What Vegetables To Grow For A Novice Gardener?
Posted by admin on February 22, 2010
Decided to grow a few veg this year – not being particularly green-fingered, and bearing in mind the time of year – any suggestions on what to grow for a gardening newbie?
If it helps – I have a shady, North facing garden (which doubles as a latrine for most of the neighbourhood cats) in London and, as far as I can ascertain, the soil type is ‘brown’.
A link to a helpful website or book recommendation would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
I did this last year…did have a go at allotments once but it was an incestuous Nazi run set up so I didn’t get very far lol.
I am every bit as naturally lucky as you and have a North facing shady garden :-/ Thing is there is stuff that is easy to grow and will grow anywhere but you don’t want to actually eat them. ( C’mon who the feck likes radishes really? )
So I just grew spuds and courgettes cos i knew I’d eat them.
With regard to books I went the library and just got a load because i’m sick of buying gardening books that seem to make sense in Waterstones then the minute I get home the text morphs into Serbo Croat.
Agree about cats…they need to be taught a lesson. Apart from My one obviously, he would never do anything like that
Chilies and small peppers are very easy to grow in pots. You will need to stake them when the fruits appear and put some animal friendly slug pellets down. Start them off indoors as soon as you can.
Bay trees and rosemary bushes will grow most places. They prefer sun, but it isn’t essential.
Chives are also easy to grow and the have pretty flowers. You can divide them and when you cut them they spread like grass. The entire plant is edidible. Garlic (chinese) chives flower white later in the year but I find them tough for eating.
Lemon balm is good for shady spots. It has a lovely lemon smell, and and lemon taste to food without adding acidity. It is nice on its own as a tea.
Sage grows well and flowers.
Basil is good, but beware of young plants being attacked by slugs.
Mint is easy to grow if it likes your garden.
Rocket is very easy to grow and tastes lovely when it is very fresh.
Well, the good news is that if the cats like your yard as a latrine, the soil is probably easy to work. I just have one suggestion, because I am a tomato lover – many of the bush type grow well in pots which you could keep on your front stoop for sun, if you have one. You can also increase a bit of the sun in tomato pots by getting this red stuff called “tomato mulch” or words to that effect as it will reflect the kind of light tomatoes like up under their leaves a bit.
Don’t Spread slug pellets on the garden any more you are poisoning your food as well as your the soil try this brilliant Garden protector….I like most gardeners suffer from slugs and snails in this damp weather and in fact now that the climate has changed all over the world we have the slug and snail problem all year round, I have tried beer traps, coffe, copper tape, and salt, egg shells, even throwing them in my neighbours garden ( Just kidding )etc,etc all these methods are not practical long lasting and are harmful to Children, pets , wildlife ,and our Environment. A new device to control slugs and snails called The SlugBell …..www.slugbell.com …..placed around flowers and vegetable garden , they use both Organic or Normal Metaldehyde slug pellets and that the small amount of pellets needed will last up to three months.!!! as they don’t dissolve in the soil and Brilliant for our environment , I will try anything to keep my garden looking how it should whilst protecting natures cycle.It works for me…!!
potatoes are easy just plant and wait and you’ll have a good yield, if you’re planting carrots plant a row of marigolds next to them as this should keep off any bugs such as carrot fly etc., spring onions and radishes are easy, i shouldn’t grow tomatoes on a shady site as they will take forever to ripen. beetroots another good easy one. you could also try the mixed packs of salad leafs which you can sow now and in 4/5 weeks time you can pick the young leaves which are nutritous,you can keeping sowing these seeds every few weeks so you’ll have salad leaves all summer,very easy, also peas,runner beans etc. the garden mags which are in the shops now are full of ideas.
If your garden is North facing and does get much sun then forget plants that need lots of sun to ripen them (e.g. tomatoes). Stick to easy and hardy things like herbs (Rosemary, thyme, parsley, mint – forget basil it needs lots of heat) also easy salad stuff like lettuce, radish, beetroot – rocket is very easy and grows well in pots as do all the herbs. Potatoes and onions are also easy to grow successfully but do demand lots space and effort. For a website try one of the big seed producers like Suttons. http://www.suttons.co.uk/GrowingGuides.h…
try this site: vegetablegardeninghelp.com
I would find a way to keep those cats away. You can also do a small raised garden.. Just section off a small rectangle, bricks or wood planks, put several inches of soil in and I would put some kind of wire around it to keep the animals out
I did my own 6 foot x 6 foot veggie patch last year. I grew chillies, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes and radishes. They’re all pretty easy to grow. Just make sure you get slug pellets and fly spray and keep your patch well watered.
North facing does present some problems, tomatoes, peppers etc are out, as they really do need full sun. try this linkhttp://www.rhs.org.uk/growyourown/vegcal…
tomato, potato, coriander & ginger are very easy to grow. they can withstand irregular water feeding & need no special care. further tomato can give very quick fruits.
I tried this for the first time last year!
Great success with spring onions/beans/peas/lettuce and kale, unfortunately the beetroot never showed its face but i’m going to try it again this year!
tomato’s & corn
they like acidic soil
cat urine has ammonia in it
Radish, spinach and herbs – chives, mint and parsley are all shade tolerant.
potatoes , tomatoes, english spinach, http://gardening-tips-idea.com/How-to-Gr…
Try potatoes, they’re easy to grow and save you lots of money when they crop!