Allotments 4 All

hello, the 11 year old daughter of one of my colleagues at work is very keen to start a small vegetable / flower patch, however, the mother is not sure where to start and has asked me for advice (gulp).

I've been to the SFG website and will pass on details around planning / construction etc, but it doesn't seem to give any advice on which crops to grow.  What do you think to:

Beetroot (always easy right ?)
carrots
radish
salad
tomatoes (which variety would be best for outside / easy care / 'compact')
courgette (surely the most rewarding and heavy cropping plant ever)
peas ?  (not sure if they will be worth bothering with in such a small space)
sweet pepper (too cold outdoors ?)
strawberries ?

I'm assuming that things like runner beans should be avoided due to their height (and therefore shading the other stuff ?)

I don't know anything about their soil or the situation of the garden yet.

opinions and advice welcomed

Our kids at school were fascinated by the potatoes - 'like digging for buried treasure' one said.

Quote from: mc55 on January 13, 2007, 23:49:55
What do you think to:

Beetroot (always easy right ?)
carrots
radish
salad
tomatoes (which variety would be best for outside / easy care / 'compact')
courgette (surely the most rewarding and heavy cropping plant ever)
peas ?  (not sure if they will be worth bothering with in such a small space)
sweet pepper (too cold outdoors ?)
strawberries ?

Boltardy beetroot usually does well as an early, with detroit as a baby-beetroot.
Carrots can be temperamental. Check with lottie neighbours about carrotfly and problems in your area. Some areas hardly anyone bothers, others are total opposite.
Radish are easy and usually take 4-6wks from seed to harvest.
Courgettes are easy enough and you should get plenty of crop

Are you planting large salad heads or salad leaves? Salad leaves would be best for a small plot as they are cut & come again crop. If you get green leaves such as salad bowl, or red leaves such as Lolla Rossa they will last all summer. Once grown, you can pick the leaves off from around the plant and they will regrow about 4 times each through the summer.

Spring onions are also another good easy to grow salad crop that does not take ages from seed to harvest.

Strawberries will take a lot of room unless you sow hanging plants in containers. The ground ones also need the beds weed clearing oftten which can be an arduous task.

I agree about peas - they take a lot of space, and the birds may get more than you....  Good luck ;)

Your list sounds great. They can plant beet, carrot, radish and salad leaves in succession, every couple of weeks; Beetroot Detroit or Pronto and Carrot Parmex or Paris Market for baby veg. Also a hedge against crop failure :-\
What about beans? They could sprout the big seeds, see shoots and growing plants quite soon; eat the broadies like mangetout, pods and all, when they're the size of a little finger, and enjoy bean races up poles :)
Personally I wouldn't try peas, unless you want to show them how to grow pea shoots, ready in ten days?

Tomatoes?

I'd go for Marmande (or Super Marmande) as a beefsteak, and you can't go wrong with Gardener's Delight as a cherry. Both will happily grow outside.  :)

Forgot to say that provided you run poles N-S, or E-W at the North end of the patch, they won't shade the rest of the garden too much.

Interesting thread  ;D  but what is SFG  ???  this is for other ignoramouses who may wonder as well, please enlighten me  ;)

Square Foot Gardening

we grew broccoli -raab last year, an interesting crop, you can eat it at any stage, salad, steamed, stir fried and it's fast growing, also only grows like salad leaves, with small 'heads'..melothrie, a small cucumber type crop, can be eaten fresh or pickled, we grew one in an old teapot with a hole in the bottom and a cane through it, if you're thinking of doing any pots as well, bush french beans give a good return.. :)

Quote from: Carol on January 14, 2007, 13:50:26
Interesting thread  ;D  but what is SFG  ???  this is for other ignoramouses who may wonder as well, please enlighten me  ;)

I wondered that too!  Was just about to post the same question....! ;)

Quote from: Carol on January 14, 2007, 13:50:26
Interesting thread  ;D  but what is SFG  ???  this is for other ignoramouses who may wonder as well, please enlighten me  ;)

Sorry !  I really did think I'd written it out in full in the main body - shows what thought does.

Thanks for all of the replies, my colleague is in the USA this week, so I shall share your thoughts with her next week.

Many thanks,
mc