Novice gardener advice

[danielwood1985]

Hi. I am a complete newbie to gardening and growing veg. I will soon be moving into a new house where the current owners are leaving an 8ft polytunnel.
Do you have any advice on good starting points to grow? Anything easy to begin with?
Thanks in advance.

[veggiechicken]

Hello Daniel and welcome to the Grapevine.
Lucky you to acquire a polytunnel with your house! The best things to grow are those you like eating. Tomatoes are always good to grow under cover and you should be able to pick up some young plants at most garden centres.

[bretty666]

Hello and welcome to the vine.glad to hear you wanna get growing!! You say 8foot? I take it you mean 8ft long? Cool things to grow...radish is really fast and excellent to eat. im a pumpkin lover myself and they are no problem.to grow....maybe a waste of poly tunnel space though? Grow some tomatoes..you will end up with more than you know what to with if your anything like me..garlic is amazingly easy to grow but i think its too late for that now?? Strawberrys are great for kids give us a bit more detail about your wishes and garden and we will do our best to help you out

[danielwood1985]

I had read somewhere else that garlic can be easy, but as you say I may be to late.
the tunnel itself is about 8 foot long and tall enough for me to stand in. The current owner has made some raised beds around the sides.
I just want to start on a few simple things. I like all vegetables so am not picky what I grow. My thoughts were to get a few tomato plants as a start. After that im open to suggestions!

There are already some strawberry plants in the seperate vegetable plot as well. For this area I was thinking of trying carrots and potatoes - although I may try one of those tubs you can get nowadays if people think they are good.

[bretty666]

A lot of people on.here do their tatas in pots and dustbins..there's even someone on here called potsanddustbins lol..what might be a good idea is to go to a place they sell seeds and only consider buying and growing anything that can be planted from month3-4 onwards? There will be enough choice for you but remember to leave space for things you may want to plant later...

[bretty666]

Aa quick list out of my not very good gardening book
onion sets (little onion bulbs)
Shallots
early tatas
beetroot
broad beans
early peas
sprouts
kohlrabi
leeks
lettuce
radish
parsnips
turnips
toms
peppers
aubergines
cucumbers
cabbage
cauliflower
carrots
chard
spinach...thats what my book says for march and april..im sure tgere are many more though..i alrrdy have most of my pumpkins and squashes started off undercover..sweetcorn.will go.in.in two weeks for me aswell

[Bren In Pots]

Hello and welcome to the vine Daniel like the others have said buy a few tom plants and its not too late to sow cucumbers because they will do well in your tunnel.

[kathyd]

The 'easy' thing to do as a complete newbie is to buy plants this year just to get you started, as others have suggested, and then you can research what else to use it for at your leisure and buy far more seeds than you'll ever use in a lifetime, just like the rest of us .

I use my polytunnel for all sorts of things, including sowing seeds for planting out later on - I have peas and broad beans, leeks and brassicas all happily growing away in trays and pots, most being moved outside during the day to get used to the grown up world before I plant them outside shortly.

The tunnel itself is used over the summer mainly for things which do better under cover - slightly more tender things like tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, melons, cucumbers (although my outdoor cukes did at least as well as the indoor ones last year) ... it's worth trying different things to see what works for you in your location. But remember that some things do spread a lot and use a lot of space - cucumbers will crawl for miles unless you train them upwards (as I found out last year!), as will squashes - personally I'd consider starting your squashes off in your tunnel in pots (in May probably), but moving them outside in the summer to make more room inside for other things.

It's nice to have some flowers in there too - try french or african marigolds to help keep aphids off your tomatoes . French marigolds (tagetes) are readily available as bedding plants from B&Q and other places, but probably still a bit early yet - or you could sow the seeds yourself!.

[MrsCordial]

Hello. I had a polytunnel at my last house and was thrilled to begin with, but we ended up using it very little after the first year. That could be because we had our fourth child and time was a bit thin on the ground, but the biggest problem I had with it (the polytunnel, not the baby) was keeping it watered. It dried out in the blink of an eye and had to be watered with a can as the hose didn't reach, so it was a real palaver. So my main piece of advice would be to get set up for watering and never neglect it. Oh and don't have four kids ;D

[wbmkk]

As said previously, tomato plants are always a favourite

No need to buy plants, still plenty of time to sow your own, as long as you have somewhere light and frost free. There is a wider choice of variety this way too.

Just as a mater of interest I looked on t'internet and it seems tomato plants are about £1 each this year.

Once germinated, pot them on, into 3 - 3 1/2 inch pots, and when all risk of frost has passed, (6 - 8 weeks old) put them into larger pots in the tunnel.

In the NE of England I only put my tomato plants in their final place early in June. Up until then, they are in a conservatory, but covered at night with bubblewrap if it is cold. They turn blue if they suffer from the cold and take ages to recover .. if at all