Quick growing veg's in minimal space?

[woodlouse]

Hello everyone, I'm new here and hope you are all doing well, given the current situation.

This is my first real year of trying to grow things to eat. I have grown tomatoes before in a small greenhouse, which came with the house I moved into (nice bonus), and last year I got frustrated with the quality of greens at the supermarkets to use as stir-fry ingredients, so tried my hand at growing my own. It was early June when I got the impulse, so I had a lot of issues with bolting (a great learning experience), but I managed to get a fair few meals out of the experiment, and that feeling of doing so must have sunk it's teeth deep into my subconscious; because this year I seem to want to try and grow everything.

The rational part of my brain tells me I can't expect to grow it all, given the space I have, but my childish glee is generally winning at this point. I've been sowing things left, right and center, stuff that is new and exotic to me, like tomatillo's, cucamelon's (visually the cutest thing I have ever seen), trying the three sisters thing (don't even know what squash tastes like, honestly), lots of peppers, guava... Not much room left for rational growing, but I have quite a few long containers about eight inches deep, and some free space here and there.

So that's my situation. Apologies for the long winded intro, but I think context matters.

To the question: What would you green fingered deviants recommend for quick growing, possibly cut and come again crops that take up little room, or can be used as fillers in between other crops, or grow in containers? My personal experience so far from last year indicates mizuna (wow, that plant delivers), celtuce, spring onions and chives. I'm looking to broaden my experience.

Any suggestions and/or personal successes and fails would be very much appreciated.

Regards

[greenishfing]

Hello and welcome. All my spare nooks and crannies get planted with lettuce, rocket and radishes. Not very exciting but they taste so much better freshly picked.

[veggiechicken]

Hi Woodlouse - great name but watch you're not squished.

Some ideas for you at https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...tml?highlight=

[Mr Bones]

Hi Woodlouse and welcome to the Vine
Lettuce, radish etc. and when it warms up maybe an outside cucumber (e.g. Burpless)

[Containergardener]

Beans and peas up wigwams , even courgettes , hanging baskets of salads and spring onions or strawberries or herbs . Potato bags . I've grown kohl tabi in a trough , beets in tubs .

[Small pumpkin]

Welcome to the vine

Well I think you’re covered everything!..........and a bit more.
One thing I didn’t notice you mention was courgette. Surly you need to make the rookie mistake of growing far to many . It’s a right of passage into becoming veggie gardener.

Some of us are slow learners! Me mostly!! I’m growing 17 courgettes

[veggiechicken]

You can never grow TOO many courgettes. I'm going to fill every available space with them.

[woodlouse]

Thanks for the warm welcome and cool suggestions.

greenishfing: Ahah... radish. That's something I probably wouldn't have thought of. I could pop them all over the place. I wonder what the leaves taste like.

veggiechicken: Who would squish a cute little garden friendly isopod like myself, haha. Checked out the link and have to say... arugula? Never heard of it so now of course I want to grow it!

Mr Bones: Outside cucumber is a great suggestion. No room left in the greenhouse. I assume Burpless is maybe a more hardy variety suited to outdoors. I'll have to look into that.

Containtergardener: Wow, hanging baskets... of course. Thanks for the inspiration.

Small Pumpkin: Courgettes? Aren't they the same as cucumbers?

*ducks thrown projectiles*

Haha... just kidding. To be honest I don't think I've ever tasted a courgette. I'll have to look into how they fare outside. No room left in the greenhouse.

[veggiechicken]

Hey Woodlouse, you may "think" you're garden friendly, but, in your own best interests, stay away from my strawberries.

Arugula is just a fancy name for Rocket. Guves a bit of bite to a cheese sarnie.

Courgettes - definitely outdoors although I do have a few in buckets in the GH at the moment - because I like to experiment!!

[Snoop Puss]

I can't add anything to what's already been said except if you've got plenty of everything else, you might like to bung a beetroot or two in if you've got space. Sow in paper pots and plant out once germinated to save time and space in your soil.

Other than that, hello and welcome.

[Mr Bones]

Ahah... radish. That's something I probably wouldn't have thought of. I could pop them all over the place. I wonder what the leaves taste like.

The leaves taste reasonable, sometimes too prickly to eat as salad but stir-fry ok (had some last night).

[Penellype]

Courgettes are fine outside as long as they don't get frosted, so you need to wait a bit longer before sowing. They do make big plants though - even the ones that are described as "bush" varieties can be 3ft or more across. Some of the non-bush ones can get very big indeed.

[Small pumpkin]

greenishfing: Ahah... radish. That's something I probably wouldn't have thought of. I could pop them all over the place. I wonder what the leaves taste like.

The leaves taste reasonable, sometimes too prickly to eat as salad but stir-fry ok (had some last night).

To add to Mr Bones advice. You can eat the seed leaves in salad as a micro veg. Obviously the radish when it’s all grown up but before it goes woody or the slugs eat it ( that’s the tricky bit). If you want to do both of those you’ll need to have 2 lots on the go. Surprisingly once you’ve chopped the seedlings head off for a micro green it won’t continue to grow .
My personal favourite is to keep a couple of the radish growing until they flower ( which can also go in your salad) then produces seed pods. They are fantastic in salads. Eat them while they are young and soft.

[Small pumpkin]

Small Pumpkin: Courgettes? Aren't they the same as cucumbers?

*ducks thrown projectiles*

Haha... just kidding. To be honest I don't think I've ever tasted a courgette. I'll have to look into how they fare outside. No room left in the greenhouse.

Really!! Never tried courgette
A lot of people don’t like them because they say they’re really soft and mushy when cooked. Yes they can be if they’ve been over cooked ( which is very easily done, they don’t take much cooking) there are loads of different varieties to choose from. The come in different shades of green or yellow and shapes long or round. They all taste like courgette though If you miss one when harvesting and you find a monster growing under a leaf. Don’t worry just treat it like a marrow.
There are so many courgette recipes out there. You could be eating courgette a different way every day for months.
If you’re short on space you could try growing a climbing courgette “tromboncino “. I have recently been converted to these stunning vegetables by our very own VC.
And you could join us here if you’re trying one

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...on_100688.html

FYI you wouldn’t have time to duck if I was going to throw a projectile

Not that I would


Well maybe

[Bren In Pots]

Hello and welcome to the vine Woodlouse, you've had some good info already, my tip is to sow in newspaper pots/modules that you you have a ready supply of plants to pop into any gaps. Sowing in guttering works as well you can tip the whole gutter sideways into a pre gouged out trough.

My personal favourite is to keep a couple of the radish growing until they flower ( which can also go in your salad) then produces seed pods. They are fantastic in salads. Eat them while they are young and soft.

I much prefer the pods to the actual radish themselves like SP i eat them fresh and also pickle them for winter.