Topic: What to grow?

[Yellow Petals]

Well, I thought I might try growing some edibles at the back of my garden this year.
Nothing fancy, it's only a small garden and ..... I've never ever grown edibles before.

Here are my questions.  The soil is quite clay laden, what do I have to do to prepare and when should I start?

My back garden only gets the sun for not quite half a day, so what would be best to try? 

What can be grown in pots (and I'm a newbie to this so don't say everything!) in small amounts without too much Krypton Factor effort (I've seen those runner bean frames in The Gallery!)

Ok, that will do for starters, thank you.

[Mrs Ava]

You are going to be bombarded with advice YP!  ;D  In pots, a tomato plant - you can buy small plants in spring, put them in a nice big pot in a sunny spot with a bamboo, and voila!  Could do the same with a sweet pepper or chilli plant.  Again, you can buy these already growing in March and April.  Salads are easy, and quick to reward and they won't mind a dappled shade type area.  In fact, I grow my lettuce in the shade of other plants, or in the shadey patch of the plot as they are less likely to bolt.  I lean towards the cut and come again types as you aren't left with a huge lettuce to scoff.  Number one son grew a lovely cucumber plant in a pot on our deck this summer - shame he doesn't eat them!

As for the soil.....I am no expert at all, and I garden on the same lovely Essex clay as you do, so if is incredibly fertile!  I just incorporate compost and rotted manure as I go along really.  It will be things like carrots and parsnips that won't be thrilled with rough clay, but if you aren't planning for them I wouldn't be overly worried.........

She now ducks as the professional advice comes in......

[redimp]

I have grown runner beans and broad beans in pots and onions, garlic and conical cabbages in my borders in a very shady small back garden as well as tomatoes and chillies.  Not brilliant yields or sizes but still stuff to eat that I grew myself and it tasted wonderful.

[jennym]

You could try a thornless blackberry like Oregon or Merton, or loganberry like Loganberry LY654  direct into the soil, using an existing wall or fence for training. They do well in clay.

[wardy]

I grew veggies in my horrid clay.  It was rock hard in summer and waterlogged in winter.  I put in lots of grit, homemade compost and I got loads of well rotted farmyard manure and put that in.  I grew lovely carrots which I was amazed at.  We had terrible slug probs so I put all my tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers and chillies in 9 or 12" pots in Growbag compost.  I tried the growbags direct onto the patio but the slugs got in too easily so I went for pots after that.  Did runner beans in the borders on a cane wigwam and they were fine with some manure.
I grew flat leaf parsley directly into the clay soil and that thrived as did chervil.  Had no luck with spinach though directly into the soil but that does fine in containers as EJ says.  I'd recommend a cut and come again Oriental leaf mix.  Dead easy to grow and almost instant stir fry material  :)

[Georgie]

I also have a small garden with a similar amount of sunshine and grow all my edibles in 12" pots.  This year the most successful things were Garlic, Cape Gooseberries, Cherry Tomatoes, Dwarf French Beans and Parsley.  You can't expect to be self-suffiecent but as RC says, they taste wonderful and you get a real sense of achievement.  Next year I'm trying Raspberries (courtesy of Icy) and a load other other things too.  My advice is if you love it, give it a try.   ;D

G xx

[amanda21]

I too have this type of small back garden with limited sunshine and am pleased to see what everyone else grows in these conditions.  I'm a real newbie to veg growing (or growing anything come to that!) but will certainly have a bash at some container edibles this year - can't wait to get going now!  :D  As a note - my front garden is south facing and we are about to get rid of an old conifer and some scraggy lawn to gravel so that my eldest daugher has somewhere to park her car.  I will have enough room for some small beds at the back - under the front window and intend to have some nice pots - do you think I could get away with some of the nicer veg specimens in the front - or will they just get nicked do you think??  ;)

[Georgie]

I don't know about them getting stolen, Amanda, but I don't think I'd want to grow edibles close to where a car is regualrly parked because of all those fumes.   :(

G xx

[Yellow Petals]

Oh this is all very encouraging, thanks people for your advice and input.  I'm quite excited about it actually.  I've not done anything like this before. 

Nearest I've come to it was helping to dig over my parent's allotment when I was still at school! Hehe.

Another question.  If I didn't want to start with the already potted ones as EJ suggested (although I probably will!) when do I start preparing/planting etc from scratch please?   

[Georgie]

The beauty of growing in pots is that there is no soil preparation, although obviously you will need a good supply of suitable compost and appropriate feed.  As to when you can sow you should be guided by the seed packets.  The earliest I start is February with Chillies, Spring Onions and Tomatoes on the kitchen window sill.  It all rather depends on what you have decided to grow.

G xx

[wardy]

I get itchy fingers and like to grow something so start my seed sowing off with GERANIUMS, I know you can't eat em but it keeps me happy.  Once you've got the heated propagator out it's like the starting gun's gone off  ;D

[cleo]

Salad crops would be No1-nothing beats that fresh taste.

Yes tomatoes-if you only have room for a couple grow something like Gardener`s Delight`-there are better it`s true but for a reliable one with flavour it holds up well.

Climbing French Beans do well .

And beg one or two sprout seeds-pick them on Christmas day and think of your post

[Yellow Petals]

My thread was pushed off the page, well.....I'm not having that, no sireeee!  ;D ;D

Anyway, today I have been and bought myself some seeds of peppers and onions, yay!
Also got me three sets of seed trays (+ inlays) and two mini propagator type things.

Now, I know I am going to make a fool of myself here but on the packet it says cover with compost and keep moist throughout growing.  When it says keep moist, does it mean moist to the point of squidging the compost down and seeing a little water or just moist in how you would water your flowers in the summer?

Thanks.

[Svea]

i disagree on the sprouts advice

i have a very small plot and grew sprouts, for the fun factor - never having done it before. they grew to huge plants and i have only just started hgarvesting from them. but the whitefly are a big problem and so my harvest is not amazing. i will spend 50p on a bag of sprouts next christmas and get some smaller more productive plants in instead (broccoli, for instance, did very well)

[wardy]

YP  Congrats on the seeds  :)   Water your pots/trays from underneath if you can as some seeds are tiny and could get flushed out the pot etc if watered from top.  They can also end up too deep and then not show at all. Watering from the bottom of the pot by standing it in a tray (or anything you can lay your hands on) and then taking out when the surface of the compost glistens with water.  You can then take it out and stand it somewhere to drain so that your seedlings don't end up sitting in a bath of water.

[Yellow Petals]

Wardy, thank you for the advice, much appreciated  :)

Apart from my husband's birthday tomorrow, I don't have another full day off until next Thursday when I shall throw myself into it!  (like a huge adventure hehe) Is that ok and not too early?

[MikeB]

YP get the book  ' Square foot gardening ' from the library, great advice on what to grow in a restricted area.  Claims to be able to feed 1 person for 1 year from a 4' x 4' plot  with no surplus.  I intend to follow his advice this year, but at the moment I can't comment on how good it is.

[John_H]

The most useful advice I would give about 'what to grow' is make sure its what you want to eat!

It feels a bit embarassing to admit it, but when I started off I grew quite a few things I thought ought to be on an allotment, and in qunatities I was never going to eat. LOL

[redimp]

Also got me three sets of seed trays (+ inlays) and two mini propagator type things.

By September you will probably be able to multiply these numbers by ten  ;)