What gets you growing?

Most important for me is to plan what and where I'm going to plant, and then sort out which beds need composting.
The compost needs to be on now so the worms can do their bit.
Only good soil will produce the best crops!

The first and most important thing for a beginner to do is exactly what you have done and that is to seek advice from experienced growers. Even better than asking us would perhaps have been to ask some of the old worthies on your allotment site.

The best way to make huge progress in the springtime is in fact to dig the vegetable garden over in the autumn leaving the ground as rough as you like as the winter frosts will do a lot of the hard work in breaking the lumps down for you. Don't dig over too early in the autumn though as you may encourage a late crop of weeds.

Planning a good scheme of rotation is essential but once you do get to the stage of thinking about planting, don't be guided too much by the timings given on seed packets or in gardening magazines or books. These are normally written by people living in more southern regions and if like me you live in the frozen north, you can be affected by frosts as late as June and sowing and planting times can be as much as a month later than the guidance given. That is where the old worthies can really give you helpful guidance. I personally start off by planting shallots, then onions but even then, I wait until the ground is workable. Tramping about before the soil has dried out a bit can lead to compaction and all the good from your digging work can be undone. My next crop to go in from mid to late april up here is potatoes and then everything else pretty well goes in after that.

Shallots and Parsnips are the first to be sown/planted outdoors,usually about February.
Before that, and started on the windowsill are onions and leeks around Christmas time.
January sees sowings of Tomato's and chillie peppers indoors with the main indoor sowing period for everything else being February/March

Read as much as you have time for.

Plan what yo are going to do.

Order your seeds etc

Follow through your plan, (but be prepared to tear it up if nature decides she doesn't like it).

I started my tomatoes and chillis first last year, in a heated propagator at the end of January. This was a big success.
one important thing about outdoor planting, is to make sure the ground is warm enough before putting the seeds in.
But by far the most important thing to remember is to be patient! Try again, persevere and dont give up.

Two seasons into my growing, 2011 will be year 3 for me. I reckon the most important thing is to sow something. If you dont sow naything then you wont succeed. So sow something. It may work, it may not but throw some seed in the ground and something may well happen. Sowing the right variety at the appropriate time and in appropriate soil is level 2. But level 1 is sowing something and seeing what the seedling looks like!

There are no hard and fast rules and each year will be different as to when you can make a start. I sort my sowing out into three parts.
The first is the cold tolerant crops that I am going to start of in pots or seed trays. This will include leeks, onions, parsnips and cabbage and many others. These can be started of under cover from Jan onwards and once germinated can be moved to cold frames or cool greenhouse.
The second is the greenhouse crops which will need heat even once germinated so don't sow these to early as it could cost a small fortune keeping them going. I try to start of small with a couple of tomato plants in Jan and build from there. This winter with it being so cold I may well hold back a bit.
And thirdly the main planting straight into the ground which wont be till mid Feb at the earliest but may well be a lot later.

Ian

Seek advice, read up on the subject and plan what to grow carefully, grow only what you like to eat and draw up a plan on how you want the plot to look, and start small before getting to adventurous.

The best advice I'd give is just get planting. Go to the garden centre, buy the seeds you fancy, follow the instructions, and plant 'em.

See what happens over the season, but most important of all, enjoy yourself and the tasty prooduce you harvest!

I'd leave the planning for the second year, when you'll have a better idea of how everything works.

Hi Holly

Rest assured that evryone starting gardening will ask the same questions as you have plus lots of others. I speak to several very experienced gardeners as often as I can. I am now convinced that I will never stop learning about gardening. I too am a novice and a bit of a neanderthal. If I can learn anybody can. The good news is that it is great fun and you get to meet some very nice people that have something in common with you.

I would suggest that you first of all make sure that your plot is as well prepared as you possibly can. Looking at seed catalogues and websites will have you wanting to grow everything you see. With the best will in the world you cannot do it. So you are better off thinking carefully about how much space you have, what plants you really like, how much time you have to spend on your garden and how much money you want to spend on it.

For veg, I would suggest attempting to grow veg that you will eat. Sowing seed is much cheaper than buying plug or small plants. You do not have to sow a whole packet of seed in one go. You can sow just a few and then sow some more a bit later. Things such as spring onions, raddish, lettuce will need to be sown in small batches and continuously throughout the season. Other wise you will end up with a glut for a couple of weeks and then nothing.

Veg like potatos come in many different varieties and are termed, "First Early", "Second Early" and "Main Crop". Self explanatory really, but they all need planting at different times. Bear in mind that spuds take up a lot of space. So do a lot of brassicas.

There are a lots of books available on ebay. I make use of Amazon and had some great bargains on gardening books there. Charity shops are a good source as well.

Please don't let anyone tell you that you have to spend bucket loads of money to get started because you don't. There are lots of things you can use for seed trays and pots. You can make your own compost, build your own cold frame and raised beds. Take a trip to your local recycling centre and you may well find piles of pots that people have disposed of. If you talk to more experienced gardeners you will find as I did, that many will give you a few seedlings to get you started. When you have some spare plants it will be your turn to help someone else.

Good luck with your plot and I hope you get as much help and advice as I have had since I started.

Best wishes

Chopper.