In Need of VERY basic Veg advice - confused!

[galen]

Hi all!
I am in need of some serious ultra basic advice LOL

I used tolove gardening, did quite a bit - but never withveg. Have had a break of a couple of years due to house moves, new babies etc... but getting back into gardening again and now want to try veg!

I have cleared a smallish corner of back garden to become veg patch and am orj=king on improving the soil a bit.
What I need help with is deciding what to gro and understanding how /when to plant o have a good supply of veg over a long period of time.I'm thinking of: lettuce/salad leaves , carrots, brocolli, corgettes, runner beans/french beans, maybe leeks and potatoes. Now thinking though that due to space limitations I'll do potatoes in a sack or barrel somewhere else. Will also do some toms in pots.
But what I'm confused on is how to plan layout and how to ensure a long lasting supply of veg.If I plant a row of carrots for example, then wait for em to grow, then harvest, do I then have to replant more and wait x number of weeks to get more? Or do I need to allow space to sow some continually every coule of weeks? And have heard of "cut-and-come-again referred to for some veg (leaves etc..) - how does this work? How do I know if the seeds I have are suitable for this? Do you just keep chopping leaves off the lettuce and leave the plant there and it grows new leaves? What about if I pick the whole lettuce - can I resow another seed in same place?
Sounding very dumb and confused I know LOL Thing is I have 6 DC so one harvest of veg wont last long and I'm not sure how yougo about keeping up a constant supple rather than it being a one off IYSWIM!
Also have read a lot about using seed beds. Is this really necessary? (dont have grenhouse either)

All tips and advice would be much appreciated !

Oh and by the way am I too late to plant early potatoes?

I know you're talking about a veg patch rather than an allotment, but some of the advice here might be useful.

I haven't got time now to post in detail but ...

potatoes - probably not too late for earlies. Go to your local nursery/garden centre, see what they've got in stock and ask their advice.

salad leaves - most salads can be grown as 'cut and come again' (which means picking the outer leaves but leaving the plant to grow) but for lettuces this works better with the ones that grow as a loose bundle of leaves rather than in a tight ball.

resowing - the usual advice is little and often. So (eg) sow a short row of carrots but leave space to sow another one a week or so later, so that you have a succession of crops (books scall this succession planting).

tomatoes - good in pots and small cherry types are good in hanging baskets.

seed beds - You don't need a separate seed bed but if your soil isn't great (or if you have a big slug problem) you may get better results if you start things off in pots or modules and plant them out in the veg patch once they're established.

In deciding what to grow, think about what you like best and eat most of, as that's where you stand to gain most and save most money. But, some things - eg onions - take up a lot of space and are cheap to buy anyway, so may not be worth the effort.

HTH - come back and chat as you make progress!

With 6DC and 2? adults you need to be specific. What do you eat a lot of that costs a lot?

i.e Spuds take loads of room and one big tub will give you a meal at most ime.

Toms however are great. Buy a few from the garden centre and pot up into slightly bigger pots. Read up on what type grow best outside. Tumbling tom do well in hanging baskets for example and are great for the DC to snack on.

As for the bed - go for regular and small sowings of salad and green beans/broad beans. If you have light soil try carrots and leeks (which in winter can cost 50p each).

HTH

Thanks for the replies! Spent a long time yesterday digging over what is to be veg patch! At the moment it is a very small space, will probably extend it at a later date into what was once flower border to the left, but have a nice dug area to start with now!
Have been thinking about veg choices... pots may not be best in terms of space...also if I used a pot sack I would only get one harvest...not sure.
Anyway would def like to do: carrots, spinach, runner beans and maybe some dwarf beans, are peas easy ? Would love fresh peas through summer, lettuce, spring onions, brocolli, and leeks ( make loads of Leek and pot soup in winter, and lots of casseroles with leeks etc..)Will also do toms in pots/baskets and strwaberry plants in pots.

So now need to plan where it all goes! Will do continuous sowings for carrots, spinach, spring onions and beans...and hopefully have good supply over summer...
So how should I start them off? I have some seed trays - should they all be started off in those? If so should I keep them inside on a window sill (no greenhouse sadly or anything similar and too broke to get one!) I read somewhere carrots should be planted direct - is this true? If so when would it be warm enough for this?

Thanks for the tips ladies - keep em coming!

oh hmm soil not really light.... does that mean carrots and leeks wont do well... it's not too bad, but I would say tends more on the heavier side. Can I add anything that will help? ( have dug in some multi purpose compost)

My recommendation would be to split the growing area into 4 - it is important to rotate crops annually to help prevent blight etc.

Keep the following together

• onions (inc leeks and garlic) carrots and parsnip

• peas and beans

• potatoes and tomatoes

• cabbage family (inc Cauli, broccoli, kale, turnip and radish)

fit in short crops (things that grow quickly) between others or when harvest is done - salad etc

Multi purpose compst will not be a great soil improver, but ok. Do you have clay? If so you can add sand, farm yard manure or organic matter (home made compost or leaf mold) If you want really specific advice on soli improvemnet I will have to dig out my notes as I didn't pay much attention when we did that!

I use lengths of guttering for seeds, makes it easier to plant out - they just slide into place!

Carrots can be sown direct from Feb - August, for harvesting Jun - Oct. I can never remember when it is a greatest risk of carrot root fly thingy.

Early spuds are better than maincrop for avoiding blight imho, although there are blight resistant vars. Pleanty of time to get those in yet.

Planing out depends on where you live, Corwall is frost free earlier than Scotland.

Oh, and only grow what you will eat! 4 courgette plants will yeild enough for us to eat (2dc/2adults) and a little left to freeze.

Squashes that keep well for the winter etc we grow loads of as so versatile but unless you have a real thing for beetroots, you will only need a few (staggered) sowings of those.

you might struggle with carrots if you have clay soil, but if you are prepared to dig some sand in, it would help. Leeks will be fine though, They are in the ground for a long period of time though, so if space is limited, you might want to re-think growing them.

If you buy Chard seeds rather than spinach, it is easier to grow and keeps coming back (cut and come again as you mentioned ealier).

Broccoli can be planted into seed trays now. You will need to protect them til about april / may time. Have you got room for a cold frame where you could start your seeds off?

Carrots, onion sets, broad beans, beetroot can be planted out now direct into the soil.
It is not too late for potatoes, earlies should be planted out around now an into early april.
Runner beans need to be protected, it is a bit early to sow those yet, you could start sowing lettuce in seed trays now, but keep it protected.

It might be worth doing a big tub of carrots if your soil is heavy. I am going to try it this year as we have clay.

Leeks were well worth the effort last year, I just put them around the edges as I knew the would be in for a long time. It also meant I didn't have to trample on wet and frozen soil to get at them in January

You asked about Peas. I always grow some as I love eating them off the plant but struggle to grow enough for more than a few meals - 2 adults and now DD.

Courgettes take alot of space so if you are not mad on them just do one, you will still get enough to eat them once or twice a week.

Broccoli - I tried for the first time last year but did not net it and the catapillars won the battle. If you don't mind using chemicals you could just spray the plants but after 5 years here and no chemicals I hate to go back myself.