Are we too late?

[GingerSweetpea]

Now we have a garden we want to plant vegetables together as a family. I'm wondering if we are too late this year?
I have no idea where to start ethier. Are these fabric growing bags any good? Our soil is too hard and compacted.
Do we need a plastic greenhouse? I had one years ago and grew tomatoes.

Any good sites to show me? Thanks

You could sow the smaller type carrots, ideal for bag sowing as they will be protected from carrot fly and be straight, no stones.
Spring onions do well in large pots, sow now for late summer harvest.

Carrot variety Nantes.

You could do radishes, lettuce and maybe get some small veg plants from garden centres for this year. I've seen lots of peas, beans, courgettes recently which would do fine, my seed grown ones are yet to produce much veg yet. I've grown them in those fabric bags and they do well.

I'm learning myself, so also a novice. I joined gardeners world. They have a forum and their expertise has helped immensely identify weeds and give advice. Check on their site things you can plant in July. You can easily grow radishes and lettuce in a month- so not too late for those. I'm hoping for an Indian summer, so you may well do ok with vegetables that are already at a large seedling stage- depending where you live? I'm south east and have everything outside now. I only used the greenhouse (a cheap, plastic thing from home bargains) to propagate seeds and seedlings earlier this year. Unless you are in the highlands or somewhere with risk of frost, I don't think you'd need one till the cold sets in again. Best of luck.

@cissyandbessy-hehehehe, cross post re radish and lettuce!

Thank you all that's so helpful.
I'll have a look at veg plants in the garden centre too, I didn't think of that.
What about herbs do they do well most of the year?

If you have a look at the big online retailers eg Suttons, Thompson & Morgan etc they are selling off veg plants for next to nothing as it is the end of the season.

Some herbs are annuals and will die off in the winter, others perennials. Supermarket herbs are good for separating and potting on, a cheap and easy way to start:

www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-divide-supermarket-herbs/

Have a look at Jessie at Plot 37 vlog on YouTube. Today (1 July) she covered which seeds to plant in July and listed dozens of vegetables. She's very inspiring.

Check out Vertical Veg for tips. They have an active Facebook group too
verticalveg.org.uk/

You can plant now for winter and spring. Japanese greens need a shortening day length, so now is the time to plant, chard, kale, purple sprouting

If you can get some pumpkin plants they would be good to cover a large area as each plants needs at least 1 square metre & will produce pumpkins ready for Oct/Nov. They look fab too.

If you can get hold of advanced seedlings or actually mini plants you could also have tomatoes, cucumbers, etc Might be worth a shout out on your local facebook group if you use one or looking on the local facebook marketplace.

If you turn over the soil before planting, work in some manure - fresh if you can get it or chicken manure pellets from a garden centre.

Wow thank you everyone!

Today I done some digging with my dd, it was quite clay like near the bottom.
Do we need compost?

If your soil is rubbish you should try No Dig gardening, Charles Dowding has ebay videos about it, it's really easy and much better for your soil. We are on heavy clay and also have loads of conifers which take all the goodness from the soil, do we do the no dig method and it's brilliant.

I have had quite a lot of success buying the rooted lettuce in the box from ocado. I leave it in my fridge and use all the leaves and then plant the remainder in the garden. It has grown a lot more than the more expensive lettuce plugs I purchased from the garden centre.

I agree BuntyCarmichael, no dig method is great. I use this method on my allotment and it has transformed my soil.

We garden on clay. I suggest starting a compost heap to create more compost to improve the soil for the future. Some of our beds are hugely improved now, we spread compost on the surface, fork it to loosen the surface and let the worms do the rest. We can get the plastic dome bins at a discount through a County Council scheme.
I sowed basil seeds last week they are up already, and am thinking of trying some beetroot.Also, try local freegle and freecycle, people often give away surplus plants. I saw an offer of pepper and tomato plants last week