Starting to think about vegetable garden this year...last year (my first) was unutterably dire and crap. Your recommendations please about what to plant for success?

[handlemecarefully]

Have 4 raised beds - about 6 foot by 6 foot...

Last year (my novice attempts at growing my own)

Bed 1: I used one bed for peas - mixed results. The plants took up a lot of room and I got a good first harvest, but 2nd harvest blighted by what I think was powdery mildew.

Bed 2: all carrots - nantes variety. Yummy but I think it was carrot fly that affected some (despite growing them under fine mesh poly tunnels)

Bed 3: Strawberry plants. Grew well but as fast as they were ripening the strawberries were being devoured - by woodlice I think, because I find woodlice in situ in some of the holes in them

Bed 4: Spinach and calabrese. Spinach did fine, calabrese unimpressive and disappointing.

In addition - a courgette plant that I grew under cover and then planted out was devoured instantly. Also lost loads of lettuce and rocket this way

Overall felt demoralised and that effort in exceeded gains 'out'

Please walk me through it - what should I grow (and how should I grow it) to guarantee better results?

you were very unlucky to have started last year - it was a notoriously difficult year for most gardeners.Too dry early on, then too wet and a plague of slugs!

Beans (runners or french) are qwuite easy and have good yeilds for not much work!

Carrots - sow well before June or after july to minimise carrot fly. Also, grow onions, leeks, spring onions etc next to them as allegedly the carrot fly are put off by alliums.

Courgettes were dismal for me last year though I have never had a problem before. Ditto squah/pumpkins

My lettuces were pretty good - I grew little gems, webbs wonders and lots of those mixed leaves.

No idea about woodlous strawbs, sorry!

I have usually found beetroot, potatoes, courgettes, spinach & rocket grow well. Oh and tomatoes in pots or grow bags.

The dreaded slugs can be a nightmare though. Raised beds should help a bit, you could also try some of the "barrier" deterrents like crushed egg shells around the edges of the beds. Or you can buy some organic stuff to sprinkle around that dries them up! In some years they are really bad though - I have been out in the rain sprinkling salt on them in the past - & I'm a vegetarian supposed animal lover!!

Have had less success with peas, beans, carrots, leeks, onions.

Ah well it is reassuring to hear that it was bad for everyone - even seasoned gardeners, last year....

Try autumn king carrots, far more resistant to carrot fly or you could try planting onions between the rows.

Try runner beans if you like them rather than peas, the crop is generally heavier and less prone to mildew.

Agree try tomotoes they are gorgeous straight off the vine, although if you have had a mildew problem try varieties like alicante or ferline as they are blight resistent.

woodlice - total nightmare and no cure that i know of (save picking them off and re-patriating them to another location - yukky job though").

Thanks - I will try those varieties

my courgettes were the best of a bad lot last year, i managed to get two whole courgettes! meanwhile aubergine died and squash didn't produce anything. peas hahahah they keeled straight over and as for runner beans - i grew 20 plants they all died so i bought another 10 and they followed suit. on to the sweetcorn... another disaster, poor dried up little husk.

the only thing which grew at all well was tomatoes hence i was tempted to branch out a bit. oh hasty thought.

tomatoes are a bit of a winner generally aren't they - I have grown some previously in hanging baskets with little effort

agree,.. last year was not a good year.
I've just about given up on the brassicas, to many problems with cabbage whites to be worthwhile,...but hey, I'm a sucker for punishment so I'll probably try again this year. Saying that though,... I'm still eating my cavolo nero which is delicious!
Courgettes are always good here, ds's get sick of them they're so prolific.
We always grow loads of broad beans, they grow well, don't have to many pests that affect them and tasty!
Our Alpine strawberries are eaten the minute they ripen, you've got to grab them early!
Our carrots did ok last year, I surrounded them with chives and nasturstiums
Agree with jolly, beetroot are fantastic! really easy and delicious roasted and mixed with feta and balsamic.

oh and Leeks!
Grow them just for the monster (allium) flowers they're wonderful!

leeks. mine are about to celebrate their first birthday and they are still pencil sized.

You can buy a slug killer called NemaSlug which is a high concentration of nematodes (naematodes sp?) that occur naturally in much lower numbers. They only attack slugs, and they kill the slugs appetite first, then breed inside the slug, killing it.

You can also buy nematodes that are specific to other pests like vine weevil.

we also tried Autumn King carrots last year and had no problems
a mixed pack of salad leaves was wildly successful - very little got eaten by anything except us
mini pumpkins less successful - I gave up pollinating them and absolutely squat happened after that

Try a carrot fly resistant carrot like this: suttons-seeds.co.uk/pd_157300_Carrot_F1_Maestro_Seeds.htm
Courgettes should be really easy... Maybe plant more than one and leave it a bit longer before planting out? I found broad beans really easy and they produce a bit better than peas. How about potatoes?

Last year we had success with broad beans, french beans, carrots, potatoes, leeks and courgettes. Some success with peas, but none at all with tomatoes, swede, calabrese, kale, lettuce, onions or pumpkins. I think it's partly because it was so wet and partly because anything leafy got eaten...

Oops - I didn't do that link properly. It's here.