Absolute beginner would like advice on what to grow in pots

[paddingtonbore]

I have just bought a house, and have outside space for the first time ever! It's north-facing, more of a yard than a garden, so we are looking at what we can grow in pots. there is some trellis work in the yard, so stuff that climbs would be even better.

I've never gardened before, and my poor house plants usually die fairly quickly , so I am clearly not a natural. I'd be grateful if anyone could advise on what grows well with a minimum of input.

Thanks all.

Freakily identical situation here! so watching avidly but no practical advice. I kill everything too.

So far I've bought some easy to grow seeds like nasturtiums, sweet peas, poppies and marigolds, and some strawberry plants.

so sweet peas grow in pots? great. I heart them.

c'mon gardening people, there are now two of us waiting to hang on your every word....

Yeah, you can grow them in pots, they look nice if you get a big round pot and make a wigwam from canes for them to grow up. You can lovely rustic ready made wicker wigwams, they're so pretty. Or trellis on a wall is fine too, obviously. We have lots of walls in our new north facing garden too, so we'll be getting loads of climbers to make it less blank. Clematis etc

(I only know any of this after advice from my big sis by the way, as I said, no practical experience, this is my first garden!)

There are quite a few climbers which like the shade.
However, I'd suggest you put in some raised beds rather than planting in pots. You can add much more compost so you dont need to water so often. Pots dry out very quickly and you'd need to water every day in the summer.
Railway sleepers can be used to make raised beds and look fab.
www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=284

Climbers/wall shrubs for shady walls:
Ivy
Climbing hydrangea
Honeysuckle
Some clematis
Quince (flowering)
Fatshedera (evergreen)
Pileostegia (evergreen)

and some good info here
www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardenprojects/3312852/The-knowledge.-This-week-climbers.html

I'd recommend getting a few gardening books from the library, the Matt James City Garden books are full of good info and photos and are easy to follow.

thanks James and Pannacotta. Sounds like I'm sorted for climbers.

Does anyone have any recommendations for Big Stuff - like big plants/little trees in pots?

You can really grow anything in a pot if you are prepared to look after it and the basics (light/soil type/watering) are right. For shade I would choose camellias, acers, a nice arrangement of clipped box or holly if you like that kind of thing; some bamboo for a bit of drama. Ferns, hostas. Bizzie lizzies, hellebores. Hydrangeas. Stop me when you're bored. Some viburnums. Sarcocca (Xmas box - not very interesting to look at but smells devine). Photinia. Magnolia (depends how shady).

Sweet peas need sun really to do well, but you could have a go in the sunniest bit.

If you are going for pots and buying biggish expensive plants and have an outside tap then invest a small amount in an automatic watering system - will save you a FORTUNE in plants.

Beth Chatto Woodland Garden is my fave shady garden porn.

If you want to try some veg there's a good article here on growing carrots in pots.

This is a lovely website which specialises in shade loving plants
www.plantsforshade.co.uk/
And I agree about the automatic watering system, very good idea...

thanks again, especially for the book/website recommendations.

Hope you find some inspiration.
Nice trees/shrubs for shade are Holly, Bamboo, Mahonia, Osmanthus, Camellia and Viburnum Tinus.
Crocus.co.uk is another good site for ideas and where you can order nice plants too (though it is quite pricey).

I actually managed to get Matt James' book from the library today! It's great - assumes no prior knowledge and has 1001 things to do when your garden is basically a slab of concrete. Thanks again for the recommendation.

You're welcome, have borrowed his books myself from our local library and found them really down to earth and useful.
We moved into a massively neglected garden last year so have done loads of research/reading while we work out what to do with it.
Hope you have fun, gardening is very satisfying I think!
Another site which I found really inspiring is
www.turning-earth.co.uk/index.html

Not much left for me to add, but ... if you buy large shrubs (or things which will grow into large shrubs) you can jazz them up for when they're not in flower by growing clematis or other climbbers through them. More bangs per buck!

And I always says this ... join your local horticultural society. Theye often have plant swaps in the spring, at which you can get all sorts of lovely stuff which suits local conditions.

Message withdrawn

We have a small, shared, gravelly, north facing/shady yard and have successfully managed to grow in pots the following:

rosemary
lavendar
thyme
Mint
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Beans
Pumpkins
garlic
aubergi nes
sage
mixed salad leaves
carrots
courgettes
sunflowers
roses

Plus assorted random bulbs and flowers. There's obviously a theme here, if you can't eat it, I'm not interested.

For the first year don't stress yourself with seedlings, just buy little plants from garden centres or market stalls. I also wouldn't bother with expensive containers, the 99p store ones are good enough to start with. You also need to invest in some canes for staking and some garden twine. Other than that, just plant your plants, water in well, keep damp during the hot weather and move around to catch the best of the sun.

Get the DCs to make a slug trap. Take a wide mouth jar (I used an old pickle jar) dig a hole in the ground near your pots about half the depth of your jar(this is not strictly necessary, but the are more likely to be attracted to damp, cooler spots) Put the jar in the hole and pour in an inch or so of beer. The slugs will be attracted to the beer, fall in and won't be able to get out again. Remember to empty it weekly or else it will begin to smell.

Good luck and don't be disappointed if things fail, even the best gardeners have bad years. The DC can be on watering duty (we use recycled bathwater for that extra eco friendly hit) and snail smashing patrol.

i grow loads in pots as i hate digging. i have strawberries, wysteria, roses, daffs at the moment, but will be putting sweetpeas, lobelia in them in may.
i heard that the deeper the pot the better for sweetpeas, but mine grew perfectly well last year in pota about a foot high.
i have also invested in potato bags which i have put my chitted potatoes in. look good on the patio mixed in among the pots, would recommend these.