new to gardening

narabanekeater

Hello to all:D
Im a totally non green fingered mother of 2
We have quite a large garden which is stoned (like it when we moved in)
Due to my sons ill health im now a full time mum and id like to start to grow my own
We have quite a few large blue water buts which we could use for growing things im told
So I guess im a total novice asking for advice
Id like to grow
Pots,carrots,caugettes,strawberrys,peppers,onions as much as poss really
Can anyone please tell me what I could grow in these blue buts and also what i should be doing now in preperation
Also I dont have any soil at all in the garen like I said is 100% stones where would I get soil from and at what cost
Id like to do it as cheap as possible
Many thanks for your time

Jack's_mummy

You could use the large butts but they will need an awful lot of compost to fill them I guess. Could they be cut down a bit?

All of those veg can be grow easily but personally I wouldn't bother with onions as they take up alot of space for a long time. Spring onions however are much quicker and easy too.

Have a look at http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=183805&highlight=container+gardening
for some great help and advice.

RAS

Hi

I think you mean the garden is paved?

if these are large paving slabs, then you can lift them and use them to make raised beds.

There is a really good book by Michael Guerra "The edible Container garden" that shows Guerra's own gardent where he did this - it is only the last few pages but worth getting from the library.

Yategirl

what is under the stones? Do you mean the garden is covered in gravel on a weed suppressent membrane?

if this is the case - we had the same when we moved here.. we have taken all the stones up and then built raised beds - you can use wood (recycled or new i.e scaffold boards or decking boards) or even breeze blocks which are not too expensive and you can find these on freecycle. Cost of compost/top soil isn't cheap - again you can look on freecycle - we got topsoil from a couple of freecycle adverts and then we topped up with compost and homemade compost.

Container gardening is also feasible - the waterbutts could be used for potatoes or even made into strawberry towers! You can get free flower buckets from Asda (ask at the florist counter as they throw them out) and these are suitable for many veg. But.. you will have the cost of compost each year.

Having done both.. I would say raised beds (doesn't need to be high) is the better longterm answer - once filled with soil, you then just top up each year with homemade compost whereas with containers you tend to need fresh compost each year and I found this expensive in the long term...

Could you make a couple of raised beds for this year along side with some containers and then add more raised beds as and when funds allow?

Yategirl

Yep, the book that RAS mentioned is great - I started with this one and used the authors ideas to help do my own garden

kellyw8800

I would use one of these butts to make compost (I used to by for as cheap as a pound from Tesco (could grow 3 tommy plants in each) but it still added up.

nodwah

Ask on freecycle for large pots and tubs, often offered on my local one. Try asking for any spare onion sets garlic and seed potatoes and seeds or plants. For instance in previous years I've given away tomato, pepper, chilli and strawberry seedlings so I'm sure you'l get some freebies!

BTW I've got garlic and onions planted now and the ones that are in the tubs seem to be growing better than those in the ground. You can still plant garlic tho I think it might be a wee but late for winter onions, someone will correct if I'm wrong!

nanokitten

You can grow verg in just about any container,
I agree you should start to compost in one of the tubs (make lots of air holes though.
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicgardening/gh_comp.php

the cheapest compost i've found is B&Q peat free multipurpose (the bigger the sack the cheaper but the 100 L one is impossible to lift). they also do a value one.

if you tubs are really deep make drainage holes then fill the bottom with rubble / smashed pots polystyrene packaging to help drainage and reduce the amount of soil. some veg like root veg will like a good dept of soil but salad veg like cut and come again lettuce and herbs you can grow in afew inches.

start making a list of what you want to grow, (go for veg thats expensive to by like salad, beans, cherry toms and eas to grow, avoid aubergines and peppers first time round).
most people start their first seedlings like tomatos in late feb early march indoors or a bit later outdoors (a mini greenhouse like the multigrow 2000 is a great investment). peas and beans should wait till spring is a bit further along.

maman

Seeing how kind you've all been to a newcomer perhaps you can advise me too: OH and I want to re-design our garden (back and front) to make it less labour intensive, better year-round interest, more perennials, somewhere to grow some salad stuff etc etc. I think some hard landscaping will be needed so we're putting it off until the spring and going to work on our plans through the winter.

How would you advise we go about planning? Any recommended books? Any good websites? Any advice of any sort?

livefornewt

Hi, i have my chickens sorted out, Now for my Veggy patch!

I have dug it over 3 times and now leaving the frost to hopefully kill the any remaining weeds.
I have put trellis around the veggy patch and dug some chicken poo about a foot down then covered with topsoil.. Which i will grow my Pea's.Broadbeans and runner beans. Is there anything else i can grow up there?

I am hoping to make raised beds also. As get alot of slugs in my garden. This is what i want to grow.....................
Brocoli
cauliflower
Pea's, broadbeans,runner beans
Cabbage
sprouts
Sweetcorn
radish
spring onions
And in tubs tomatoes,cucumber,chilli's, peppers & lettuce which i did last year and went ok.

Final question..promise. I havent got a green house so what can be planted in tubs soon ?? Ive looked in a few books but nothing on when they can be started off in pots just when they get planted out. Im confused when i can plant caulies n sprouts n stuff as they grow in veggy patches later on