Grow your own for beginners?

[NutterlyUts]

I'd like suggestions/recommendations of what veggies are easily grown in a garden/in pots for a garden beginner?(I have to be wary of where I plant since my dog will pee on ANYTHING lol so please mention location of where to plant so I can dogproof it)

[Hilllary]

You can grow just about anything in a pot.

I have a potato bin on my patio, you can get tomatoes (tumbling) put them in hanging baskets, and (tumbling) strawberreies in hanging baskets - brilliant for stopping slugs and snails etc.

Get some window boxes and you can grow butternut squash, caugettes, chillis

Get a drain pipe and you can grow carrots in it, keeps them straight too

Runner and broad beans are good too, get a big pot and put 4 in one in each corner, get 4 bamboo sticks and make a teepee,

You can buy plants from garden centres rather than starting from seed and getting bored.

I use Organic soil bought from Homebase for £3.99 a sack, I also use net curtains over my beans and strawberries to stop greenfly and birds. I dont use any pestacides.

[coggy]

Oooooh!
Can I gate-crash and ask about gro-bags?

Just bought 3 on special offer and for some (very dim) reason can now only think of things that you CAN'T grow in them like potatoes???!!!!!

I am also a beginner.
Tomatoes and strawberries would be good.....any other advice would be also gratefully received.

[NutterlyUts]

Thanks Time to hit the garden centre for seeds

[Hilllary]

coggy you can grow potatoes in a grow bag, you can grow them anywhere, in a bucket even, just put some holes in the bottom and youre away.

The easiest thing to grow potatos in for a beginner is a victorian barral, you can pick them up for about £30 from a garden centre, its like a dustbin but it has a bottom bit which slides up so its easy to access your potatoes.

You can get a few plastic pots from wilkinsons or tescos and grow anything you want with the grow bags

[dipsymummy]

i want to grow some vege especially tomatoes and strawberries with my 3 year old. I guess these are best bought as plants>
what c I grow from seed-I want him to water the plants and see them grow.

[Hilllary]

dipsymummy you could try raddishes they are so fast growing and require little maintenence, It only takes a couple of weeks an you can eat them, a sunflower is always nice for a little one, cress is good too, carrots, peas anything really.

I would recommend getting strawberry and tomato plants from a garden centre (the tumbling variety) and put them in hanging baskets, sooooo much easier

[dipsymummy]

ta hillary!

[powder28]

Just to add, we buy big bags of compost from the local tip and its really cheap. Don't know if every tip sells it, but its worth finding out.

[coggy]

Thanks Hilllary....I shall go and investigate my local graden centre this weekend I think.

[Bodkin]

This year I am trying peas and tomatoes with my 3yo. I bought a couple of gro-bags, but the sight of that offensive yellow plastic was too much, so have decanted them into a couple of planters on the patio. Not sure if that will reduce their magical powers though...

[dipsymummy]

just been to te garden centre on a very frustrating trip with my 3 nearly 3 year old and 1 1/2 year old.just couldn't concentrate as one was running away and one wanted to run away!will try next week again
tomatoes-i will try hanging baskets, but otherwise a tall planter?

[Hilllary]

Hi dipsymummy why dont you ask at the desk for a personal shopper? Thats what I do, I take my pram and the shopper takes charge of the plants side of things, even takes it to your car etc.. really good

Yes tall planter is fine, just to add if you are buying hanging baskets go to Asda they do a plain wire shell for about £2 and a liner for 88p the cheapest around.

You can pay silly prices for these things, an old chimney pot always looks good too.

If you are growing potatoes and raddishes though dont grow them together as they are in the same family & if one gets ill it will pass on to the potatoes.

Onions/garlic are also a natural fly repellant too so if you have peas or beans etc plant some onions near them and it will keep flys at bay or at least the majority of them.

[potoroo]

I really like the idea of tomatoes and strawberries in hanging baskets. We have one sunny corner in the garden - can I just stick them on the wall?

Can you really grow butternut squash on the window sill? They are my favourite veg!

Also, do I buy the plants or seeds?

And can anyone recommend a gardening book for a beginner? Or shall I just come on here and ask questions?

[Hilllary]

Grow you own for beginners

Hi Potoroo, yes you can just pop them in hanging baskets and put them on a sunny wall. I have mine all over the place. Yes you can grow butternut squash in window boxes as long as you space them out well, I have also got cabbage and cauliflower & red onions in them too. Make sure they have dranage.

I would recommend getting plants to start with, get over the growing hurdle then tackle seeds next year, it will take time to establish if you are using seeds whereas if you buy the plants they are half way there already.

I've linked a website for organic growing for beginners, I only grow organic fruit and veg, if you want to do this too you can buy organic soil from Homebase for £3.99 a bag & will be enough to do a few hanging baskets and a window box.

Just ask on here if you have any probs, gardening books are all very well but they dont just pop up with the answers and it can all get very confusing.

Good luck and enjoy

[Hilllary]

Hi waswondering, I'd grow it in window boxes if you have a problem with cats, would do better in the ground but if you have a problem with slugs you could try putting egg shells around them, or putting a tray of cidar down, they will go to that first and die happy.

[Hilllary]

Hi, you can buy the actual plants in the garden centre for about 95p for a strip of about 10 plants, much easier than seeds. But if you do want to do it the seed way I'd recommend planting them in little pots, keep them in a sunny position and away from frost(in a greenhouse idealy), it will take a couple of weeks for them to germinate and shoots to form, then when established you can transfer them to the ground or pots.

Try having a look at my link below

[potoroo]

OOh thanks Hillary. Went to the garden centre today to have a look around - such a lovely day for being out in the garden.

DS and I are going to plant some cress tomorrow - I figure we can't go too far wrong with that