Kitchen Garden Forum

or does it sound way too enthusiastic?

Having looked through a list of veg, I'm interested in trying my hand at:-

beetroot
lettuce
peppers - sweet & chilli
potatoes
radishes
runner beans
spring onions
tomatoes

But NOT all in my first season!!!!!

I've sown some spring onion seeds in a pot, and think I'll maybe go with the spring onion, beetroot, runner beans (only 2 or 3 plants!) and tomatoes in a grow-bag (hidden in a sem-sunny spot round the side of the shed - out of direct view from the house, so should keep hubby happy).

Does that sound easy enough for a total beginner?

Why not all in your first season? ,all of them are fairly easy ,tomatoes you need to check the types as you have to side shoot many,it's quite easy when you get the hang of it.I think hubby will be sneaking down the side of the shed to see what you're up to

Hi Macmac, I can't take over the garden with veggies as hubby wants it to LOOK like a garden. I've had such a battle (involving tears too!) to win the right to have a coldframe and use pots to plant out my veg.

I really want to grow 'beginner' stuff first so at least I have some successes and hopefully it will win him round. Then my collection of pots or flower-bed space can sneakily grow a little without him noticing

PMSL - sowed some cress seeds this afternoon in a tray. Now, that's not really gardening is it! LOL Should have kept some egg shells to grow them in - PMSL. Just wanted to (a) see if I CAN actually grow something, and, (b) see what my 'growings' taste like.

Hi Piglet,

I am sort of new to this game. The last 3 years I have only ever done courgettes/squash but relaised that they didn't like their place in the garden. This year I moved everything around and put 4 raised beds and went for it. I decided what was the worst that could happen? I would still need to do my weekly veg shop OR it could all work. I have a 3 yr old daughter who learnt so much with planning it all, planting seeds, potting on etc....

so what did we manage to grow and how did we succeed

spring onions
leeks
garlic
squash
pumpkin
courgette
florence fennel
celeriac
beetroot
tomatoes
peas
mangetout
french climbing beans
broad beans
globe artichoke
cauliflower
broccoli
turnips
radish
potatoes (in bags)
asparagus separate dedicated bed

and what happened? Well some things took 4 attempts, fennel and spring onions. All the tomatoes got blight so I had to go to the tip. I didn't have to spray anything and it has all grown unblemished and looks amazing I am absolutely gobsmacked!

I was recommended a really good book by a friend about crop rotation and have arranged my beds like that, plus companion planting as I wanted it to look like a French Potager garden....it is right in the middle of my garden for all to see so it has to look pretty! I made some great sculptures with willow for the peas to climb up (thank you Gardener's World 30 mins tips)

Plus subscribed to the Kitchen Garden mag which has helped a treat.

I feel truely incentivised (except the toms) and can't wait for the next round.

You really can put the plants on show and make it look attractive, even let some of it go to seed so the flowers look the part. I am not a huge fan of pots as they need so much watering and we had too many as a child. I don't have a greenhouse or a cold frame. I do have a potting shed with a top half height pane of glass which helped bring things on. I planted a lot straight into the ground.

Hope that helps!

Wow Snip good for you what a splendid crop,don't be too disheartened by the blight we didn't manage any toms 2007/8 but have had loads this year although still lost plenty to blight .I think piglet will do fine if she sneaks stuff in without hubby noticing

Dear Snip, i would think every newcomer will find your last post very encouraging, coming from a relatively newcomer yourself. Especially the growing of vegatables to look attractive as well as useful in the kitchen.

A very big congratulations on your success.

Thanks for the confidence boost. All I can do now is take up reading Sarah Raven's cook book in earnest so that I don't eat the same meal for weeks on end!

Sarah Ravens cookbook is fantastic!

Just a point when I posted earlier about sideshooting tomatoes my 8year old grandaughter asked what was side shooting?I can now declare she has successfully sideshooted her first tomato

WOW - if that isn't encouragement, then I don't know what IS! A HUGE well done, Snip. And great for a child to get used to it.

When I was a youngster I used to go down the allotment with my parents. Probably more of a hindrance than a help, but, hey, it's stuck with me all these years and I'm wanting to give it a go myself now. Reckon I'm the same age that my parents were when they got their first allotment.

I've tried carrots years ago and didn't have a jot of luck, but reading a book it says you can try growing them (singly, mind) in plastic milk 'bottles'. If I sow them in September they will be ready in early spring apparently, and hidden in the coldframe the 'ugly' bottles won't get seen!

So, the plan is this:
Spring onions in a pot (into the coldframe)
Carrots sown into milk bottles (into the coldframe)
A grow-bag for 3 tomato plants next year out of direct view round the side of the shed in a semi-sunny spot
A lovely straight potato 'hedge' in a currently dis-used flower bed.
Beetroot started off in the c/f if nec, then into pots
Radishes started off in the c/f if nec, then into pots
Lettuces in the coldframe next month, then into pots
Oh, and my little pot of cress on the window-sill

Blimey, that's 8 different things.

Why not grow a tumbler type of tomato in a hanging basket - no need to side-shoot etc and you can convince your husband that it is just a decorative plant until you get the tomatoes!

It's also worth looking at some ornamental kitchen gardens as you could grow plants in amongst your flowers. Runner beans have decorative flowers and could be grown up an arch or other decorative support, beetroot and chard leaves are decorative and lots of herbs look really good. Some lettuce/salad leaves are very attractive too. Growing vegetables amongst flowers can also fool the pests to some extent.

The brilliant Geoff Hamilton wrote a book The Ornamental Kitchen Garden but I'm not sure that it is still in print.

you can find it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ornamental-Kitchen-Garden-Gardeners-World/dp/0563360178/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251818458&sr=1-2