Advice for absolute begginer?

[SunshineSheli]

Hi all

I am about to move into my first house, and have been lucky enough to get a place with a garden (yay) and I would love to try and grow something.

I have never gardened before, as have not had a garden, and have no idea really of what I'm doing.

Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated - particularly any veg which you think would be easy for me to grow succesfully!

I would like to try growing some herbs, and salad type things such as lettuce or rocket, and some sort of veg.

Thanks in advance

Sunshine.x

[Glutton4...]

Hi, and welcome to the madhouse!

Grow what you like to eat! Otherwise it's a waste of your time and effort. The search facility on here is excellent for finding out about how/when/what - have a look, as most questions have been asked before

The Magazine's good too, if you need pictures, and free seeds most months too. You can never have too many seeds. But you'll discover that soon...

[Flummery]

First decide what you really like to eat. I love new potaotes and lots of garden centres and shops now stock small quantities. They are just about fool proof.
Salads are good - they come through fast - important when you are new to growing and want to see results.
Peas - try a low growing variety - make sure you don't get hold of a 6 footer! - and you can even put a few in pots. Everyone loves peas (holds breath for the onslaught of pea-haters!)

And welcome to the grapevine - friendliest forum in town!

[taff]

Beans are easy,and courgettes

[SunshineSheli]

Thanks

I like most veg really! Definatley want to grow herbs as I use them a lot in cooking, and rocket, I also looove sugarsnap peas.

How do you know how much to water things? Sorry if that sounds stupid - but I think watering too much is just as bad as not enough? I don't want to kill my first attempts!

[Flummery]

I tend to let things get fairly dry then give them a good drink - rather than a sprinkle every ten minutes. You're quite right - overwatering's a killer.

[Jeanied]

Hi there - I think to learn about watering it would be useful to do a bit of a soil test and work out how much it will hold before getting wringing wet. So try a handful and see how much you can squeeze out of it - and then work out how much to water so that it does not drip out.

[Creemteez]

Hi Susie, your plants will be happy if when you stick your finger into the soil or compost up to the first joint, it feels like a freshly wrung out flannel!

[Shackattack]

Make sure to watch every gardening programme that you can find on the telly. The Edible Garden that was on tonight (Wednesday) was wonderful!