Complete novice wanting to grow something!

[SnowyTigers]

Hi all,

I am a complete novice when it comes to growing anything, but I'd absolutely love to have a go with my DD who is 7 as she seems really interested in trying.

We have a small front garden with a bit of grass which gets the full sun in the afternoon, and an enclosed back yard which gets a bit of sun in the morning but not loads as we live in rows of terraces so the sun gets a bit blocked by the houses to the back of us.

Our back yard has a stone raised bed along one side which has some herbs growing in there (a small mint plant which doesn't seem to ever get any bigger, two types of thyme, a huge sage and huge lavender bush). I've bought w garden waste sack so I can clear out some leaves and cut back the big sage and lavender plants, and once I've jet washed the paving I can build a small wooden greenhouse I ordered from Aldi.

Is there anything relatively easy we can get started with? I think dd would love growing something edible (maybe tomatoes?) but I'm totally clueless and open to ideas! I'd also love some sort of flowers for the front garden, maybe in pots? Am I better off just buying these ready done?

I know I need to buy some bits such as compost but I honestly don't really know what other basic equipment (such a pots etc?) I should have to hand. We have a spade, trowel and gloves

I'd love some suggestions if anyone would be happy to help.

I planted strawberry plants in pots last year but could equally go into the ground. Another one popular with young children is sunflowers which can be started indoors.

For flowers I'd recommend cosmos seeds. Mine have sprouted up within a day or two indoors and if you have a disaster they can be sown directly outdoors from May. They respond well to being cut so she could have a little vase in her room all through summer.

I've grown raspberries, tomatoes and cucumbers from plants but my garden seems to have every pest going so I have no advice there I'm afraid!

Lovely, thanks so much both of you. I'll look in to your suggestions. We did sunflowers last year (the only thing we have ever grown) and it actually went quite well until they got too tall, so I moved them to another location to be supported by the wall in my yard and they all died! I think we will try again this year...

Sounds like you have a West facing front garden.

Sunflowers are great and really easy to grow and you can get them in all sorts of colours and they are a brilliant first step - really rewarding. Another one, if you can get your hands on a bit of trellis or chicken wire would be to grow some beans or peas, or you could even grow courgettes

You don't need masses of compost so a small bag would be fine. A couple of old empty toilet rolls and one of those mushroom trays or similar (something without holes) to put the rolls in once filled. Oh, and a window sill.

Flower wise I currently have sweet peas growing on my window sill which I will plant out towards the end of April. They will smell fabulous and are a good cutting flower.

I think the first step is to go somewhere you can buy seeds and let her choose.

Tomatoes are so easy!!! Get some tomatoes, I tend to pick cherry or plum. Cut them into slices. Lay them between compost in a pot. Stick on a sunny windowsill. Water. You will have shoots in about 10 days and can plant out in a container within a month. Much better than the tomato plants they sell as they’re more thickly seeded.

Other beans grow very quickly and easily.

Nasturtium are easy to grow. The seeds are large, the germinate quickly and prefer poor soil. The leaves are peppery and safe to eat.

How about radishes in contains. Very easy to grow and you get a crop every 4 weeks.
They want about 6 hours of sun a day so if you grow in containers you can move them about easily.

Thank you so much!!

@Enb76 that is so helpful about saving toilet roll tubes and the trays etc. I thought I'd need to buy loads of stuff but I think we can get started quite easily. Very helpful as we are on a budget too!

@justanotherneighinparadise I honestly didn't realise you could grow tomatoes this way. Which sounds silly now I think about it!! I will try this as we always have cherry tomatoes in

We have a trellis attached to the wall in the yard, above the raised bed, but it's no good really as it just snaps even if you dare look at it. It must have been there for years.
I'll look in to replacing it as I know we would love to grow some beans/peas.

Will look up nasturtiums and might consider radish as I love them even though dd doesn't...

I had success growing potatoes in a pot - it was actually from a 'Nifty' video on FB where they used two pots and cut out some of the inner pot. It worked really well.
I'm currently growing sweet peas in a watering can on my windowsill!

Do you think I need to start doing it now? I'm guessing it might be too late if I leave it any longer. I guess it will be a good Easter holiday activity

I quite like this guy for tips

Also re growing on windowsills - we live in a grade 2 listed house with rickety single glazed sash windows, so the windowsills get very draughty and cold in the evening. Will this be a problem for trying to start seeds off?

[quote Enb76]I quite like this guy for tips

[/quote] Fab thank you!

We want mad during lockdown one looking at YouTube videos about how to grow veg, from veg. It was a massive eye opener to me too!

We now have lemon plants that are a year old that I’ve grown from pips. New potatoes that we grow from old potatoes that have sprouted. Tomatoes from tomatoes. Chillis from the left over seeds from chillis we use in cooking. Bell peppers from seeds in the bell pepper. Loads of strawberry plants as they are runners so make new plants. Beans!!! All in containers.

We’re also currently growing butterflies 🤭

The kids absolutely love potatoes diving come autumn. We have a huge deep pot and they forage around in it like dogs lol

You want to aim for planting out after the last frost date. I'm near Cambridge so my last frost date is likely end of April but safety (which I don't always pay attention to) would say 1st week of May.

If you look at the packet it will tell you how long the seed takes to germinate (often around 2 weeks) and then you want it to have two proper leaves 'generally the second set of leaves' which will take another 2 weeks or so depending on the temperature on your windowsill. Then, take them outside during the day and bring them in at night for a week and then plant in the final position. So, from sowing to planting in the soil will take around 4-6 weeks.

If I want to put my plants in the soil on the weekend of 8th May, then I would probably want to plant my seeds on Easter Weekend :)

Seeds want light and warmth - if you put two clear food trays together you've basically got a mini greenhouse so they will be protected from draughts.

Sweet peas?

Wonderful, thank you all so much for your advice. This has been so helpful. I've never thought of watching YouTube videos about growing before! Dd doesn't like potatoes (strange child!) but I might give it a go. I remember my DM telling me about growing potatoes in buckets once. I have one of those flexible rhino tubs which might work!

That would work perfectly. When the plants start to sag at the end of season then get rootling!

cut back the big sage and lavender plants
Mind how you go with the lavender; they don't like being savagely cut back. RHS says "Don’t prune it hard into old, bare wood as it will not regenerate well."

The best tip for what to grow is whatever you like to eat! No point putting hours into growing something no one likes.
We normally do cherry tomatoes, peas, courgettes, salad leaves, spring onion, carrots.
This year we're also doing potatoes, sweet potatoes (first time I've tried them) and sweet corn.
I can't dig so everything is in pots or raised beds.
Courgettes are notoriously easy to grow, one plant gives you hundreds. But they are big, wide plants.
Peas are brilliant, so tasty straight from the pod and easy to grow in pots.
If you have a Lidl near you, I think from Thursday they are selling self-watering tomato pots. I got one a couple of years back and they are fab, they have a built in reservoir of water and built in canes/support for the plants to grow up. I'd recommend those for anything like tomatoes, beans, peas.

@senua

cut back the big sage and lavender plants Mind how you go with the lavender; they don't like being savagely cut back. RHS says "Don’t prune it hard into old, bare wood as it will not regenerate well."

Thank you We have lived here for two years and haven't pruned either the lavender or sage at all so I'll go easy on them. The lavender is absolutely ginormous though

@Shezlon

The best tip for what to grow is whatever you like to eat! No point putting hours into growing something no one likes. We normally do cherry tomatoes, peas, courgettes, salad leaves, spring onion, carrots. This year we're also doing potatoes, sweet potatoes (first time I've tried them) and sweet corn. I can't dig so everything is in pots or raised beds. Courgettes are notoriously easy to grow, one plant gives you hundreds. But they are big, wide plants. Peas are brilliant, so tasty straight from the pod and easy to grow in pots. If you have a Lidl near you, I think from Thursday they are selling self-watering tomato pots. I got one a couple of years back and they are fab, they have a built in reservoir of water and built in canes/support for the plants to grow up. I'd recommend those for anything like tomatoes, beans, peas.

Oh fab thank you, I shop at lidl every week so will go on Thursday to see if I can bag one!

Just went on the app to check - this is the one and it is from Thursday. I'm desperate to get another, they are so good and they didn't do them last year!