New to growing says hello

[basilbush]

Hi me and my young family are new this year to growing fruit and veg. We have our names down with the council for an allotment. While we wait we are going to try to grow pepper, tomatos, chilli's, potatos, carrots, raddish, lettuce and herbs in pots on our patio. This may be a total disaster only time will tell. Any advise will be gratefully accepted.

[snake the squadie]

i dont realy grow lettuce or herbs but all the other things are perfect for some one new to gardening thats pruty much what i started with(in fact still do) you could try onion sets aswell they are only a quid from cheap shops and they are easy to grow

[snake the squadie]

also try strawberris as they are very easy if you have a sunny spot and they will transfer nicly onto your allotment when you get one

[TrishY]

that's what i did last year, i had my name down for an allotment, which i got last month, and grew courgettes, cauli, cabbage, radishes, salad leaves etc in pots and grow bags in my back yard with quite good success and i had never grown veg before, enjoy

[bobleponge]

Welcome to you and your family. I shouldnt imagine your trials will be a disaster, all of what you have said you are trying, will grow happily in pots.
I would start your toms and peppers off indoors on a south facing (ideally) windowsill but the rest can go straight outside as soon as it warms up a touch.
Good luck.

[zazen999]

Hi there

That's how we started, before we bought this house. i grew all those that you mentioned, and more, in pots and had a great harvest. The one thing to remember is to keep them watered as they dry out alot quicker than plants in the ground. Carrots, make sure you look into methods of keeping carrot fly at bay or the whole lot will be unuseable [even though they are in pots and higher, they can and do fly higher so don't be fooled!]. Also, make sure that you fertilise them regularly; as with pots the goodness in the soil can run straight out the bottom, so to get great harvests they will need some help!.

Check out the container gardening posts on here already, full of great advice!

Enjoy and welcome.

[Two_Sheds]

Any advise will be gratefully accepted.

yes, well done. And grow a French bean or two up a bamboo wigwam: easy, prolific and tasty.

[basilbush]

Thanx to all for your advise

[helly]

dont forget the kids and try some sunflowers they not only attract bees you can have a growing comp to see who can grow the tallest.I did it last year with my nephew and he won 7ft.
Oh and welcome

[basilbush]

My four year old son wants to grow carrots. So we bought some seeds (Early Nantes 5) and planted them this afternoon. He realy enjoyed himself pottering around in the shed with me.

[shirlthegirl43]

Hi and welcome to the vine. Good luck with your growing, have fun - and more fun when you watch stuff grow and then get to eat it!! Watch out for slugs on your carrots - I swear they sit in wait for the greenery to appear - take preventive action early!!

[gardenplot]

hi basilbush and family welcome to the vine, you will all enjoy growing fruit and veg,
hope you get your allotment soon

[sallym]

Also New

Hi, I'm also new to this site. Started veg growing in containers last year and fell foul to potato and tomato blight. Thought this was all my fault and was very relieved to find out it was a bad year for most. Hope you have great fun this year, I've got OH to make me a raised bed for more veg and it looks as if we can both rely on some darned good advice from The Vine.
I've found out so much already reading this forum.I was going to leave starting some of my seeds till later, but got so excited that I spent most of today starting off onions, salad leaves, parsnips and toms. I'm so easily lead

[shirlthegirl43]

Hi and welcome to the vine sallym. I hope we get a blight-free year this year too, I lost all my spuds last year.

[Seahorse]

Hello to basilbrush and sallym.

I grew lots in containers last year and it was great fun. Sweetcorn was an especially big hit with my children - it all got eaten literally straight off the plant