Topic: How much could I grow in my garden?

[BarbaraGood]

I am seriously having trouble getting to my plot :( Its really getting me down, and as the rent is £75pa I think I will have to hand it over after just one year :(

So thinking ahead to growing in the garden, to see if its viable. I have a few (daft!) questions:

Which veg need lots of direct sunlight?
What can be grown in conmtainers?
What would YOU grow if space were limited?

Thanks

[Smileyk]

Well we have grown the following in containers:

Potatoes - black bins, did really well
Carrots - normal large pots, did pretty well but didn't thin them out so were a bit on the thin side!
Parsnips - normal large pots, did pretty well
Tomatoes - pots or hanging baskets

I would imagine that most things would be okay as long as the pot was big enough and you didn't overcrowd them.  Could even do beans and peas if you have a trellis or something in (or behind) the pot.

[luckydog]

This is my first year for growing veg in my garden (don't have an allotment), and am hoping to have some raised beds for next year (spoken nicely to OH ), but so far I am growing these in pots:-
Runner Beans, French Beans, Broad Beans, Peas, Beetroot, Salad Leaves, Radish, Carrots, Leeks, Baby Sweetcorn, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Courgettes, Chilli Peppers, Sweet Peppers, Strawberries and 16 pots of herbs.  Its surprising what can be grown in a small area.  :)

[BarbaraGood]

Brilliant thanks both, we have a long border that has nothing growing in it and I was thinking of that for rasied beds plus as its a terraced house, the space outside the kitchen window/dining room window is dead space, so yearning to be filled with pots of veggies ;)

Thanks :)

[saddad]

I have a friend in Pudsey who has put some raised beds in his garden and he was doing really well.. I'll take some pics when I'm next up there!
 ;D

[Tulipa]

For quite a while I survived with three 8' x 4' beds and some pots.  Joy Larkcom's Grow Your Own Veg has info on which veg give good crops without needing lots of space.  It just makes you more ingenious I think on how you grow your veg.  Good luck and have fun.

[STHLMgreen]

About containers... most things can be grown if the container is big enough. Grow boxes (where you water from underneath) have been quite helpful.

I even grew 9 huge Musselborough leeks in a conatiner last summer before we got the allotment. The bigger the better!

[Marymary]

Lettuce & spinach & chard are things which do ok in the shade - also they do well in containers so they would be good for the shady bit of a terraced house garden.  Earlier in the year Lidls had long window boxes for about 70p & I have grown loads of salad & herbs in them.

[cambourne7]

this might intrest you

http://www.rhs.org.uk/vegetables/veg3x3.asp

Its how you grow veg year around in a 3m x 3m veg plot.

Cambourne7

[debster]

grow bags are great and relatively inexpensive too my courgettes are powering away as are some of my french beans compost can also then be put on garden

[Jeannine]

If you are growing in containers there are lots of varieties of veggies now that are  a good size for containers, not huge, someone maybe along with a list in their head , I would have to look it up for you,I will if nobody comes out with it, but there is a good choice , everything from carrots and parsnips to caulis and cabbages. XX Jeannine

[kenkew]

£75.....???  ::)
Get rid of it.

[Cuke]

This is my first year of veg growing so I'm doing at home while I wait for a plot to open up and I've impressed myself with how much we've been able to fit into just the one flower bed down one side of the garden and a few grow bags and pots dotted around.

We've got...

Tomatos, cucumbers, runner beans, lettice, cauliflowers, peppers, carrots, sweetcorn, potatos, corgetts, marrows and strawberries. Not to mention a big tub full of all sorts of herbs.

We're lacking in quantity of course by squeezing so many different things in but as an experiement it's been a huge success! :)

£75 per year does seem a lot, I think that would put me off to be honest, especially if it was hard to find the time to use it as much as you'd like...