Help a gardening newbie! Fruit/veg in raised beds!

[Username24680]

Recently moved into our new house and there are 2 lovely brick raised beds in the back garden.

DH and I are NOT gardeners - but we love the idea of trying to get into it. We’d love to plant some fruit/veg this year and see how we get on.

We don’t have a huge space - 2 beds at about 2m x 1.5m each. Slightly hidden by our garage so get sun until mid afternoon. West Scotland too so not as sunny as down south!

What would be your go-to for a first try? What works well planted together? Is there anything obvious that I should be avoiding? (No information is too basic here - when I say I don’t garden, I literally cut grass and that’s my lot!)

So the most obvious thing is to grow things that you like to eat... or don't grow things that you don't want to eat! Is there anything that has taken your fancy already?

With small spaces, I'd suggest NOT growing stuff that stays in the ground for ages in peak season and only gives one harvest - eg spuds, cabbage, onions.

Also,make use of all the space - so grow up if you can.

Watch Charles dowding no dig channel on youtube, pick vegetables you'd like to have a go at growing, there is also a planting calendar on the no dig website which tells you what you can plant in each month.
I really like realseeds.co.uk for vegetable and flower seeds too. They specifically sell a low wage gardeners seed pack, if you aren't low waged you can buy them full price, but the pack is made up of easy to grow varieties that don't need a greenhouse etc so should be straightforward for novice gardeners. Happy growing!

If you have two, you could use one for veg that you replant each year, and one for permanent stuff. Eg a single tayberry or loganberry trained along the back, strawberries where they can dangle over the front, then whatever in between, perhaps herbs.

What would you eat? Are you into freezing/pickling etc to store surplus?

The west of Scotland can be bloody freezing if you're up a mountain, or very mild if you're by the coast and benefitting from the gulf stream. Which are you?

@TheSpottedZebra We love our fruit and veg and there isn’t much that doesn’t get eaten in this house! Toddler DS just about eats us out of house and home 🤣

@FamilyStrifeIsHard2Bear Thank you! I’ll take a look at those 😊

@MereDintofPandiculation Thats a good idea! Thank you!

@mauvish We’re right by the coast 😊 Definitely happy to freeze but pickling etc isn’t for me!

I like to grow things that are expensive in the shops - raspberries (autumn fruiting variety so I just have to cut them to the ground in February and let them grow each year), blackcurrants, strawberries.

Eating raspberries and strawberries warm from the sun is wonderful, even if it’s a short season.

Runner greens grow really successfully also courgettes , kale and beetroot . Rhubarb excellent too.
Still waiting for my raspberries to get really productive

@SBAM I think this will be our aim too! Toddler costs us a small fortune in soft fruits 😅 I’m thinking I could grow raspberries and blueberries in large pots rather than them being in the beds?

@Quitelikeacatslife Thanks for the suggestions 😊 I spent a good while in Dobbies yesterday reading all the seed packs and trying to pick what to make a start with 😅 Rhubarb isn’t a favourite in this house but the rest would go down well 😊

@Username24680 If you have a toddler they might enjoy cherry tomatoes too? I grew a variety called sweet million last year and they were small and super sweet and very productive.

Oh, and yes, blueberries can be grown well in pots, there was a thread in gardening a few days ago about raspberries in pots so maybe take a look at that because I think the consensus from experienced gardeners was that only a limited type of raspberries suit being in a pot.

I am quite an amateur too but my greatest success one year was sweet corn grown from seeds in a sheltered bed. The best food ever eaten within minutes of being picked. But I am down south.
Other successes in pots have been tons of tomatoes, small ones have worked best for me, herbs, sage and rosemary and thyme, chilli, and strawberries- we don't get huge amounts but you might - what a total joy. If you have allotments nearby you could go and ask what grows best your area and what soil they use.

Rhubarb is often being given away by gardeners as it's so successful- but it also looks amazing

We grow lots of stuff in pots, containers and raised beds. Things that have been successful: Baby sweet corn, tomatos, potatoes, lettuce, spring onions, garlic, kale, courgettes (careful though, they like a lot of space) strawberries, herbs, dwarf beans, peas (delicious just picked).

We had less success with some other things like pumpkins and other squashes, but I think that was more to do with when and where we planted them.

Grow what you like to eat is good advice.

I love freshly picked dwarf french beans and plant several seeds in a pot every week or two.
I planted some peas in a pot a few years ago but I didn't get a look in. My two young GC visited and spent a busy hour or two picking the pods, getting the peas out and eating them raw.

In a similar location/climate I had the best luck with runner beans, peas, rainbow chard, beetroot, kale, spring onions, kohl rabi, salad leaves and radishes. They're all quite productive in a relatively short time frame too, so you're not waiting ages before you feel successful!

@Username24680 I’m on the Scottish East Coast (so maybe not as much rain but probably a bit less sunshine too than you) and have a couple of raised beds and a greenhouse. I grow blueberries, gooseberries and strawberries in large pots and I have an apple tree trained along a fence to save space. I also grow lots of courgette in pots as they spread out and take up too much room in my beds. Veg that I grow outside successfully are any kind of bean. They are prolific and you can just keep picking all through late summer into autumn. Peas and mange tout. Beetroot, carrots, celeriac, small turnips and some lettuce. My cabbages never seem to come to much but that might just be me 😂. Last year, by accident, a good few tomato plants sprung up but I didn’t have enough heat to get a decent crop. They’re better in the greenhouse without a doubt but you could put a couple in pots then move them with the sun.

good luck.