How to start growing my own veg in a small garden

[Aheraldangel]

I've recently moved and my house has a small garden, which currently has mainly hydrangeas and fuchsia bushes. I'd like to grow my own veg, obviously on a small scale, but I'm definitely not experienced!

What's the best thing to start with? I've a shed, but no greenhouse. I'm in a low budget, so I'm guessing seeds is the best way to start.

At the moment I mainly eat peas, carrots, broccoli, green beans, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber. Grow bags would be easier, as otherwise I'll probably have to take up part of one of the two small patio areas.

I'm also going to start composting. Do I need a composter or can I just start heaping it up, as it were?

Sorry, total novice, apologies for any stupid questions!

"Green beans" are usually French beans - mostly small plants, but you can also get climbing French beans, which gives you a better crop in a small space. Beans are easy to germinate, but the young plants are tempting to slugs, so if you can start them in pots on a windowsill you may have better success.

Peas are also easy to germinate, and don't seem to be quite so tempting to slugs. Think also about mange-tout peas (expensive to buy, easy to grow) and sugar snap (like mange-tout, but you pick them when the peas have grown and the pod is round, whereas mange-tout you just eat the pods, before the peas develop).

Both these do better in deeper soil - I grow them in square pots about 18inches square and 18 inches high, but you could probably use a grow bag stood on end.

Tomatoes and cucumber are easy in a greenhouse and I know people do grow them outside. Lettuce is another slug bait. Easier to grow the "cut and come again" varieties than the ones that form a head.

Try purple sprouting broccoli - it doesn't form a big head like you get in the supermarket, just lots of intensely flavoured sprigs, and is easy to grow. Swiss chard/rainbow chard are spinach like and easy. I'd also suggest herbs, chives, strawberries.

Composting: the composting process works better if the heap is warm, and warmth depends on the volume. But it loses heat through its surface area. So you want the volume as large as possible and the surface area small - ideally a sphere in practice a cube. So you will probably want to constrict the sides somehow. This doesn't have to be a composter - it can be an old dustbin, a builders sack, wire netting, or the traditional pallets. Ideally, you'd like 3 - one to fill, one "brewing" and one to empty, but if you haven't space for that, two or even one is manageable. Remember you can add vegetable peelings, rotten fruit, cardboard and paper. There's nothing quite like the day when you scoop the unrotted top layer of a heap and reveal all that humus rich soil beneath, and see the minor miracle that has occurred, transforming a mouldy slimy mess into sweet smelling soil.

I have a couple of old tin baths on my patio which I use for veg. I plant a couple of runner beans at the back of each to climb up the wall, a couple of tomato plants in front of those and then grow spinach chard and rocket in front and around the tomato plants. Works well for me.

As I'm not growing huge numbers of plants I buy plants for tomato and beans - I put them straight in the baths but put a mini greenhouse type structure over them (made from a fizzy drinks bottle with the bottom cut off) to protect the lower growth from slugs and snails. Once the plants have got tall enough to out grow that I cut the top off (with th eplant inside) and let it grow up a cane (tomato) or the wall (beans). At that size they are less vulnerable to being eaten.

The spinach rocket and chard I grow from seed and sow every couple of weeks so that I always have some coming on. If you aren't going to grow in a container I'd be wary of rocket though as it is a fast spreading weed - never sure how they get away with charging so much for it in the shops. (Rocket makes a great pesto btw).

That's really helpful, thank you both! I've no pots or containers, as I had to get rid of a lot when I moved, but hopefully could pick up some cheap plant pots online somewhere.

Spinach and rocket would be great, I'll make sure to use a pot for the rocket! I like the idea of using pop bottles to protect the young plants. I can grow beans up the side of the shed. Purple sprouting broccoli sounds lovely too.

So when should I plant seeds? Will they need to start off inside or will the shed be ok? It has a small window, but maybe too dark still? And too cold?

I'll have a think about composting.. I don't have a container at the moment.

The seed packets usually give instructions on when to sow. Most things it's April - May. French beans don't like to be frosted, so you have to make sure the beans are inside until danger of frost has passed.

The shed is OK if things are absolutely up against the window. You don't need light until the seeds have germinated, unless they need light to trigger germination (in which case the packet will tell you to sow on the surface and not to exclude light).

Keep an eye on your Council waste tip and local fly tipping sites for big pots. You can't take things away from the Council tip but you can talk to the operatives, who may be kind. Smaller pots - some garden centres have boxes of them free to a good home. Old yogurt pots work well if you make a hole in the bottom. Or fashion some pots out of newspaper (google for instructions) - these have the advantage you can plant the whole thing, paper and all, so you don't disturb the roots.

I'll ask at the tip, thanks. I was going to buy those pellets that expand when you add water to grow the seeds in?

I wouldn't. I'd get seed compost.

If you have a patch of lawn, you could have a vegetable bed.
Have a look on freegle and freecycle for compost bins, large plant pots, seedlings, seeds, well rotted manure etc. It's probably not the best time of year for it.

Easy things to grow are chinese greens, swiss chard, perpetual spinach, kale, broad beans, rocket, salads. These tend to survive the winter. PSB too.
Things that grow upwards like beans and courgettes have a small footprint.

Don't bother with aubergines or peppers, although chillis might be worth a try. I don't bother with carrots because although home grown carrots are so much nicer, they are cheap to buy and carrot fly is a nuisance.

I wouldn't bother with anything that takes up a lot of space and a lot of time.

I try to grow the stuff I eat a lot of.

Tomatoes tend to need a lot of water - i usually lose at least some to blossom end rot.

Wilko seeds are pretty reliable and the prices are good.

I have made raised beds out of old unpainted furniture etc. You don't really want the bed to be raised as it dries more quickly.

You can start off seeds on a sunny windowsill.

You could get a cold frame to start things off.

You can get free plants by using the ends of veg. spring greens, leeks, spring onions.
Swiss chard makes a good spinach substitute but has a stronger flavour.

You can plant shop-bought potted herbs in the garden - spread them out a bit. Chives and parsley are good.

Your local garden centre probably has free used pots.

Home grown potatoes are fabulous and you can grow them in bags or in a bin. tomatoes in grow bags. Courgettes are very easy and prolific. If you have space for a 'square' of 9 plants, home grown sweetcorn is just gorgeous. (wind pollinated so you need a little block)

I read the title as "growing my own vag".

I used to have a half-acre vegetable plot, and loved it.

Easy: Courgettes (though you could well need only one plant - they go bonkers). Lettuce. Rhubarb. Peas/beans. Soft fruit. Sweetcorn. Broccoli. Spring onions. Onions generally (though they can go a bit mouldy). Potatoes (ditto). Parsley, thyme etc.

Reasonable: Carrots, leeks, asparagus, tomatoes (in a greenhouse only, in the North of England).

I found these harder: cucumbers (did grow them, but they were kind of small and stubby), radishes, Basil, aubergines (total fail).

The main challenge was stopping birds/rabbits/slugs from interfering.

I didn't use any pesticides etc. I had three massive compost heaps in a corner - nothing fancy or 'official'. I grew most things from seed (like a PP, I recommend Wilko), and my mum gave me some baby plants which she had grown from seed. I did have a greenhouse, but mostly did the seeds in the kitchen because the greenhouse was a bit old and webby. I scavenged pots from garden centres (I asked if I could have them, obviously) - they often just chuck them out and are happy to give them away instead.

I absolutely loved it - it was one of the best things I've ever done. I used to spend about 7 hours a day digging from March onwards, while the DC were at school. It was therapeutic. I now unfortunately have a very tiny garden which is not yet organised enough to do anything, but I will grow things again.

If space is at a premium, it's better to concentrate on things that are more expensive to buy than really cheap stuff like carrots and onions, or stuff that's best eaten at its very freshest, such as various salad leaves; you can also grow more interesting varieties than you can find in the shops. As a MereDint say, grow climbing beans and peas to get the most from the space.

Raised beds can be placed on concrete and filled with a mix of compost and bagged top soil. It will be less work than lots of pots and won't dry out as quick, but will still need feeding.

This website is brilliant for information on growing in small spaces: verticalveg.org.uk

More Veg sells seeds in quantities for small plots, and low prices, too: moreveg.co.uk

Sorry, what does PSB mean?

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

There are some great allotment groups on FB were you can learn by osmosis! And also see exactly what others are planting etc to make sure you're on track time wise

Thanks for the links, very interesting. I'll ask at the local garden centre if they have used pots.

Ah, PSB! Thanks

7 hours a day digging,@Hillaria? I was with you all the way till then!

@WomblingMerryChristmasOfThigh, just looked at the Vertical Veg site, and it's brilliant! I know you were recommending it to the OP, but can I add a thank you?

It was interesting to learn that he reuses compost in his pots, just with some fertilizer. I'd always just scattered mine on flowerbeds as mulch, but worried that it lacked nutrients.