Guys,

I am a bot short on space at home for a veg garden but I have some space at work that I could use for growing veg in containers.

I have an hours lunch break and personally feel its too long so I would be happy spending 10 minutes every day / tending to the containers etc.

I have NEVER grown any veg to date and I am wondering what I could/should plant?

I like the thought of growing spuds, carrots and lettuce.

Any tips and advice? what varieties should I plant? When can I plant etc?
I have looked on the net but there are so many differing theories out there, what personal experience do you have?
Col

New potatoes grow well in the flexi tubs you get from b&ms
Ive started doing gardening and its great fun Go to ALDIS and get the auto watering system its fab

[Edited on 14-6-12 by mangogrooveworkshop]

Auto watering kit! Bloody hell I wish I needed one of those!

I'm learning as a I go myself (always played at it in my parents garden, but now I've got my own)
most of what I grow is fruit at the moment though

strawberries are the obvious one for growing in pots - but you can also easily grow blueberries too (they need different compost though)

its getting a bit late for a lot of tatties now - IMHO the best ones to grow at home(/work) are the first earlies, they are so much better than the supermarket ones, also you can grow ones that are hard to find in the shops, my personal favourite is Epicure
(you can always buy main crop tatties like Piper direct from a local farm)

any of the lettuce's or 'cut and come again' type salad stuff is dead straightforward - I'd just pick whatever takes your fancy, there are a lot more interesting things than iceberg lettuce!
And you can add a few edible flowers like Nasturtium's - they look good in a salad and taste good! (peppery like watercress or rocket)
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Children/For-families/Plants-to-grow-with-kids/Nasturtium

[Edited on 14/6/2012 by mcerd1]

Just grow what you like to eat, you can grow loads of different plants in containers your just limited by the amount of crops you'll get, I have quite a small garden so I grow most crops in containers everything from grown bags to old buckets. I've grown onions, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, leeks, potatoes, garlic, suede’s, courgettes etc can all be grown in containers lettuce, spinach and stuff like Swiss chard and other salad leaves are good as you just keep cutting them back and more will grow so you get crops throughout the summer.

Tomatoes, cucumbers are good but need quote big pots around 30cm diameter, chillies can be grown in smaller pots as they like to have the roots restricted. You can pm me if you have any questions about particular plants and I will try to help if possible.

My girlfriend and I grow quite a lot of stuff in our small garden. Not a huge amount of each thing but lots of different things- then, if you have some type of pest/disaster you're more likely to have atleast *something* survive!

Last year:
early potatoes (and 1 main crop that must have grown from a compost bin-escaped peeling!)
2 types tomato (about 15 plants total)
broccoli
cauliflower
beetroot
carrots
parsnips
chard
radishes
lettuce
courgette
butternut squash
pumpkin
sweetcorn
pakchoi
onions
leeks
sunflowers
various herbs

The cauliflower and broccoli got devastated by caterpillars so have netted them this year
Slugs go for the squash (and everything else!) if you're not careful. So use pellets or nematodes or, if you want to be organic, go out collecting on damp days at dusk. Chop them in half with shears with great pleasure like I do!
(Though the dead ones act as food for others so don't leave the bodies around! ).

As said, bit late for early potatos. I grow them in large black plastic pots (10-12" diameter) that I get free from the pot recycling bin at the garden centre or in buckets I pick up around the place (got 10 nearly new from a skip this year!)

This year we've added cucumbers and garlic to the list too.

It's great fun and though we've never managed a whole meal with every component from the garden, we have managed a number of portions of things.

As for you...

You can grow loads of stuff in Tomorite grow bags. Tomatoes (obviously!), courgette (we've had 19 from one plant!), marrow, squash etc. etc.
The bags help keep the soil moist so less watering.

Carrots will grow in large pots or buckets (drill drainage holes!). For lettuce, get a long, narrow container and grow from seed (both are cheap at Morrisons etc.).


If you want tomatoes then you can buy good plants at Sainsbury's/garden centres etc. as it's too late to grown from seed now.

MAke sure you put canes in to tie the tomatoes to. Put the canes in at same time as you plant otherwise sticking the canes in the bag can damage the roots.

With time you'll learn what works well in your soil type/environment/effort level!


Cheers,
James

[Edited on 14/6/12 by James]

[Edited on 14/6/12 by James]

quote:

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Originally posted by James
<Snippage>

The cauliflower and broccoli got devastated by caterpillars so have netted them this year
Slugs go for the squash (and everything else!) if you're not careful. So use pellets or nematodes or, if you want to be organic, go out collecting on damp days at dusk. Chop them in half with shears with great pleasure like I do!
(Though the dead ones act as food for others so don't leave the bodies around! ).
</Snippage>

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Im new to this too, so far ive planted mangetout peas, lettuce and rocket, and aquire my dads surplas cucumber plants for the conservatory. Parents grow salad potatos which is great but you need a fair space for a decent harvest. Thye also grow corn on the cob, which is so much better picked fresh its untrue, apprently the only like growing in big patches to keep them upright, but i thought i might have a go up against my fence on a sheltered area.

Basically, im growing things like eating. I would like to do carrots, but apprently there a bit of a sod and as my soil is ful of pea gravel and building rubble from the previous owners stupidity means they will have to be in pots or somthing.


Daniel

Potatoes are incredibly easy to grow - even fool proof. Also, i believe, they give you most bang for your buck, ie calories by area. I also did runner beans, though i was only a child so im not sure how much my parents chipped in to keep them alive!

When the recycling collection round here went from boxes to bins the boxes were abandoned all over the place and I collected half a dozen just because they look handy. My wife has commandeered them, she put 3 first early potatoes in each and they are really good for growing them in and you can just dig round with your hand and get as many as you need without uprooting the plant. She also has a bean row with Scarlet Emperor seed she saves from the previous crop and they keep us in runner beans nearly all winter when they are picked and frozen. Lettuce are good for a filler in between other plants and you can use them as cut and come again just taking a couple of leaves off each one till they go to seed.