First time growing!

[_Chris_]

I'm looking at starting my first vegetable crop this week, and thought I'd run it by you guys for a bit of advice first. I'll be planting in containers, and most of the information I've found is for planting in the ground; is there much difference?

I'm hoping to grow:
Red Peppers
Carrots
Spinach
Red Onions
- plus various herbs - to be decided.

Am I likely to be able to grow the peppers without a greenhouse?

Would four 15cm high, 56cm long troughs be big enough for the above? I've heard carrots need a lot of depth, unfortunately I don't know what "a lot" is!

This is a link to the type of trough I'm looking at -

I have a feeling it will be a steep learning curve, any help/links relating to growing the above in pots would be fantastic and very much appreciated!

[_Chris_]

Forgot to mention, if someone could recommend variates that grow well in cooler climates that would be great. I live in Buckinghamshire, while fairly mild, it isn't the warmest spot in the Uk

[Victoria26]

Hi Chris and welcome to the grapevine. This is definatly the best place to ask your questions.
Your troughs will be ok for the onions as ive grew them in troughs before. Also ok for the carrots if you are going to pull them up and use them as baby veg. If you want bigger carrots you'll need something deeper.
Also Ive started my peppers off indoors and will harden them off and plant them in the sunniest part of my garden around May time.

Most of all you must remember gardening is all about experimenting and trial and error. There are no silly questions - we all learn new things every day on here. Happy gardening!

[selfraising]

Hi Chris
I'm a relative novice (this is my third year of veg growing) but from what i know, the main differences between growing in the ground and in containers is that containers need more watering and also in the ground veg has more room to spread its roots and they can go much deeper. I have grown carrots in containers before but they have been the round, golf ball sized variety. I think the longer rooted types might need about 12 inches of depth. All the other veg you mention should be okay in containers, you just need to remember to water well. I also grew peppers last year in grow bags, which did well. You might also want to try beans and peas (you can buy dwarf varieties of these or grow them up canes). I have also grown tomatoes, spring onions, cucumber, sweetcorn and spuds in containers (the latter two would need quite deep containers though).

[_Chris_]

Thanks for the quick reply Victoria - it's great to know that what I'm planning is at least possible

I'll start the peppers off this week and get some pics up.

[TEB]

Hi Chris,
Re your carrot question check out http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ers_28938.html.

Ps I lived in Bucks for 7 years (Marlow), it werent that cold