What to grow in my area?

[Charley]

Hello

I'm completely new to growing veg (apart from as a kid on my grandad's allotment) and I want to start a small veggie patch in my back garden.

I live in Edinburgh in Scotland and I understand that there is some things that I cannot grow up here that would otherwise flourish down in the warmer south. I dont have a green house, all I have is a patch of ground that is south-east facing, its gets the sun from 9-6 every day, is that enough?

I have sown some tomato seeds, salad and spinach indoors but I was told that unless its a really good summer here that I can't put the tomatoes outside in summer time and that they should be in a greenhouse. Will they be okay on my windowsill?

Any helpful advice much appreciated.

Charley

[Two_Sheds]

Make a list of what you like to eat, and we can advise from there

Tomatoes can get to 6 ft tall (and more) - how big are your windowsills? Seriously though, what variety did you sow?

[Charley]

Okay I really want to grow carrots, tomatoes, salad and spinach, potatoes (currently chitting), peas and broccoli. Fruit wise, I have a tayberry bush that I purchased last year and I plan to buy some strawberry plants to put in containers later on this year.

Whilst my window-sills are fairly large in the livingroom I would prefer my tomatoes to grow outside. I have planted gardeners delight and another type of cherry tomato whose name escapes me at the moment.

I probably wont grow all of the above this year as magazines advise start small and work your way up but tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and salad and spinach I would really like to try this year.

Is it possible to have it all growing outside this far North?

Thanks

[sewer rat]

Hi Charley
You ain't North, there are lots of us much further north, incl Shetland ! Anyway, to the point - with the possible exception of outdoor sweetcorn, we can grow pretty much the same as our southern colleagues - they get warmer earlier so get a head start on us, but we have longer summer nights than they do so we catch up - Mama Nature sorts it out - and she looks after us Scots pretty well. Everything you mentioned should grow no bother at all, with the possible exception of the outdoor tomatoes, but if you have a big enough window, you can grow them there, or invest in one of those small plastic greenhouses (I believe the term they use is "blowaways"!).

[elsie-scot]

Don't alwys follow "when to sow" etc to the letter, get to know your local climate.

Can try the tomatoes outside if you have a real hot spot that is sheltered, but be prepared to look up recipes for using green tomatoes!

People have had success with sweetcorn growing in Scotland.

[Croila]

Charley, I'm also in Edinburgh, and I only have a small back garden though I do have a cold frame and a conservatory to also grow stuff in. Last year was my first at growing anything, and the amount of help the lovely people on this forum was absolutely staggering. I can honestly say I couldn't have done it without them as books and magazines only go so far in answering your questions. In the interests of "paying it forward" I'd be more than happy to pass on knowledge I've picked up in the short time I've been doing this.

But anyway. Our climate ... Well, I read somewhere recently that we're about three or four weeks behind the standard planting/sowing timings given on seed packets and things like that. So there's a start for you, though obviously it's only a very rough guide.

You mention tomatoes. Last year I grew tomatoes indoors in a conservatory, and they were fabulous. A south facing (or thereabouts) windowsill should be okay I think? I don't really know an awful lot of gardeners in Edinburgh but my next-door-neighbours on both sides grow tomatoes in their greenhouses and not outside. I just assumed we couldn't grow tomatoes outdoors here which is why I kept mine inside. Personally I'm not going to bother risking them outside. Plus I love the smell of tomato plants!

Salad leaves and spinach I grew outdoors last summer and they were very successful indeed. (Once I put slug granules down.) They didn't bolt at all, possibly because it's not so hot up here?

My peas last year did really well in a square foot bed thing, and the tatties were pretty good too. They did an amazing job of breaking up the revolting clay soil I have.

I tried sweetcorn outdoors last year - ha, what a joke that was. Never again. It just didn't happen. I know a guy who grew a whole load of veg on the roof of the Merlin pub in Morningside last summer, and even with day long sunshine, his failed as well. I've read somewhere that sweetcorn grows well on the west coast. Didn't work for me though.

Last year I also tried early purple sprouting broccoli though only one plant survived the dreaded cabbage root fly maggots. The dratted thing grew so big, though, I actually howked it out and composted it in February. Horrible, ugly, triffid-like thing. My garden is too small for them and I won't try them again.

My feel for veg-growing in this part of the world is that it's a good idea to start stuff off in pots indoors because we have to plant them out weeks later than all the folks down south and thus lose growing time. Which is a bit of a pain but you have to work with what you've got I guess. My poor father is at the foot of the Cairngorms - his growing season's even shorter than ours

Dunno if this helps much Charley, but best of luck with it all and I do hope to hear how you get on!

[pinns]

Hi Charley,

Me too, I am also in Edinburgh and just learning (first year last year).
Last year I grew lots of stuff outside, carrots, tomatoes, beetroot, dwarf french beans, courgettes, potatoes and salad veg, and even though it wasn't a great summer, I still got lots to eat, I even got a handful of blueberries off my baby plants, you should be fine.

I didn't have enough room in my greenhouse for all my tomatoes and some of them ended up outside as I didn't have the heart to compost them. Of course the greenhouse ones did better, but it was still worthwhile putting them out, and I was going to do it again this year. Outside toms ended up smaller (4 foot high rather than 6 foot high) and with less trusses (four or so rather than the 6 or 7 that were indoors), and I didn't plant them out until quite late on, in case of late frosts.

BTW, I also grew a Suttons "turbo veg" grafted tomato (Conchita) outside as an experiment, and it was a Fabulous Monster!! I reckon it was about 7 foot long (I ended up supporting it sideways) and by the end of October when I finally terminated it, it still had another 6kg of green toms on it to make chutney with!!

I think you should go for it this year and try whatever you fancy, it may not all work, but you can put any mistakes down to your 'learning curve', next year you are supposed to know better

[Aberdeenplotter]

I grow sweetcorn without any problem here in Aberdeen. I absolutely have to sow in pots and plant out after the frosts are past. I also manage to grow Gardeners Delight
tomatoes outside which surprised even me.

[Charley]

Thank you for all your fantastic advice. My little garden is finally getting going thanks to all the wonderful warm weather we have had recently.

My pea seedlings have just sprouted like crazy as have my broccoli seedlings which I basically dumped into a little seed tray, watered and dumped out the back garden. It was a really busy time for me and I didn't expect anything to happen but they germinated before the peas on the same tray did!

My Tayberry bush has flowers coming through and I'm really excited as this is its first year of fruiting. I found a couple of leaves with little green boogey looking creatures on them, I squished them and haven't seen any more but I am not sure if that is down to the ladybird that lives on my tayberry bush or not. :-)

My strawberries are flourishing and are starting to change colour.

My mother-in-law planted tomatoes out last year and due to an illness forgot all about them, well come the end of August she wondered what the monster weed was at the bottom of the garden, turns out it was her tomato plant with lots of lovely ripe tomatoes on them. Her garden is south facing though so I'm not sure if i will try that with my precious plants, I am going to get a blow away.

Oh and my squashes are ready to plant out too but its very cold and windy here today so I will leave it until the end of the week I think.

I still haven't planted my carrots, parsnips or spring onions its not too late is it?

Charley x