Hello there!

Hi! I’m a complete novice to gardening, but very excited and optimistic, so please excuse me if I’m asking too many silly questions! I moved to my own house and decided it’s time to Grow My Own. When I started to think what I want in my garden couple of weeks ago, I actually thought I can plant tulips and narcissus is sort of March time, so you can tell how clueless I am! :D



Well, two weeks, one book, few tv programmes and LOTS of websites later I think I have a rough idea of what I want to grow. I’m planning to have two raised beds for vegetables, just a few flowers, couple of pots, and a herb garden. I have a 18 months old baby girl, and want her to know that carrot doesn’t really come from Asda

I will post a list of what I want to grow, so you can tell me if I’m being completely and utterly unrealistic!

 

Hello and welcome.

First thing to do is prepare the ground. That will take time, and there's a chance you'll miss the usual sowing/planting window for most things, but there's plenty of ways round that.

You mentioned herbs. A good place to start would be to start collecting some perennial herbs and keep them in pots. That way they can be growing nicely while you're busily preparing them a permanent home in the garden. I'd say a good collection of low maintenance starters would consist of Rosemary, Sage and Thyme. All three are practically bullet proof. They wont even care if you completely forget to water them for a couple of weeks. Maybe add mint to the list if you like it and can be bothered to water it regularly. Coriander and Parsley are a bit harder to look after in pots, and Basil is a non-starter unless you keep it indoors or in a greenhouse.

The good thing about the aromatic herbs is it makes for a great sensory experience for your young daughter too. To young eyes, one plant looks pretty much like another, but the herbs have nice strong and unique smells and flavours.

Good luck

 

Thank you for all your advice. I actually would love some thyme and rosemary, is it best to buy little plants on ebay? I actually already have lovage in the pot I got two years ago and it grows like a weed!

I wanted to grow stuff in raised beds, my hubby actually dug soil where they are going to be yesterday, and we were gonna put cardboard/newspapers to keep any left weeds away and fill in with some compost mix from a garden centre. Would that be ok to start growing carrots/onions in there this spring?

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Peorthine. I can't help you with herbs and vegetables, sorry they are not my domain, but feel free to fire away with any questions and members will give you a hand.

 

Hi Peorthine ive been here 2 yrs and im still asking

 

Thank you everyone for a warm welcome
I can't wait to get my hands dirty in my garden!

 

WElcome I am growing food for the first time too so will be following your progress

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

 

Great! I started a thread with my gardening plans here if you wanna have a look:
http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/my-first-time-garden-masterplan.49776/
What are you growing?

 

Welcome to GC, Peorthine

I waited for one year after moving into this house before I chose planting areas and suchlike. But, that didn't stop me from getting started on the growing front.

The garden already had a mint and a rosemary; an apple tree, a pear tree and some sort of plum/damson. I bought a grow bag to get started with tomatoes and I grew a chilli plant in a pot on decking. I couldn't commit much time and lacked too much knowledge to do more.

The second year I had raised beds (made from cheap B&Q decking boards) and grew salad leaves, radish, jerusalem artichokes, chocolate mint and rhubarb.

Last year, I raised my game a bit, planted some more fruit trees (with mixed success) and grew carrots, dwarf beans. Didn't plant any tomatoes because parts of my garden threw up "volunteer" tomato plants (probably from the compost bin or the chicken poop!). Also had some "volunteer" potatoes pop up too.

Taking it in stages is the only way I could cope with a) the knowledge b) the time and c) discovering this forum to bolster my knowledge/confidence and encouragement to try something new.

Wishing you every success with your new venture

 

Thank you Mum! Oh I wish my garden had a lot of ´volunteers´ I could eat :D

This is actually our second year too, last year there was too much to do in the house to even start thinking about gardening. I don´t want to grow lots, just one potato bag will be plenty, one row of radishes, etc. Most will be in containers too, but I was hoping to start with two small raised beds too.

 

My lo is 3. We got apples rasberries blueberries grapes blackberries to start with potatoes and toms so far.

 

Welcome.