what should i grow

[neil1280]

hello everyone, ive been doing some research on here and this is only my second post i just have a few questions, just got a new place and have a big empty garden and i have started to grow some things
my situation is my girlfriend is a veggie, so is there or what is best that will grow most year round or all year round, im thinking along the lines of rocket or other salad leaves or is there anything else you can recommend?

herbs wise i have just germinated, thyme, parsley, dill, swiss chard, basil, mint, coriander, spicy oriental leaf, oregano, can you tell me when i pick the leaves or what not do they grow back? or do i have to germinate more batches?

the other thing is where i was planning putting my herb raised bed is directly where the sun comes up but it would only get a couple of hours in the morning would that be sufficient, if you need to see there is a pic of my garden in the intoductions and you can see where i have dug.

thanks, neil

[Jeanied]

Rocket and salad leaves - these you pick as you want them and either use as cut and come again (cut, but leave enough stem to grow again from the roots) for a while or sow some new ones every few weeks. If you put cloches or fleece over them in the winter months you can get fresh leaves most of the year round.
Swiss chard is a large and vigorous leaf veg - use similar to spinach, nicest when you pick a few young leaves from each plant as you need them - can last more than a year, but is best treated as an annual.
Perennial herbs - thyme, mint - these you don't use more than a few stalks at a time and they should keep going if they are happy. Watch out for the mint because it send out roots everywhere and soon you will have nothing else - plant in a pot sunk in the ground. Herbs prefer the sunniest spot you can give them.
Annual herbs - Basil and coriander - will need sowing every year. I always grow heaps of basil because I love it - some people are the same about coriander. Parsley is best as an annual herb, but one nice trick is to let it run to seed in the second year and then benefit from self sown parsley for ever more!

[Two_Sheds]

What do you and your girlfriend like to eat? Make a list, and we'll tell you how to grow it.

[Flummery]

Beans, especially those that can be used dried in the winter, are excellent fodder for a vegetarian. Look for Climbing French Beans and get yourself some long canes to make wigwams for them to climb. Good luck and welcome to the Grapevine!

[tamsin]

Some stuff doesn't grow during winter but can be left in the ground to store and be picked then... we pulled up parsnips and carrots Christmas day, and we are still eating leeks that have been sat in the ground all winter.

You can also freeze stuff for storage when you have lots in summer, then eat it during winter. For example, we skinned and chopped apples, froze them in portions and they can be used for pie filling, stewed fruit or making apple sauce. We also made tomato sauce for pasta/pizza and froze that in portions.

[cupcake]

I would give mangetout a try, not that many make it into the kitchen! If you sow every 3-4 weeks then you'll be eating them for quite a while.
I am also experimenting with dried peas from the supermarket as recommended by Alys Fowler for pea shoots. A 52p pack will last at least 2 years.
This website is useful too http://www.peashoots.com/peashoots.htm

[sarraceniac]

[B]
Swiss chard is a large and vigorous leaf veg - use similar to spinach, nicest when you pick a few young leaves from each plant as you need them - can last more than a year, but is best treated as an annual.

Jeanied. Would I ever disagree with you but maybe modify it a bit? (Sniggers off stage). My chard was planted 8 years ago as an ornamental. Didn't even know then that you could eat this really beautiful plant, I wasn't a GOYer then just a 'heytheseplantslookgooder'. 2 years ago discovered you could eat it. It isn't quite spinach but it is nearly as good. Yum. Still not sure if mine is a perennial (although it seems to hang around all winter) or a self-seeding annual. But a chard is forever not just for Christmas.

[neil1280]

What do you and your girlfriend like to eat? Make a list, and we'll tell you how to grow it.

just mostly what i have said, we use a lot of herbs and i want to start growing different types of leaf, and something like pak choi, veg wise in the next month or so i want to start growing mainly what we use to start which would be, brocolli, carrott's, potatoes, peppers, parsnips
Swiss chard is a large and vigorous leaf veg - use similar to spinach, nicest when you pick a few young leaves from each plant as you need them - can last more than a year, but is best treated as an annual.

just germinating now glad to hear that these can grow for a while, i assume annual means it growns all year round?
Perennial herbs - thyme, mint - these you don't use more than a few stalks at a time and they should keep going if they are happy. Watch out for the mint because it send out roots everywhere and soon you will have nothing else - plant in a pot sunk in the ground. Herbs prefer the sunniest spot you can give them.

my mint has been the slowest of all i have germinated, i have put a pic of my garden below where do you think i should put them, the sun comes up in the morning on the right side of the garden misses the patio midday, and the evenings are warmer here then the sun goes down on the left hand side obviously shining on the right side, the evenings are much warmer as i said so maybe i should put them on the right side of the garden i also got a little 4ft plastic greenhouse should i put them in it?

sorry er but what does perrenial mean ??

Annual herbs - Basil and coriander - will need sowing every year. I always grow heaps of basil because I love it - Parsley is best as an annual herb, but one nice trick is to let it run to seed in the second year and then benefit from self sown parsley for ever more![/QUOTE]

how do you mean let it run into seed?

Beans, especially those that can be used dried in the winter, are excellent fodder for a vegetarian. Look for Climbing French Beans and get yourself some long canes to make wigwams for them to climb. Good luck and welcome to the Grapevine!

yeah actually we love our beans the ones we but from tesco called trimmed fine beans, whichever sort they are i dont know, we love them fried for a few seconds in sweet chilli sauce

thanks for all your replies!! and sorry about all the question but i really am totally green to all this

[neil1280]

I would give mangetout a try, This website is useful too Pea Shoots Homepage

gonna try mange tout isnt it also known as sugarsnap? just looked at the website, do all peas grow those leaves? i am growing early onward peas and they are growing little leaves

[tamsin]

Annual means it only lives a year. Most annuals are sown in spring and die when the weather gets cold in autumn. Perennial means it lives for multiple years. Not all perennials will survive the winter in the UK, eg peppers are perennial but die in our winters outside so we often grow them as annuals and sow fresh ones each year.

It's a bit late to sow peppers, you'll get a crop sooner if you by small plants rather than sow seed.

If you sow salad leaves late summer and pop it in your greenhouse or on the window sill inside you'll be able to get a crop further into the winter.

[Two_Sheds]

... different types of leaf, and something like pak choi, brocolli, carrott's, potatoes, peppers, parsnips

By broccoli, I expect you mean the stuff you buy in Tesco? That's calabrese, a summer veg. Real broccoli is the purple sprouting stuff that you harvest late winter. Both types take up a lot of room and aren't easy for beginners: they have a lot of pests & diseases

Pak choi is a cool weather plant, best sown in June/July for autumn cropping
Carrots: easy ish, but you'll need to keep the crop covered against the nasty root fly
Spuds: easy, great for beginners. You can still put some earlies in now if you can find them, or just use supermarket spuds to save money
Parsnips: can be tricky to germinate. Like carrots, they need free-draining, stone free soil

how do you mean let it run into seed?

Plant grows a flower, flower gets pollinated, plant makes seed to reproduce itself. Very useful really, it saves you sowing everything fresh every year, and saves you some money too

yeah actually we love our beans the ones we but from tesco called trimmed fine beans

Those are French beans. Very easy to grow in UK, there is no need to be flying them in from Kenya. You can grow short ones or tall ones up canes. Dry the seed and use them as kidney beans too. PM me if you want any seed to try

Annual = means the plant grows, flowers and dies the same year
Perennial = means the plant comes back year after year

[neil1280]

@ TWO SHEDS thanks for all your helpful simplified information, as it happens i was gonna throw out some potatoes today and i planted 2 in the dirt just to see what happens but i havnt got my raised bed put together for them yet, glad to hear pak choi is handy

gonna start on the green beans as we would usually buy 2 packs of those a week

@TAMSIN thanks and i think i will go and buy one rather than germinate it we use these so ofetn and they would come in very handy

does everything need a lot of sunlight and heat, we have had funny weather in NI past few weeks usually a lot of sunlight in the evenings and cold in the shade, still not sure on the best place for the raised bed

[Two_Sheds]

Nearly all veg requires full sun. Things like raspberries & lettuce can take a bit of shade, but anything that fruits (pumpkins, strawbs, sweetcorn etc) needs full sunshine

[chris]

Annual herbs - Basil and coriander - will need sowing every year. I always grow heaps of basil because I love it - some people are the same about coriander. Parsley is best as an annual herb, but one nice trick is to let it run to seed in the second year and then benefit from self sown parsley for ever more!

In my previous house I grew Basil from a tesco bought plant outside in an old watering can. It ran to seed, and grew again after it died back - and then i noticed basil growing in the compost around the watering can that I'd just left there(in a corner of the patio that i never tidied up ).

I may try that again this year, with some I've grown from seed just to see if I was lucky.

[Flummery]

In my previous house I grew Basil from a tesco bought plant outside in an old watering can. It ran to seed, and grew again after it died back - and then i noticed basil growing in the compost around the watering can that I'd just left there(in a corner of the patio that i never tidied up ).

I may try that again this year, with some I've grown from seed just to see if I was lucky.

Never pays to be too tidy!