Please help a complete novice!

[RedButtonhole]

So, after two and a half years, I finally have some money to do a bit in my garden. It's a small, south facing garden, will be all turf and slabs within the next couple of weeks. We live very near the sea in Southwest Scotland and the garden is small and well sheltered from wind.

Would like to plant in containers rather than into the ground and was hoping to grow some fruit and veg and some plants with yellow flowers. I also have a glass porch at the back of the house which gets boiling in the summer so would make a decent little greenhouse- one neighbour grew bananas in his!

Just wondering where to start and what would be good to plant really, would like to start planting towards the middle of May.

Pots, compost, and veg plants. Strawberries, courgettes, marigolds, cucumber and some tomatoes are a good mix to start with.

Thankyou! I have the pots ready, just need to buy the compost and plants. I gather it is better/ easier to buy plants rather than grow from seeds since it is quite late in the year?

Hadn't thought about cucumber and courgettes will add those to the list, thankyou! I had considered strawberries, also wondered about raspberries but I don't have the first clue.

Raspberries grow better in the ground to be honest. Strawbs will be fine in pots. When you have the pots, also make sure you have saucers for them to sit in so that you can water the saucer and the plant can take up what water it needs. the main cause of containers failing is not enough water, and you will need to feed the plants as the compost soon loses nutrients.

www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?ID=1741

Don't forget the herbs as well - sometimes adding fresh herbs to a meal can have a massive impact - my favourites are chives, garlic chives, flat peaf parsley, wild garlic, lemon verbena. And salads - you can grow cut and come again salads in containers.

Might pass on the rasberries this time around then I have a small bit of ground space but it's beside the shed and right by the plum tree so not.sure its the best place to grow anything really. Had thought about putting a bramble bush up there since they seem to grow just about anywhere but I'm told they just take over everything!

I love herbs, I have some basil and chives in the house at the moment so shall extend these to outside too. Keen to grow anything that's useful. Thankyou for all the advice and the link.

Rasps will be fine by the plum tree. In fact you could have the plum tree, rasps round/next to it it and strawbs on the ground around it. Don't put brambles in. They really will take over and most areas have blackberries that you can forage.

Our area is riddled with brambles, I make lots of jam so suppose I don't need to bother with that at all.

I will do some strawbs and rasps around the plum tree then, there really isn't any light in that area so was worried it was a no- go. Tomatoes and cucumber in the greenhouse, herbs and salad out in pots?

Sunflowers I've just sown some tall ones as well as a variety called 'Little Leo' (from Wilko) that's more like a shrub and designed for containers.

I know you said you didn't want to plant much in the ground but if you have a very stark boundary (wall/fence) I would consider putting in a few evergreen climbers asap. They can take a year or more to truly get going.
I started from scratch last year and hadn't considered climbers but they really break up the space and draw your eye to different parts of the garden (even when not in flower). I have a lot of harsh lines (rectangular lawn, patio, fence) which the climbers soften.

Love the sound of your progress

Sorry just read you already have a tree and it's a small garden so maybe you don't want or need climbers

I'm a big fan of baskets and vertical growing (as long as you remember to water them - might not be such a problem in Scotland ). I hate everything growing at ground level In which case you could try strawberries and cascading tomatoes in baskets. Nasturtiums too

Google Vertical Veg website for inspiration

Oh, I hadn't thought of doing anything like that HaveYou. I have another thread about my neighbour/ fence, so I'm a bit reluctant to put anything in that will grow over the fence after seeing how ruthless he was cutting back the other neighbour's climbers, but he strawberries might be nice and easy enough to keep in check, thankyou. Might be a little cold outside for the tomatoes though?

Sunflowers are my favourite so will definitely be going for some of those!

Off to look at veritcal veg now!

Do you have access to water out there - got a tap? Containers need water! If you've got a tap invest in an automatic watering system for your veg, will make a fantastic difference to your yields.

Thanks purple, I haven't at the minute, but I know some of the neighbours have installed their own, my Dad is pretty handy so will see if he thinks he can install something.

Advice for a gardening virgin! Hello I have never grown anything or done any gardening before! We have now got a north facing garden with a lawn and one large semicircle bed. This is completely empty currently as spent the weekend digging out all the weeds. The last owners have left some nice large white rocks so I thought about a rockery?! Any advice on what to plant for a cheerful summer garden would be

Sorry pressed post by mistake! Would be grateful for any advice on what flowers o or bushes to plant. Ideally would like something easy to look after as work full time.