Anyone like to tell me exactly what to do, step by step??

hiagain

I have never gardened before (I grew one carrot in a pot on a balcony). I have moved into a new house and would like to garden with small children. There seems to be a plot that was used for planting something like veg before.

Here's the problem - I don't know what was planted there before, I tried planting radishes and the leaves were eaten as soon as they started showing and the soil seems heavy.

Here's what I'd like to plant:

Potatoes
Carrots
Peas
Green beans
Lavender - in a pot
Herbs

How and when do I do it?? My 4 year old has high expectations!

redser7

Buy this for starters ...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vegetable-Herb-Expert-best-selling-vegetables/dp/0903505460/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326752250&sr=1-1

Click on the 'used' link and pick one up for the price of shipping only (3 or 4 euros). Great book. It's the perfect time to start reading up. You won;t need to start sowing till March at the earliest.

Macy0161

I'd say go to your local library for books, but if you must buy one I'd say Joy Larkhams Grow Your Own Vegetables. I wouldn't worry too much about what's gone before to be honest. Slugs are the most likely problem with radishes.

With my own children, the real winners are peas, Strawberries, carrots and potatoes. But it's surprising what they'll try when they've been involved in planting and harvesting. Peas are the real winner though - they really love eating the peas from the pod - not sure they've ever made the pot! Peas are also easy to handle at planting time and dwarf ones like Meteor or Kelvedon Wonder are quick, don't need supports, and are the right height for picking. Kelvedon wonder are very easy to find - even lidl have them.

However, it's still a little early in my opinion for planting outside in the ground.

diarmuid05

Macy0161 wrote: »

However, it's still a little early in my opinion for planting outside in the ground.

Would it be too early to be starting seeds in the house?
I've a few things i cant wait to try, want to give them a good head-start if possible

newbie2

redser7 wrote: »

Buy this for starters ...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vegetable-Herb-Expert-best-selling-vegetables/dp/0903505460/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326752250&sr=1-1
.

Best book by far.

There's a lot to take in when begining to grow veg/herbs. Soil types, watering, soil preparation, pests, crop rotation, propagation times etc.

But after the first year, you'll get the hang of it. Don't expect miricles in the first season. Although beans, peas should be really easy.

Chesck out this artical from the Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1165757/How--start-vegetable-patch.html

it's a small one but it gives you an idea on where to start.

yellowlabrador

You could start some tomato plants, peppers, and some bedding plants. I also grow alpine strawberries that I start in January. If you look on the back of the seed packets, it'll give you an idea. For the moment, I'd concentrate on the beds. Can you spread out some well rotted manure or seaweed ? If it's not to wet to dig over, get some beds ready and cover in black plastic or maybe old carpet, to warm the soil. Start seeds off on a window sill , I sprinkle the seeds over the compost and place the pot and after watering, place it in a slightly inflated plastic bag.
If you like a special approach, I always plant on a new moon, as the theory is that this aids germination.
Some seed packets have so many seeds that you'd run into trouble plpanting them all, for cabbages etc, it sometimes makes more sense buying small plants instead.

redser7

+1 on the advise about planting too much seeds. Just because you get 500 seeds for 1 euro it doesn't mean you have to plant them all :-) Over-eagerness is a common mistake (which I made) for a beginner. Maybe sow twice as many as you think you will need just to have a backup in case some die or get eaten by slugs etc. Then be brave and just chuck the extra plants once your keepers are well established and on their way. Good luck

redser7

yellowlabrador wrote: »

You could start some tomato plants, peppers, and some bedding plants. I also grow alpine strawberries that I start in January. If you look on the back of the seed packets, it'll give you an idea. For the moment, I'd concentrate on the beds. Can you spread out some well rotted manure or seaweed ? If it's not to wet to dig over, get some beds ready and cover in black plastic or maybe old carpet, to warm the soil. Start seeds off on a window sill , I sprinkle the seeds over the compost and place the pot and after watering, place it in a slightly inflated plastic bag.
If you like a special approach, I always plant on a new moon, as the theory is that this aids germination.
Some seed packets have so many seeds that you'd run into trouble plpanting them all, for cabbages etc, it sometimes makes more sense buying small plants instead.

Hope you don't mind me butting in ...
yellowlabrador, I just bought a pack of alpine strawberry seeds (Sutton's Regina) and will sow them soon. Just wondering how you bring them on? Do you put them in a greenhouse or something and when? I have an unheated tunnel. Do they crop well in the first year for you? Thanks a lot

Trademark

+1 for the planting peas and beans, although I had a nasty experience with slugs getting 11 out of 12 pea seedlings a few years ago.

If you're unsure of the soil then peas and beans can help improve it by taking nitrogen from the air and putting it into the soil, one of the few things from Leaving Cert biology I found useful!

If you think there's slugs about, make some beer traps for them, the kids will find it hilarious that the slugs will literally die for some booze!

yellowlabrador

redser7 wrote: »

Hope you don't mind me butting in ...
yellowlabrador, I just bought a pack of alpine strawberry seeds (Sutton's Regina) and will sow them soon. Just wondering how you bring them on? Do you put them in a greenhouse or something and when? I have an unheated tunnel. Do they crop well in the first year for you? Thanks a lot

They are great. They can take up to 4 weeks to germinate though, depending on the weather. I first sow them in an ordinary pot, cover them with the bottom half of a 1,5l plastic drinks bottle and place on the window sill, although later in the year, the poly tunnel will do. You'll get about 300 plants out of one seed packet. I then prick them out into window boxes and hanging baskets. The remainder I plant up in large flat cardboard boxes, like the ones bananas come in. They are very small at this stage, but once they get going, they shoot up. In May,I place the window boxes and hanging baskets against a south facing wall and if you sow them now, you'll be eating strawberries by June. They crop until end October in a good year and I then move them back into the poly tunnel to overwinter. In a mild winter like this one, you don't have to bring them in, but after the last few cold ones, I don't take the chance. You will literally be eating strawberries every day and they taste so much nicer than shop bought ones.
Once you have them established they last for years.

bartlguy

hiagain wrote: »

I have never gardened before (I grew one carrot in a pot on a balcony). I have moved into a new house and would like to garden with small children. There seems to be a plot that was used for planting something like veg before.

Here's the problem - I don't know what was planted there before, I tried planting radishes and the leaves were eaten as soon as they started showing and the soil seems heavy.

Here's what I'd like to plant:

Potatoes
Carrots
Peas
Green beans
Lavender - in a pot
Herbs

How and when do I do it?? My 4 year old has high expectations!

Go to this site and it will give you all the directions you need:
http://www.gardenhealth.com/grow-your-own/

Best one to use

redser7

Thanks a lot yellowlabrador

Colonialboy

hiagain wrote: »

I have never gardened before (I grew one carrot in a pot on a balcony). I have moved into a new house and would like to garden with small children. There seems to be a plot that was used for planting something like veg before.

Here's the problem - I don't know what was planted there before, I tried planting radishes and the leaves were eaten as soon as they started showing and the soil seems heavy.

Here's what I'd like to plant:

Potatoes
Carrots
Peas
Green beans
Lavender - in a pot
Herbs

How and when do I do it?? My 4 year old has high expectations!

been there done that, theres loads you can do .....
just get out into the garden now,
start digging... Dont worry yet if your not sure whats going into the spot, but you could still be preparing the plots.
If you have some black plastic then you could cover what ever area you want to plant in for a while, makes the ground easier to work with less growth.
plus 4 year olds like nothing better than diggin mucky holes...
get some seeds going, peas beans are great, wait until they are established before planting out , its good for the kids to see something even if its in pots even if its eaarly, your teaching them about the garden they wont remember whats successfull but will remember the action.
plant some onion sets when they arein the shops, cos when the onions grow its a thrill for hte kids to pull up a large onion, white red onions...
plant cabbage seeds also, the are nice to plant in the ground aagain a nice sizefor the kids to pull up when ready, if the cabbages are eaten dont worry let them there they will grow back
start chitting the potatoes, buy some earlies and keep in a dark place to get some roots going before you plant out.
If you have a shed or good plce to store pots with seeds then plant plenty of each veg but stagger the planting out of them in case the wetaher has a cold blast.
Carrots can be dodgy, the wetter springs and summers have made crops difficulty to get going.

Its nice to have a multi-layered veg plot, a few fruit bushes just to give something vertical and permanent.

You could buy a book if you want but sometimes that confusing, I think it better to buy Kitchen Garden every month, they have a timing plan for each months work and if you keep 12 months issues your set forever.

Theres no absolute how or why for the beginner, just dig some soil, pull some weeds , plant some seeds or some potted veg and , keep watered and weeded and let nature do the rest.