Starting a vegetable patch

[orlandobbb]

I want to start a vegetable patch. Could you please give me some helpful hints and what I need to start planting and when? Looking for beans, tomatoes, potatoes, asparagus, and anything easy! We have a some raised vegetable beds and a green house

Broad beans are the easiest. Nothing seems to nibble them and (for me at least) they're 💯 reliable.
Courgettes too - tho set a night watch for slugs and snails!

We did our first lot of growing last year and had great success with rubber beans and tomatoes. Managed to grow some butternut squash as well. We didn't get many strawberries, thanks to the squirrels, but I've also read that they don't usually give much in the first year, so I'm hoping we get a good crop this year, and we've got some more plants on the go thanks to all the runners.

We're hoping to grow a lot more this year - potatoes, courgette, sweet corn, beetroot, cucumbers, bell peppers, sugar snap peas, and the beans and tomatoes again. I'm no expert but have been reading lots online and got lots of books it if the library, so feeling more confident about it. I think the most important rules are, grow things you like to eat, and just enjoy having a go!

Obvs I mean runner beans lol

Kale - survives most things.
Potatoes, beetroot, leeks, - fairly hardy and straightforward.
Carrots - we did them in pots to avoid trouble and they were great.

How much space do you have and what is the soil like?

If not much space concentrate on things that aren't cheap and locally available. I wouldn't bother with potatoes and carrots because I can get them from the farm up the road.
Fruit is the absolute easiest thing to grow. Raspberries and blackcurrants need virtually no attention other than to pick and fill your freezer.

Runner beans and French beans are easy to grow and crop abundantly. I usually sow the seeds in pots in the greenhouse in late March/ April and plant out when they are 6" high. You can sow straight into the ground but in my garden they don't survive the snails and slugs.
Peppers, tomatoes and chillis are quite easy. Is your greenhouse heated? Mine isn't and I start them all off in trays in the conservatory.

If you buy packets of seeds they always give a guide to when to sow them. Don't be in too much of a hurry as later sown plants catch up and seeds sown too early can take a lot of nurturing.
My lovely late father in law who had an allotment used to never sow anything before Easter. The fact that Easter can vary by weeks didn't seem to matter!

We've got clay soil with lots of stones so carrots were rubbish! We had great broccoli but they all ran and flowered instead of producing the heads.

The things that have worked best for us are runner beans, squash, rhubarb, raspberries, leeks and spring onions.

Best to check what type of soil you have and what space first then try out different things.

Following with interest as I really want to start a patch this year! I have a raised sunny wall bed which I planted squash in last year, I had four fruit overall but every single one died/shrivelled before they were ripe.

I want to make a staggered small bed area from old tyres (sounds odd but a friend did one last year and it looked amazing), and it's really for the children to experience rather than any plans of self sufficiency! I'm thinking carrots, tomatoes, peas, beetroot?

maybe not enough water thenewaverage. courgettes and chard are also very easy. And lettuce....you could even buy one of the live cut and come again packs from the supermarket (they have roots on) and separate those out and transplant

When I started out, I grew spinach and cherry tomatoes. It gave me so much joy every morning to pick spinach as salad leaves and cherry tomatoes as, well, cherry tomatoes to put on my butties for lunch at work.

Looking for beans, tomatoes, potatoes, asparagus, and anything easy!

Beans, both runner and french, are a good idea and should crop for a few months, excess can be frozen. Start them off in the greenhouse. Before planting out, add compost to the soil as they can be hungry.
I really wouldn't bother with potatoes (or carrots), especially as a main crop. Maybe try some salad spuds in a bag?
Asparagus is my favourite veg, but takes time. The soil needs to be properly prepared and then you either try seeds, but they take even longer than crowns. Usually start with 1 year old crowns - you won't be eating any until year 3 - but once up and running should be good for decades.
I'd be looking at tomatoes, peppers, chillies and aubergine in your greenhouse - give it a thorough clean and wash down before hand, and keep on top of any insects, especially white fly.
Don't bother with peas unless you have a lot of space, frozen ones are as good as anything you can grow.
Plant out garlic and onions from sets. I'd also suggest something to see you through the winter months like leeks, purple sprouting and swede/parsnips.
Raspberries, black currents and gooseberries are good bearers and need little help, aphids are probably the main problem but diluted washing-up liquid can help.
I'd also look at some more exotic veg, if only for the satisfaction of eating your own.
Draw up a plan of your plot and workout what goes where - which bit gets the most sun? Think about rotating annual crops each year so they aren't always in the same spot.
Finally, get nosey with neighbours' gardens to see what grows well in your local area.

I find lettuce really easy to grow and you can get a mixed packet of seeds which gives a nice variety of lettuces once grown.

Corn is easy and it's fun to pick your own crop.

I wouldn't agree with the earlier poster about broad beans - we get terrible black fly with these.

Tomatoes are good, and cucumbers. Do you have a greenhouse?

I have a couple of blueberry plants in pots that do quite well.

Courgette does well in the ground or pots. And they are very proficient so only one or two plants are needed!

Good luck.