Beans! and other veggies. Advice needed for new gardener please!

[Madratlady]

We live in a rented house so I doubt we'd be allowed to dig up the lawn for a veggie patch, but I'd like to plant a few things in pots if possible. I've never really grown anything before though, and I'm totally clueless!

I love green beans, they climb don't they? So I could put them in the rusty and full of holes vintage milk churn with poles to climb couldn't I? And could I plant them now or is it too late?

What else could I grow in pots? We don't have loads of space but I have an empty medium pot and could fit in some more.

Also, what herbs could I grow outside? Parsley and chives I think? And some sage? What else?

strawberries do well in pots.

I've grown French beans in a pot and planted around this time (in SW England). This suggests it's prime planting time: www.realseeds.co.uk/beans.html

I also grew cherry tomatoes (tried bigger ones but they were a bit prone to splitting, and found that the cherry ones seemed to ripen a bit quicker). This does depend on weather though, last few summers have been crappy so you might get disappointed. Sungold are lovely and I found them relatively easy to grow - have a look for a plant in garden centre? (Think it's a bit late to try starting tomatoes from seed now).

Herbs - what do you tend to use? Basil might be okay outside now. Have grown oregano but for some reason this year's seems to have come up all tasteless. Mint is lovely to make fresh mint tea with but needs a pot to itself as it is a thug and will crowd out anything else you plant it with.

How much sunshine do you get where you are & how cold are the nights?

I'm in Yorkshire so it's generally wet and chilly!

I'm going to try beans and tomatoes I think to start with.