and plant 2 beans by each one. Water well to get a better crop. They do the rest themselves.

squeaky

You're right in letting the borders go through a year's cycle because you never know what treasures you'll find. It's worth letting the lawn get a bit shaggy early in the year (and late spring) too because you might find that you have snowdrops, crocusses, daisies, buttercups...

As for veggies, yes, In a small patch it's pointless growing taters and other cheap crops, though you might want to consider single rows of carrots and onions because a) they're easy and b) they taste way better than most supermarket ones.

Tomatoes are simple and popular too.

Anyway - if you get time there are lost of threads under Grow Your Own in the Food section of the MEGA Index sticky that will be well worth browsing.

mgardner

sarah1 wrote:

Your like me pol!
I grow mine in the black buckets that you get from the florist.They are more than happy to give them away. You can move them around easily aswell.
i just fill one third with soil ,put two tubers in and cover with soil and compost and away they go.
When the flowers die off i just tip them out and they taste great !!!
How easy it that ??????

Me too, just love those black buckets, drill a few holes in the bottom, I have used them for runner beans, peas, cut salad leaves, herbs, tomato, cucumber
and the one that really pleased me most, I bought two funny looking stands from the car boot for a £1. just a long pole on a stand, and made two strawberry towers using 4 buckets on each one, gave me room for 24 strawberry plants in very little space. They look fantastic when in flower and fruit. Saw something similar in garden centre at £40 each.

mossy

I can't believe I've been a member of mse for ages and I've only just found this section of the forum. :rolleyes:

Well you've all inspired me to fulfil a life long dream (well I'm 29 so not that long lol) of growing my own veg. I live in a terraced house which has a yard fortunately for us we also have a small (as in postage stamp size) bit of garden and path section. I'm going to plant in pots (don't want to deprive my little girl of what small space of grass we have).

I've been making a long list of things that I like and that you've mentioned and sound good....really want to grow sweetcorn but just don't have enough space...but still have lots to start off with.

Think I'm going to start with:

Strawberries - In hanging baskets
Green beans - If anyone could recommend a good variety that would be great.
Courgettes
Carrots
Lettuce - Little gem (I like it) have tried to grow lettuce before but it spread out and didn't look like proper lettuce....any advice?
New Potatoes
Little tomatoes
Maybe a little patio apple tree (the ones that self pollenate (sp?) as I don't have room for more than one).

Also my herb tubs are looking very empty and sorry for themselves so probably need to start afresh with them. If I grow them from seed will they be hardy enough to be planted outside and last a couple of years?

I'm really excited and I guess I've found this at the right time as I can start getting the garden and tubs prepared ready for sowing seeds next month....I am not very green fingered so any advice would be very greatly appreciated.

jayne26

there are cheap seads in home and bargain store 15p a packet flowers and also veggies , got a load friday worth a luck money saving gardeners out there....

D&DD

A great magazine for new growers is The Kitchen Garden and this month it has 2 packs of free seeds too

mossy

Will have to have a look on Monday at the magazines section...Kitchen Garden sounds good also read somewhere on here about Grow your own magazine which is probably aimed at my sort of level...been to their website and read up on lots of stuff already...very mse of me lol.