New and looking for advice

[Ceretrea]

Hi all,

I've always wanted to grow my own veg and started young, as most of us did, with tomatoes in my parents back garden.

However, faced with passing this on to my children I find myself with a garden that is not ideal for veg growing at all. Past the top 2" is sand and hardcore. With two dogs who have previously used the garden happily, and with alot of it turning to out of control lawn we are looking at a revamp. This does not include having a lawn.

I want to look at container growing, a small greenhouse and shed. I know nothing of composting other than its portrayed to be either extremely easy or extremely difficult.

I'm hoping to find what I need on this forum and share the same joy I had as a child, with the next generation.

[rustylady]

Hello Ceretrea, welcome to the Vine. Some questions for you:

1. How big is your garden?

2. How old are your children?

3. Whereabouts are you (nearest town)?

[Aberdeenplotter]

Hi all,

I've always wanted to grow my own veg and started young, as most of us did, with tomatoes in my parents back garden.

However, faced with passing this on to my children I find myself with a garden that is not ideal for veg growing at all. Past the top 2" is sand and hardcore. With two dogs who have previously used the garden happily, and with alot of it turning to out of control lawn we are looking at a revamp. This does not include having a lawn.

I want to look at container growing, a small greenhouse and shed. I know nothing of composting other than its portrayed to be either extremely easy or extremely difficult.

I'm hoping to find what I need on this forum and share the same joy I had as a child, with the next generation.

Hi Ceretrea and welcome to the forum . My favourite mantra goes something like this - If you haven't got a plot, you can grow it in a pot. If your ground is really bad, container growing may be best for you and we certainly have a wealth of experienced container growers here who will be able to give you advice

[Ceretrea]

Hi,

My garden is roughly 50ft long by 15ft wide. The bottom 10ft is the worst with various tree stumps from previous owners. The first 10-15ft is patio. The kids are 8 and 12 now, I fear they are missing out. We live near Southampton.

Good to hear about the container growers on here I'll be having a good browse over the next few weeks. I'm hoping to finish the garden overhaul by next summer. I'd like to start growing before then and I'm hoping to get the kids started with the good old tomatoes once the patio is finished.

[Verinda]

Hello Ceretrea, welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will receive lots of helpful advice here. Good luck with the garden. Perhaps you'd have room for a raised border, they can be as big or small as you want, mine are just the depth of one plank...about six inches and they are great for growing veg.

[Two_Sheds]

I know nothing of composting other than its portrayed to be either extremely easy or extremely difficult.

If you do it right, it's extremely easy !

A compost heap is a great waste disposal system, and it puts back nutrients that your garden has lost

The most important thing to remember is: "greens and browns"

How to make compost - full instructions

[Pumpkin Becki]

Hi and welcome to the Vine from me to!
My brother is in Southampton, and he has much milder weather that I do in Kent
Our allotment is on solid chalk/flint/clay, so the easiest root for us was to make raised beds from gravel boards. We stripped off the turf and stacked it next to the compost heap, then filled the beds with a mix of soil, compost and well rotted horse manure. Once it's set up, it's a really great way to garden, and weeding is soooo easy!

[Florence Fennel]

A very warm, if somewhat belated, welcome to the Vine

[bearded bloke]

Hello & welcome from I also

[veggiechicken]

Hello Ceretrea and welcome

[Feral007]

Hello from me, I won't be any help tho because I can kill anything in a pot without even trying. Lots of people on here do it well tho