[Matt Whalley]

Well, let's hear them from you all.  What one thing would you suggest to a man who so far has managed tomatoes from plants (not seeds) and a few carrots in pots.  I'm building some raised beds to more than double my growing space to about 5 square metres in total, and then I'll grow in pots tubs and chimney pots  :shock:

Give me things to grow, things to do, things to avoid and general tips, comments and warnings, ... or tell me to stop cheating and learn the hard way   :!:

Thank you in advance for the bountiful harvest I am hoping for next year.

 :rambo: the ninja made me do it

[paintedlady]

There are no short cuts in this life     Sounds to me like you are making a good start, and reading up on what vegetables you think you'd like to grow is always very helpful to give you an idea of what growing conditions are best suited.

[richyrich7]

Don't give up

and words of wisdom from mother hen

I havent being doing this for long but next year I will be thining and spacing better,  also its great to grow basic things you can use every day havent bought a spud since end of june ......trying to keep it going until Christmas, think we'll get hungry in november :cry:   Variety and
sucessional sowing I hope thats the key.

We had a duplicate post of this due to technical problems, so I'm try to tidy up a little and I've copied MH's post before it was deleted.

[lightyears]

my tip. from my mum

be patient dont hurry nothing. it will work out in time(did in my case)

[Ropster]

sow little and often
I currently have about 10 cabbages that need eating last week

[kezlou]

Sow lots of spinach, kale and lettuce to fill in the over summer ready for winter. Remember to space and thin out seedlings rather than leave them, lesson learned from this year, more leaf than carrot.

Remember caterpillars are evil and not adorable little creatures :evil:
e.g broccoli, all brassica's gone  :evil:

[NO GREEN FINGERS]

ask, listen listen some more and then make up your own mind,

as iam sure you will be given lots of advice and some of it contradictory.

[Big Jen]

Dont overcrowd things, you end up with less rather than more!
Leave enough room between things to get at the weeds.
Dont start things off too early and risk loosing your plants to the frost, later plantings really do catch up.

BJ

[Beetroot queen]

I have a simple tip

Stay active on here and keep reading LOL  

[richyrich7]

Oh and buy Johns book it is the best £6 you can spend on a book  

[Robin Redbreast]

onions and garlic are easy so long as you space them well i have done really well with them although be careful you dont leave them too long as they will go to seed which leaves very little left of the bulbs as you get a nice hard stem in the middle which takes a lot of the fruit itself away
other than that, i  am still learning and reading and digging an reading an learning and digging some more. blooming weeeds!

[Ice]

Google "square foot gardening" and buy John's book.

[Matt Whalley]

Brilliant, thank you all for what you've put up so far.  I've just costed out he raised beds and it's £30 ish for the wood to build them and then £??? for the compost/soil to fill them - we'll cross that bridge once we get to it!!

Going to google the search recomended, and for £6 I guess you can't go wrong.

Will keep you all posted re the progress.

Thanks  

[compostqueen]

make your own compost and leafmould starting now  

[muntjac]

grow only what you or your family will eat ... dont dig more than a couple of yards down your plot a day unless your superfit .when summat fails to grow plant/ sow it somewhere else on ya plot. accept the inevitable failure    finally .if ya not enjoying what ya doing ........... give up for the day