First timer, hoping to learn and 'grow' ;)

[TheDogMan]

Hi all,

Im from sunny Manchester

Im basically here because, over the last few months, have i been thinking about the amount of wrong foods myself and the people around me are putting into our bodies. Actually, it started off with liking a facebook page and bit by bit ive started to look into whats in the food we're eating. So after popping down to the supermarket a few weeks ago, seeing the price of organic, and steering clear due to the cost, i came home and tried to find if the price difference really was worth the benefits. Only then i started to realise that even filling our shopping trolley with all these fruits and vegetables, i couldn't guarentee that it wasn't going to be chemically harmful to us in some way. So, i find myself looking at ways i could maybe grow some of them myself, in our small garden. It will be a long process for me, in the meantime i will continue with the supermarkets, (better than pizza and chips every night huh), but i literally have no idea at the moment, so am starting right at the beginning. Im looking forward to reading the posts on this forum, and maybe this year i could grow my first few carrots. Thats the first step i want to acheive

Thanks for reading.

Mike

[veggiechicken]

Hi Mike and welcome to the Forum
First question, how much growing space do you have? If its just room for a few pots, don't worry, we can still find you something to grow.
Second question is - what do you like to eat? Some veg are easier than others.
So give us some clues and we'll help you turn your back on the supermarkets.

And.......Have you considered getting an allotment?

[Bigmallly]

Hello Mike & welcome to the Jungle. Are you thinking of growing in containers or do you have a patch of ground?

[lottie dolly]

Welcome to the vine mike,you will soon pick things up,if you do as suggested by VC,then we will be able to help in some way,as long as you can accept funny shaped veggies,and a few failurs,you will be just fine,for every question come several answers,this may be on account of the area you live,down to what you grow in,also the weather,do not let it put you off,as soon as your taste buds get hold of home grown,the buzzes really kick in,

[Lisasbolt]

Helcome to the vine,

Welcome to the club a lot of us garden as we hate the rubbish they spray everything with, lots of useful info on here.
We are here to help, start easy and enjoy it as a hobby

[TheDogMan]

Thank you veggiechicken and bigmally.

Ive not got much of a garden and what i do have is flagged, actually, we are looking at purchasing our first home next year, so i figured it would be ideal for us to have a go in some containers and learn the very basics and maybe, this time next year...

Ive been looking at these large planters. Im not bad with wood work so could make it myself and save some £'s, and we have 3 dogs which it would stop p'ing on them. Or alternatively, i could just fence a part of the garden off, and use plastic containers.

http://www.livinggreenplanters.com/w...lanter_005.JPG

We have really been enjoying vegetable soups since trying to eat lots of vegetables.
We followed a recipe (yes we really needed instructions on how to make a vegetable soup lol) Potatoes, Carrots, Celery, Peas, Sweetcorn, Spinach, Cabbage and a bit of garlic. But we have also been experimenting with smoothies and juicing. Reading how much of a superfood Kale is we're having lots of that.

Carrots would be a massive acheivement for me, if we could grow some carrots and they came out ok id be well chuffed with that. More ambitiously the kale? Beetroot? No idea how hard it is to grow? Bananas? Cucumber? Am i dreaming? lol

Thanks for reading.

[TheDogMan]

Thanks dottie and lisa, its nice and welcoming in here, i like it. Nice to meet you all

I can handle the funny shapes and failures dottie. Its really concerned me learning that if i go to the supermarket and buy veg, theres a high chance its been heavily sprayed with chemicals that arent going to do us any good. Ignorance caused me to be blind about it.

[bramble]

Hi Mike and welcome. You have come to the right place for great advice and encouragement.
You csn grow in containers or even those black buckets the builders use.
We will all give you step by step advice, but you wont get bananas to gow in our climate.
Good luck and enjoy.

[Bigmallly]

Hi Mike, if you can knock up a few planters then great, you maybe don't need them as deep as the one in the pic as would cost a fortune to fill. Don't forget to put drainage holes in any you make plus if they are wood, I would also line them with black plastic or similar to lengthen the lifetime of the planter. Most veg are relatively easy to grow but some may need different conditions. Tomatoes are really easy to grow & you can get outside varieties, also Cucumbers can be grown outside if you get outside varieties also known as Ridge Cucumbers, they are spiky in appearance but taste like any other Cucumber. For other varieties, you may need greenhouse conditions or similar. Bananas may prove more difficult as they need a long warm season. Hope that gives some food for thought. Feel free to ask any questions. Now is a great time to decide what you want to grow & what you like to eat. We have a few members who grow in containers with great success so keep an eye out & good luck.

[veggiechicken]

Container growing sounds like a good option if you're likely to move house next year. Then you can take all your luvly veggies with you.
If you eat salads get yourself some mixed salad leaves, sometimes called mesclun. Easy to grow and you can cut off individual leaves for your salad or sandwich. A bag of these leaves would cost £1 or so in a supermarket - a packet of seed will cost about the same and keep you in salad leaves for months.

[Chris11]

Dogman Mike, welcome and all credit to you for looking to start being a proper grower

Sunny Manchester isn't the English Riviera, but like everyone else you learn to work with your personal environment and try and make the best of it.

It's an ongoing process, so however little or however much you know, there's always the next growing season to look forward to. Where you can plan and hope to do just a bit more than than the previous year. And that is success in itself.

Best of luck and stick with it.

[Lumpy]

Hello Mike and welcome to the Vine.

It's an amazing forum as people on here are generous with both their advice and suggestions as well as humour.

Like you I have a small garden and only 2 dogs but there are always ways around the problems.

I have 2 carrot boxes, similar but smaller than the box in your thumbnail and both are made out of old pallets. The low fencing which will be on one side of the garden (we only moved here mid Nov) again is pallets.

I have a motly collection of buckets. tyres, posh containers and wall baskets.

Anything and everything is possible.

Carrots are so much more tastier when they are straight from the soil - what a treat you have coming.

[Bren In Pots]

Hello and welcome to the vine Mike

Out of everything you've mentioned they can all be grown in containers well apart from those Bananas so best of luck with your new hobby/lifestyle.

[Greenleaves]

Welcome to the vine, enjoy the benefits of the advice and humour

We have a resident expert on container growing so don't be shy to post and ask questions

[noviceveggrower]

Hi there, welcome to the vine