*TOTAL* beginner and I'd like to grow some veg...please help!

[PlateSpinningAtAllTimes]

I'd really like to make use of our big garden but don't want to dig it up as we are renting and may be moving in the summer.

I've bought a couple of pots, a growbag, a trowel, gardening gloves and a few seeds (tomatoes, peppers, chillis). I know I also need to buy compost, but what else do I need?

I've looked in some gardening books and am totally overwhelmed and confused by it all!

What seeds can I just chuck in a pot and leave? Or do I have to plant seeds indoors first? And how do I plant potatoes?

Any help would be much appreciated!

First off I would say don't be afraid! I was a totally novice veg grower until last year and also felt quite overwhelmed by it all, but it's reassuring how things just get on with growing once you've got them in the ground

I think it might be a bit late to start tomatoes and chillies off from seed (although happy to be corrected by more experienced growers). Re. potatoes, we're also renting so I bought a potato bag from Wilkinsons (basically a big tough polythene bag) as well as some seed potatoes. You will need to chit your potatoes before you can plant them - this is when you leave them on a light windowsill for a few days till they grow sprouts. Stick a layer of compost in the bottom of your potato bag (or whatever you're using), then plant the spuds and earth them over. Once the leaves start to appear, earth them over again and keep doing this each time the foliage pushes through the compost until you've filled the bag. This gives the plants lots of room to make spuds in.

Disclaimer: last year I had an allotment (miss it now :() so this was all a lot easier, but we got loads of potatoes from it.

Thank you, good potato tips! That sounds straightforward. So once they're in the bag do they go outside?

That's a shame re. tomatoes- I'm restricted by school hols as I'm a teacher! Hence wanting to plant things that are easy :o

Also, do I need to buy plant food? Any tips for keeping off pests? Would quite like to keep it all as chemical free as poss!

tomatoes and chillis are still ok. Label everything you plant

Last raised bed in. Used loads of sacks of soil. Only half full need to level the paths next.

Oops wrong thread!

Right, have planted potatoes in pots (couldn't find potato bags and they already had massive shoots coming out of them), and cucumber/tomato/pepper/chilli seeds in little seed tray things. Also bought a blackcurrant plant. Any more tips to help me?

Last year we gave my mum a vegetable garden in grow bags :-

• dwarf french beans
• peppers
• tomatoes
• aubergine
• courgette

All did well.

I am tempted by courgette in grow bag, actually. We had waaaay too many courgette plants on the allotment last year, but a single one would provide very nicely for us all. Thanks for that tip Gnome :)

Can I mark my place here?

DS (15) has decided that he wants a veg patch in the garden, so he has been digging it over this afternoon. Loads of blisters to show for his hard work, but it is looking good. I am taking him to get some seeds tomorrow. He wants onion, carrots, courgettes, strawberries and cucumber so far. - potatoes would be good if we have enough room.

I will be watching this thread with interest and hopefully picking up tips!

Don't do more than one courgette as they produce loads! Do shallots instead of onions & do them from sets.

I agree, the great courgette glut of 2010 is fresh in my memory. Also the comedy courgettes produced when we were away on holiday for a fortnight. DD took one to school for the harvest festival and got fed up with saying 'yes, it is a courgette actually'.

Dont forget things like strawberries, grow your own are a bargain compared with shop prices and the flavour is incomparable.

Broad beans could also go into grow bags - again fresh is a completely different experience from the horrors of my youth.

Harriet, why shallots instead of onions, can I ask??? Just curious.

Thanks for the advice. I'll go easy on the courgettes, but I do love them!

I love them too but honestly, you would not believe how much one courgette plant can produce And how quickly they grow into monsters!

We grew some really good Italian courgettes last year; I forget the name but they were ridged and quite firm, releasing much less water during cooking than the standard smooth-skinned ones you get in supermarkets. Very tasty.

It's Dh advice & he's out but I think it's to do with getting a few from planting one bulb rather than one onion from one bulb.

OOOOh good, good. Thank you.

Sorry for hijacking your thread PlateSpinningAtAllTimes.

OK, beans work well as do aubergines...courgettes too well......
Actually, we don't need to plant courgettes as FIL always gives us LOADS each year. We made courgette cake and everything!

Harriet, another question- what does 'do them in sets' mean?

PositiveAttitude- good luck to your DS! Brilliant that he's getting into gardening now, saves getting to my age and being embarrassingly inept at the whole thing.

Oh, and hijack away!

Right, excitement levels here are sky high. We have just spent a morning going to the shop to buy all the basics and the seeds, came home and have planted some straight outside and have a few in a propergator thingy (showing my total ignorance, is that what its called?) It was a lovely time spent with my son and I really should have done this years ago.

Now we are waiting for them to grow. DS needs persuading that he wont see anything different in the morning and be eating large cucumbers by SAturday. He is 15 - and joking, but for goodness sake, maybe that is the answer as to why I havent done this before; I just know he is going to drive me mad!!