Can I see pictures of your garden if you grow food please?

[Ohmnomnom]

I had a half-hearted attempt at growing food last year but the slugs ate everything! I have a huge, North-east facing garden which is surrounded by trees so quite damp and boggy in places. I'd love to grow something edible this year.

Can I see pictures of how you grow your food? I think I will need some raised beds, but cant afford the large wooden ones. Are the fabric ones from Amazon any good? I also have a small patio area but it only gets a few hours of sun each day.

Buy some pallet collars and use those. They're a very good option and not expensive.

You will however struggle to grow certain things if you're limited for light. My kitchen garden is south facing but is surrounded by tall trees and so the light is limited. I can grow things like kale, perpetual spinach, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, potatoes, onions, rhubarb but lots of the berries, tomatoes, peppers etc need a lot more light.

I have a small front garden that gets better light. I have some herbs growing close to the house. All the front gardens here are open plan without fences so I'd need a fence around it first before planting food or it will get trampled on! 😂

You could try growing strawberries and cherry tomatoes in hanging baskets?
We've grown potatoes in bags like these, which worked really well.
www.wilko.com/wilko-grow-bag-vegetable-34l-40l-2-pack/p/0299011?gclid=8d556c6eff9818af0ce20e75825728e4&gclsrc=3p.ds&msclkid=8d556c6eff9818af0ce20e75825728e4&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PLA%3A%20Garden%20%26%20Outdoor%20Living&utm_term=4577404350361610&utm_content=Garden%20%26%20Outdoor

My garden is North facing too but I grow in wooden raised beds - have 3 but it’s taken 5 years to get them in as they are expensive. I also grow potatoes in bags and started to use these over the fence hangers for herbs and tumbling tomatoes.

The photos are a year apart. One of my beds gets very little sun but is fine for Brussel sprouts, rocket, etc.

Oh, photos are too large to load 🙁

Hi OP, our garden only gets a couple of sunlight hours max each day and is quite damp.

I recommend leafy veg (perennial kales, pak choi, cabbages, lettuces and salad leaves etc).
Courgettes will also do well if the soil is nutrient rich.

I created a slightly raised bed out of stone that I found in the garden. You could check out freecycle for bricks / stones or anything that could work.

Having said that, you really do not need to create a raised bed to grow veg. Raised beds are a bit trendy, but they definitely are not essential.

My parents grow almost all their own veg using a veg patch which is the same level as the lawn. Just go round the plot to edge it with a spade every year to keep the grass from rooting in.

What are your goals surrounding growing food? Are you trying to be self sufficient? Show children where food comes from? Make jam? Save money?(this is much harder to do than people assume) It helps to know why you want to do this.

Similar to you I have a garden where I struggle for light, and I also don't have much room. I grow for flavour and to have unusual things that aren't available in the shops. This leads me to grow lots of herbs, unusual shaped aubergine and tomatoes, chilli, woodland strawberry and quince. Oh and different shaped squash and pumpkin. I don't grow maincrop potatoes or carrots because I can buy them far more cheaply and easily. Reducing plastic is important to me so I try to grow a lot of salad rather than buy it in bags at the supermarket.

What are your goals?

(PS I agree no need for raised beds if your soil is okay and you can bend and kneel to cultivate. I grow in a combination of the ground and containers)

Do you have anywhere you can start plants off? If you can get them a bit bigger before planting out they will deal better with slug attack. Interplant with some sacrificial nasturtiums and hope the slugs eat them for preference

Can you dig a small pond in the boggy place - sink a container or put small liner in. If you can attract frogs or toads they will solve the slug problem.
If you do it now you can probably find some tadpoles or frogs eggs soon in the wild to add to it.
Failing that try beer traps for several weeks to reduce the number.

I don't think anything eats leeks (including deer and rabbits and voles)

For next to no money, I have a raised bed made out of upended wine bottles and I put baked eggshell grit round my plants, which deters slugs. You have to keep renewing it, but we eat a lot of eggs.
(Many of the wine bottles I begged from friends, honest! 😉)

I've grown a lot in containers in the past when the soil wasn't suitable biggest successes for least effort were gooseberries and blue berries.
I like growing these, because they are a "treat" which can be expensive or hard to find in the shops. Also, unlike raspberries, I never get bugs etc inside the fruit itself.
Perennial so low effort once established, and small bushes can be bought quite cheaply if you keep an eye out.
The blueberries need ericaceceus soil, but are very pest free in my experience.
The gooseberry variety I grew was a red coloured one, much sweeter than the green ones and SO abundant. Doesn't get attacked by slugs or snails, but I have had problems in the past with Caterpillar like creatures eating the leaves and flower buds. But the fruit itself doesn't get nibbled by slugs or bugs.
Light will be an issue though.

Annuals: runner beans are great fun and will grow in a pot, if you can keep the slugs away from the seedlings. In my experience, once they get to a certain height the slugs leave them alone. Helping them survive to that point can be tricky though! The scarlet runner beans look very pretty when they flower (the flowers are also edible!) and they produce loads.