Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi,
I've just found your pages and have a feeling they will be a great help as we (that is me and boyfriend ) have just started to grow our own and get self sufficent at long last.
If there is any help / advice that anyone can give to get us started itwould be much appreciated as my poor brain if getting rather overwhelmed.

Thanks

HI VV,
A hearty welcome to the best forum on vegetables.
I feel that I must ask how much growing you have done so far and how large is the plot you intend to use ?
I would be a great help if we know where you live, which can be arranged in the 'user control panel' at the top left of the page. This gives an idea as to what sort of weather you are likely to encounter so that the advice given to you can be is as accurate as possible.
I feel that we all look forward to advising you.
JB.

Hi VV

A warm welcome from me too. As well as Johnboy's questions I would ask you to take a while to think what you would like to grow next year. When we know that I'm sure the advice will come flooding your way. Now is probably the best time of all to get some planning done.

Alan

Welcome VV. Don't ever be afraid to ask questions, no matter how daft you think they are! You will be among friends here...this is by far the best forum and there are folks on here who have so much knowledge, you need never be at a loss.
It's not all just learning about growing vegetables though..there is a great deal of fun and humour!
Best of luck with your new adventure!
Cheers.

Welcome to the forum valiant veggies.
Some general advice, grow veg that you like, your favourite veg, if space is limited grow the veg that are expensive to buy in the shops, and think vertical/climbers not just horizontal.
Start simple and stagger your plantings so you get a steady supply.
Improve your soil, good veg need good soil to thrive.
Whatever your soil type, organic matter (such as homemade compost and leafmould) should be added regularly to improve structure and nutrient content. Organic matter acts as a soil conditioner. It helps to break up heavy clay soils (improving drainage) or it binds together sandy soil (improving retention of water and nutrients). If added once a year, organic matter will improve your soil and overcome any problems associated with texture. Adding organic matter can also slightly lower the pH of the soil (see below) to a level perfect for most vegetables. If you use manure, check your source has not used the weedkiller Aminopyralid, this causes stunted growth and mishapen veg,
If you want good pollination of your crops add in some bee attractant flowers, herbs and fruit blossom.

Hi NB,
Whereas I agree with what you have said I feel that it would be better to hear back from VV as to what stage of advice she needs.
Too much detail can send a newcomer into a panic because there is too much to consider of which they know nothing.
I suspect that one step at a time is just fast enough.
I agree with Elaine that really there is no such thing as a daft question and if anybody doesn't understand a reply given to them they should always come back to us and couched in a different way the point becomes clear and if it isn't always come back again!
If I ever give an answer to anybody and they do not understand what I mean I am always available by PM to give them an explanation as I am sure the same applies to most contributors to this forum.
JB.

Wow thanks everybody for your advice and offers of help so far.

Well here in a nut shell is whats happening.

My partner has the primary plot of land up in N.Lincs near to Hull and he has started us off easy (I hope) with a couple of raised beds he made from bits of wood left over from building his woodstores. He is also using the soil, which appears to be very clay based, from where he has dug out an area for a shed to fill them along with bags of compost to loosen it up abit.

We have only planted what was available at the local garden center so its pototoes that should be ready for Xmas, peppers & chillis, purple sprouting broccil, sprouts, herbs and we have managed to get some seed going of radishes, winter salad leaves and an attempt with garlic.

We will also be looking into getting some pots ready so I can have some in my garden which is in Staffs ( yes I know nothing like a couple hundred miles difference lol) and then progress to my own raised bed.

I hope this is little bit of info helps answer some of your questions. So I spupose the one main thing for now is are we doing ok for begginners and what should we do with the soil as i'm worrying it may get rather guey ove the winter and drawn my poor little veggies in mud.

Hi again VV

Reading your latest post a couple of questions/concerns occur to me.

When were the potatoes planted and what protection will they have when the frost comes in the next week or so? They will need a lot of protection if you are to have them at Christmas.

When were the chilis and peppers planted? If they are outside they need to produce quite soon as they will succumb to the first frost.

Sorry to sound gloomy, but forewarned is forearmed.

Alan

Your not gloomy.

The tatties have been in about a month and are growing fast. We decided to try them in the raised bed and bank them with soil/compost, while building up wooden supports round them ( imagine stacked draws and itll be a rough idea of what it looks like ) then at some point soon will cover them over. Hopefully this will work out ok!.

As for the peppers & chillies we cheated they had already started to produce a harvest when we found them in garden centre so they have just been popped into the r.beds to keep the tatties company.

I'm hoping that there will be enough shelter from the hedges and sheds to keep the worst of but who can tell what Mother Nature will throw at us this year, hence my other posts about starting things on window sills.

valient veggies. A good all round book is "The Vegetable & Herb Expert" by Dr.D.G.Hessayon. ISBN 0-903-50546-0

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8968&p=85672#p85672

just a few pics from another post on here of the (hopefully) budding and bulging beds in the seasons to come.

Hi Valiant veggies. Another useful book by the royal horticultural society experts which is very practical because it guides month by month, has time planning reminders and info on resources,recipes too, and space where you can enter your own notes too for future reference -

GROW YOUR OWN VEG journal
BY Carol Klein

A [belated] welcome from me too VV and good luck. It sounds to me as if you are in or near country, so a few thoughts occur to me:

Gather as many leaves as you can in the autumn and put them into a "bin" which you can construct out of wire netting. My "bin" is about 4 foot square. Let the rain in, and in one year you should have good leafmould. I then spread this in the autumn generously on the beds where I will grow carrots and parsnips.

Don't ever throw away cardboard. I use it for the following: covering the dug-over beds in autumn to prevent winter rains leeching the soil; covering the paths between raised beds; shredding and putting into the compost bins to get the 3:1 carbon:nitrogen ratio; mulching and making collars to stop the cabbage root fly.

I also use wadges of newspaper to earth up spuds.

Get some large containers with lids and put your dug-up weeds in them. Fill with water [or let the rain do it] and after a while, quicker in summer, you will have a liquid plant feed. It will stink, but who cares, especially if you have remembered the lids? This is how I get my own back on bindweed, which brings up minerals from the soil which shallower-rooted plants don't access.

Take your time. I think what I did was a mistake, trying to get the whhole allotment into raised beds all at once. If you haven't the time to do as much as you want, cover some of the plot with cardboard or black polythene and cultivate the other bit.

Make your paths between the raised beds wider than you perhaps think, and consider how you are going to turn the wheelbarrow at the corners when it is full of 4 bags of manure. If you have the space, 2 ft or 2'6'' may be better in the long run than skimping on the paths for a few inches extra growing space on the beds.

Christmas comes in summer time on an allotment: hoe hoe hoe!

Good luck
mike