Grow your own beginner advice needed please

Trixsie1989

Hi all,

Me and oh are moving soon and want to start growing our own fruit and veg but have no idea where to start.as our new house will be rented everything we grow will need to be in pots etc. ideally lookin to get started as cheaply as possible to see how we get on with it. Also would we be better off trying to find an allotment if we can't dig up our garden and want to grow more stuff?
Thanks,

Sxx

elantan

i would start with things that you eat often that cost a lot ... like salads etc ( but obviously start with them next year) for just now you want things like blueberries ... they particularly like pots ... try and get a few varieties and remember they like ericaceous compost and rain water

you can also look at strawberries just now in tubs ...

start easy and slowly build it up

good luck

forgotmyname

Strawberries, Tomatoes, Peppers and potatoes, Done well with all those in tubs and bags.

The little popup bags from the £ shops work well. They last about 3 years before they start to go brittle. OK if you dont try to move them when full though.

I_have_spoken

want to start growing our own fruit and veg

Do it for interest, but as a means of saving money it's a non-starter compared to buying at Aldi/Lidl

ALIBOBSY

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Do it for interest, but as a means of saving money it's a non-starter compared to buying at Aldi/Lidl

I think this is a matter of some argument on here.

You can grow stuff extremely cheaply or spend so much up front it becomes more expensive than buying from the above shops definitely.

In the last year we spend around £20 on potting compost and maybe £5 on some extra cheap seeds-already had quite a lot saved from previous years. We got a load of extra pots, trays and tubs from freegle and have 3 compost bins-all were free from various sources. We get those black florist buckets either free or really cheaply from local supermarkets.

So we grew all our salad over the summer, so leaves from around March onwards (still growing some salad leaves in the GH now), Toms all through the summer-finishing the last ones in the fridge now, and cucumber for a while in July/August. I grow ALL my own herbs and dry them/freeze herb oils and butters to keep us going.

I bought one pack of planting garlic about 3-4 years ago and have saved and replanted my own ever since. So around £1.99 for constant garlic cloves?

Same for runner beans a pack last years even if you don't them seed save at the end of the year, and runners produce so many beans its unreal. Same with courgettes which keep producing over and over.

However its simply not worth me trying to grow maincrop potatos as I can source locally produced sacks of spud for around £5-£6. But I do grow some new/salad spuds as the taste is so yummy and can't be beat by the shops. Again pound shop spuds say charlotte £1 produced around 15-20 kilos.

So its about buying seeds etc cheaply or saving from year to year and getting stuff for free when you can-old plastic containers make great seed trays/pots with holes in the bottom.

So for an outlay of around £25 ish for this year, we grew all our salad, loads of cabbage and brocolli (still have cabbages/broccoli/Brussels/chard/kale in the ground here for winter), rhubarb, carrots, onions, garlic,-leeks are ongoing now, piles of various beans, globe artichokes, chillis, peppers, beetroot, turnips, swedes-ongoing. Plus the various fruit. BUT we didn't do this overnight. We started with one bed and added more each year, sourcing stuff for free or cheaply as and when we could. We haven't an enormous garden, but do have a few chickens for our own "manure".

So I would say starting with salad leaves and herbs, and perhaps soft fruit like strawberries can and easily does save money, but paying out to have fancy new raised beds filled with best topsoil/compost can be a waste.

I find if you look on it as a Heath Robinson type enterprise there can be great savings, although you will never be able to grow enough to feed you all year around. If try to set everything up from new the first year and grow everything at once it can be an expensive job indeed.

Its all about cutting your cloth and doing things from a MSE POV.
Ali x

SailorSam

You could try asking on Freecycle, gardeners have loads of cuttings that they'd rather give away than put in a bin.

Lavendyr

Salad leaves are so worthwhile growing from seed - compare paying 99p for a bag of salad (which you may end up throwing some of away 'cos it doesn't keep) to paying 99p for up to 6 months' worth. We grew our own salad from 10p packs of seeds in the garden centre clearance this year, and haven't had to buy any ourselves.

It grows well in containers and is definitely money saving!

Trixsie1989

Thank you everyone, will get onto freecycle looking for pots and will check out the pound shops for grow bags. We were looking at starting with salad, herbs, potatoes and some kind of fruit so the comments have been really helpful xxx

mansars

To save money I used my tesco clubcard and nectar points to get me as much as possible.

I used my nectar points for a subscription to a gardening magazine, which gave me a years reading and dozens of seeds....I also used them in homebase to get bits a bobs...normally I went after the bank holiday to pick up the reduced stuff.

I used my tesco vouchers at thompson and morgan and got a treble boost too ie £5 of vouchers ia worth £15 in T&M.

I agree with the previous folk and say grow only what you will eat that is expensive to buy and will yeild good returns. I see no point in growing for example potatoes when I can get them at £3-5 per 10 Kgs sacks...its just a waste of space that could be used for somethig else...unless like me you like a specific type that is not available.

Other tips are to grow stuff in hanging baskets such as tomatoes, straberries, peppers... and edible flower such as nasturshims (speling sorry). I had some good success with strawberries in hanging strawberry planters and tomattoes in upside down hangers.

Hope this helps

Davesnave

Trixsie1989 wrote: »

Hi all,

Me and oh are moving soon and want to start growing our own fruit and veg but have no idea where to start.as our new house will be rented everything we grow will need to be in pots etc.

It's not clear, but unless your new garden is all hard landscaping there's no reason at all why you can't grow vegetables among whatever other plants are there.

It's none of your landlord's business what you do, provided the garden is left as per the description on the inventory, which I hope is detailed enough to be accurate. In any event, take some photos before things change too much, just to be on the safe side.

I agree with Alibobsy. You won't save a fortune, but there are other reasons for growing your own; in your case making the garden 'yours' however small the changes.

snowgo

I'm a newbie to grow your own too. My big success this year has been perpetual spinach (leaf beet). Apparently it is much easier to grow than regular spinach. I can't tell the difference when it's cooked (nor can my family!).

I bought a packet of seeds for 79p from Aldi and planted straight into rows in the ground (well dug & incorporating bag of manure from garden centre). Spinach was ready to cut in June and I've had continual supply since then. Still masses there and according to the packet may continue thro march. This has saved me loads of money as a large bag in tesco is £2. I use spinach in pies & pasties, casseroles, curries as well as a green veg accompaniment. The great thing is it's always there ready to cut & no waste as I only cut what's needed. I've got half pack seeds left and will definitely be planting again.

I'd expect that spinach would grow successfully in pots for you. I've also been successful with potatoes in planters/sacks. I have Christmas potatoes growing at moment, foliage just dying off now but hopefully enough crop for Christmas dinner. I reckon that I probably haven't saved any money on potatoes after cost of seed pots, compost,etc. But they taste better, harvest as needed, and no waste.