Blank canvas veggie patch - Learner gardener

[Whelk]

I am new to gardening and seemingly not very good at it.

Dh and I have, however, cleared a reasonably large patch in the garden which we hope to plant veggies in.

Would anyone be able to give me any tips as to what to do when? Or point me in the direction of 'Veggie Growing for Dummies' book.

I have a day off tomorrow so plan to weed the patch, and hoe it again but then would like to plant some seeds with dd in the next few months (thats right isn't it???

Until I got the allotment I was the plant equivalent of the grim reaper :)
That was a year ago and we have had loads of veggies since then so I am sure you will soon be a good gardener.
It depends on space and what you want to grow e.g. what veg you like. My children love fresh peas and they are reasonably easy to grow and a courgette plant will produce more fruit than you think - I didn't believe it and planted 3, my family are sick of courgette now :)
There is a veg growing for dummies guide available and an idiots guide too.

Oh if you want to grow onions you can put them in now and they are easy to sow.

Sorry for long post, blame enthusiasm!

Enthusiasm is good. I'm brimming with that. Its just know-how I lack!!

lol at grim reaper. That sounds like me.

I like the series of books by Hessayon. There's a vegetable Expert which is a good reference.

We've moved recently, and I'm currently trying to find the veggie patches that have been long neglected. I intend to dig over one patch and to plant potatoes. My reason for this is that the children can help, it's not too fiddly for them. Maintenance is easy, just keep an eye out for blight and also the potatoes will help break down the soil making it better for growing other vegetables next year. By which time, I will have found and dug over veggie patch 2.

I would suggest you don't go over board, keep it simple for this year. A couple of vegetables with a high success rate and you'll be ready to expand the plot next year.

Good advice about starting with just a few that are successful. What you need to remember is seeds are designed to grow, they don't need much really. The reason there's so much info out there is because people try to get higher yields from the space they have.

Haven't seen the Hessayon book on veg but they are good. Decide what you want to grow them get your seeds, you can start them off inside, I get DS to make paper pots. Then when they are ready to go out you need to put them outside during the day for a week bringing them in at night before they can be planted out. I've found the key is not to plant too early, it's best to hold off and time things so they can go out after the last frosts. The days are longer towards then and the seeds sown later generally make stronger plants than the early sown ones and you don't have to faff around cossetting them from the frost so much.

You could also buy some plants from car boot sales, church plant sales etc. If you just want one or two plants it can be cheaper than buying seed (and if you are doing courgettes you really really don't want very many plants or the neighbours will start running when they see you ) Seed can be brought cheaply, Lidl sell some for 29p a packet. Moreveg sell them cheaply, lots of choice, not that many in the pack but you don't need lots unless you have an allotment. Look out for those that have the RHS award of merit (think that's what it is), they are reliable croppers. Have fun !

Pick stuff that is either cheaper to grow yourself or tastes better.
Salad leaves v easy & cut and come again is cheaper than bags.
Peas easy & taste better. Easy for kids to help with too.
Carrots taste much better but not easy & better raised off the ground( good in window boxes if you get small varieties.
Tomatoes if you have a decent amount of sun & a wall/fence.
One courgette plant NEVER do more!

The 'expert' books are good. I have lots of the cheap seeds from lidl etc especially the salad. I bought small round carrots for a window box and they were delicious. To be honest a lot of stuff never makes it home ha ha ha I tend to graze.My family didn't know I grew strawberries the first year :O
Doing lots of beans for drying this year and paper pots are brilliant, cheap and keep the children interested while you are waiting for green things to appear.

The one book that I think is really good is Joy Larkcom's book Grow Your Own Vegetables. It has an introductory section explaining all the basics, and then a section for each type of vegetable. Its also all organic, which I prefer.

we had our first harvest last year and grew (far too many) courgettes, a tonne of carrots and loads of potatoes. we also had some onions but the broccoli was a big fail. french beans were a massive hit although we didn't get the long poles in and looked messy. the lettuce grew too big before we ate it!
grow some sage....dead easy and tastes yummy in gravy for pork.
this year going to do salad leaves as well as the above.

best book we got was a 'month by month guide'. it's alright having chapters by veg type but for a beginner i think you just want to know what you can plant now.

Thanks very much for all your help.
i have bought some salad leaves and rocket and am going to make myself wait so as not to plant to early. And not go too crazy- keeping it simple

WynkenBlynkenandNod (Love your name!) courgettes are the one thing we grew well last year and yes neighbours were running away!

Purple sprouting broccoli good too, we bought plants though. It's another thing that's expensive in the shops.

I'd start with easy to grow things and stick to the things you love to eat! I'd second Joy Larkom's book and her ornamental veg one is great for when you get a bit better and want your plot to look pretty. This article on starting a vegetable garden from scratch is really helpful and there's quite a few other articles on there on specific plants which are interesting. Good luck!

Runner beans - they will continue cropping later than lots of other stuff. Do watch out for when you plan to go on Summer holiday. Def do rocket, last year I didn't have to plant any as it was still coming up from the stuff that self seeded the year before. Potatoes do early ones as they're more expensive to buy and a maincrop one that will store well if you plan to grow a lot (I did Desiree one year and they stored really well)

I have a useful book called "the no-work garden" by Bob Flowerdew which lists plants according to a grid considering yield vs ease of growing vs money saved - it's very interesting. Agree grow things which are expensive in the shops. Like asil, if you are better at it that me. For a feeling that you are truly green-fingered, grow chard - you can always compost it if it gets too much .

The River Cottage books are ace; and the forums on that site (like any of us need another site to which we might become addicted) is full of helpful members.

Have lots of fun. Ooh and grow calendula with tomatoes too.