My Little Wonky Lottie - Complete beginner!

[helenbun2005]

Hi there, Im Helen.

We moved to our first owned home 6 months ago and ive planted lots of bulbs ready for next year (some are already starting to sprout!)

I have now dug up two mini veg patches, but are a bit lop-sided so call it my Little Wonky Lottie!

Ive never grown veg before and have a million questions!...

Pics first though:



So is how it looks now and the "big plan".

Questions:
Now ive dug out the plots and covered them with some bin sacks to stop the weeds coming up, what do i do next?
Should i put compost on them? Or manure? (and if its manure, how do i get it from the local stables -provided they let me!- and back home with out stinking out the car?!) Or shall i wait until next year after the frost?

Can i grow what i have planned to grow in the limited space?

What do i do first and when?!?!

I do have a small green house i can start things off in, but just need to know how/when!

thanks, and sorry for all the Questions!

More pics and such like on a blog ive just started about my garden:
How does her garden grow?

[muddled]

Hello and welcome,

So...I work in feet and inches....your raised beds are about 3ft x 3ft? You say 20cm deep but I assume you mean the wood only....that they are on ground so that roots can actually go down as far as they like?

The good news is that you can grow veg in them.....the bad news is, probably not the ones in your plan

It might be a good idea for you to check out 'square foot gardening' to get an idea of what you can grow in a that sort of space. I give every single pumpkin plant at least 4ft x 4ft for example, potatoes also like a bit of space. Carrots can't grow with pumpkins....pumpkins love manure, carrots hate it.

But don't be discouraged!
You can grow your spuds in a container or even an old compost bag somewhere else, maybe choose tomatoes instead of pumpkins? A cane wigwam in one of those beds could give you French beans all summer....successional lettuce, spring onions and herbs in the other could keep you in salads

You'll get lots of advice on here and you will be able to grow all sorts of things and you have all of winter to come up with a new plan

[mrswadders]

Well hello there Helen, i'm in welly too, welcome to the vine, really friendly helpful place

[cariann88]

Hello and welcome to the vine

[helenbun2005]

Hello and welcome,

So...I work in feet and inches....your raised beds are about 3ft x 3ft? You say 20cm deep but I assume you mean the wood only....that they are on ground so that roots can actually go down as far as they like?

The good news is that you can grow veg in them.....the bad news is, probably not the ones in your plan

It might be a good idea for you to check out 'square foot gardening' to get an idea of what you can grow in a that sort of space. I give every single pumpkin plant at least 4ft x 4ft for example, potatoes also like a bit of space. Carrots can't grow with pumpkins....pumpkins love manure, carrots hate it.

But don't be discouraged!
You can grow your spuds in a container or even an old compost bag somewhere else, maybe choose tomatoes instead of pumpkins? A cane wigwam in one of those beds could give you French beans all summer....successional lettuce, spring onions and herbs in the other could keep you in salads

You'll get lots of advice on here and you will be able to grow all sorts of things and you have all of winter to come up with a new plan

Thank you very much for the reply!
I want to grow things we will eat, so although I want to plant abything and everything, I know there is little point if my lot wont eat it! My pumpkin idea was only to please the children really; I knew it was very ambitious! My dad can grow them on his allotment so thats fine!
My drwam grow list is:
potatoes, carrots, red onions, red peppers, cucumber, salad, and broccoli. ...

So ANY help with that in my plan is greatly recieved! I will look into sq ft gardening too...thank you! X

[arpoet]

Yea, welcome from me too.
I Put manure in sacks that contained hops (free from a local micro brewery) and drop the seats down in the car, cover with a waterproof mattress protector and bring a dozen or so bags home at a time. Very little smell or mess. Now when I pick us spent hops, they are usually wet so I also put down an old shower curtain. as neither hops nor hos muck are in the car from longer that 10 mins it not a problem.

[Guest]

Hi and welcome. Your blog looks good and you are going in the right direction (learn as much as you can whilst you can)

Poo doesn't usually smell that bad it is when it tends to bake in the sun. If using the car put something underneath as quite often there will be a 'little' bit of poo juice but nothing drastic I am sure someone will disagree but maybe it is because I have animals.

Bell peppers are best in the green house in a container. They can be moved outside weather permitting, but I would advise not to put them in open ground.

It is surprising how much you can get from a small space, but do consider making the most i.e planters and baskets on wall, pots on the patio, herb pots in the kitchen. You can increase your growing space quite easily.

Have a look round there is loads of experience and knowledge on here to help you and ask no matter how daft you think it is Good luck

[Bigmallly]

Hello Helen & welcome to the jungle. I hope you plan to puncture those bin bags or you may be planting bog plants.

[helenbun2005]

Hello Helen & welcome to the jungle. I hope you plan to puncture those bin bags or you may be planting bog plants.

Ah yes! I was wondering about that! Will do thanks!...knew there was another question I had to ask!

[Bigmallly]

I had my crystal ball out as I knew you was gonna ask.............

[sparrow100]

not wanting to add to any confusion about what to grow, but cucumbers and sugar snap peas will happily grow UP. Something like La Diva produces lots of little cucumbers which are great for kids. Sugar snaps are just like sweets and can be eaten straight from the plant. If you grow smaller red peppers (like Lipstick for example) you do stand a good chance of an outdoor harvest if you can start them off in pots early in the year. Potatoes in bags are also a cracking idea - takes up less room in your beds and gives you lovely clean spuds. I got 3.5kg on average per bag from 3 seed spuds grown in 40L bags of compost and manure mix. From your blog it looks like you have lots of fence, and as long as you've a friendly waterer for when you are away, there's a lot you could grow on that - strawberries in deep guttering for example....I'll stop now, I'm getting carried away!

(PS the smaller winter squashes will also happily climb, so I wouldn't write off sticking one or two on trellis along your lovely sunny fence.... )

[helenbun2005]

not wanting to add to any confusion about what to grow, but cucumbers and sugar snap peas will happily grow UP. Something like La Diva produces lots of little cucumbers which are great for kids. Sugar snaps are just like sweets and can be eaten straight from the plant. If you grow smaller red peppers (like Lipstick for example) you do stand a good chance of an outdoor harvest if you can start them off in pots early in the year. Potatoes in bags are also a cracking idea - takes up less room in your beds and gives you lovely clean spuds. I got 3.5kg on average per bag from 3 seed spuds grown in 40L bags of compost and manure mix. From your blog it looks like you have lots of fence, and as long as you've a friendly waterer for when you are away, there's a lot you could grow on that - strawberries in deep guttering for example....I'll stop now, I'm getting carried away!

(PS the smaller winter squashes will also happily climb, so I wouldn't write off sticking one or two on trellis along your lovely sunny fence.... )

This is wonderful advice...thank you!

I love the idea of utilising the fence too...will have to look into that! X

[Greenleaves]

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

[Scarlet]

(PS the smaller winter squashes will also happily climb, so I wouldn't write off sticking one or two on trellis along your lovely sunny fence.... )

Tromba D'Albenga grow happily along a trellis or fence. Most kids (and Veggie Chicken) will laugh for hours at these really easy to grow, crops well, you get to eat them through summer! eat them very small or let grow large for extra giggles - and my kids will happily eat them.

[veggiechicken]

Hello Helen and welcome.
I can't add much to the advice you've been given but, as Scarlet says ^^^^, you must grow Tromba D'Albenga for its Giggle power. I have some scrambling and dangling from an old rotary clothes line. They're good to eat too - if you can stop laughing for long enough