Veg patch

[Undine]

My hubbie and his cousin are interested in trying their hand at a small veg patch. Can anyone give them advice as to when to start planting potatoes, onions, beets, peas etc

[unicorn]

I will be following this thread closely as I am planning a childrens vegetable garden this year, I have all the seeds but any tips appreciated.

[Kevin Milkins]

My hubbie and his cousin are interested in trying their hand at a small veg patch. Can anyone give them advice as to when to start planting potatoes, onions, beets, peas etc

Hi Undine
I used to grow a lot of veg at one time and there is no better satisfaction that eating somthing you have produced yourself.

Your question is a very broad one that has many answer's because where you live, soil conditions,weather etc can all effect the final outcome greatly.

A good place to start is to decide what you think you might like to try and grow then have a look at the details on the seed packet and it will tell you what the preferance is for that plant and when to sow it.

I used to buy all my seeds on line from Moles Seeds that are a commercial supplier, but if you follow the link below it will give you information on the product of your choice and then you can get the seed from a local supplier.
Good Luck KM
Moles Seeds - Flower and Vegetable Seed Suppliers

[Aaldtimer]

My hubbie and his cousin are interested in trying their hand at a small veg patch. Can anyone give them advice as to when to start planting potatoes, onions, beets, peas etc

The only advice I'd give is for preparation of the said patch.
Dig it now and let the frost which is coming kill all the nasties which are likely to be present in any piece of ground that hasn't been used before.
Remove the top turf and rough dig over the top soil and let the frost do the breaking down.
Once that effect has taken place you can either dig again or rake the soil down to a decent loam for planting.
Follow the advice on the seed packets but just remember in Caithness we are about a month later than the rest of the country.
Good luck with your efforts, there's nothing better than the flavours of your own home grown veg!

[Birdie Wife]

Potatoes are said to be a good way of 'clearing the ground' for you, you can dig over the soil and it doesn't need to be flat as flat before you plant it. As the plants grow, you need to earth them up - rake soil around the stems as they appear, and that will improve yields. Good Friday is the traditional time for planting spuds, and they go in about 6-9" apart and 1 1/2 -2' between rows. When you're looking at the packets, I would go for either 'second earlies' or 'early maincrop' because the growing season isn't as long up here.

Onions are easiest from sets (miniature onions), dig over your ground now, then in early March you need to flatten it and rake it reasonably flat, which will help with hoeing off the weeds afterwards. Make sure you plant the rows to distance apart that you can get a hoe down it easily - about 9". Plant them 4-6" apart in about mid-March.

Beetroot can be sown in succession (a small amount every two weeks) for continuous crops, but it is quite slow growing so you need to be patient.

Peas are one of the best crops you can grow yourself but one of the worst things for them is cold, waterlogged soil so hold off sowing them until end of March - mid April, depending on your soil. If you have a coldframe or a cold greenhouse you can start them off in loo rolls instead and plant the seedlings out in mid-April so you'll get an earlier crop. My favourite pea at the moment is an RHS variety called Misty. I'd also recommend trying Broad Beans unless you can't stand them (and even so - growing them yourself you can pick them young and sweet, a far cry from the leathery offerings you usually see in the shops). Again, you can sow in succession until about the end of June.

You could think about joining a gardening forum too - I'm on the Grow Your Own Grapevine, it's a really helpful and friendly community and you'll get all the information you could ever need there

[Ricco]

My hubbie and his cousin are interested in trying their hand at a small veg patch. Can anyone give them advice as to when to start planting potatoes, onions, beets, peas etc

You may also find the following web site useful:

www.growveg.com

I have made great use of it and even paid the small subscription so that I could take advantage of it fully.

PS there are also a number of very useful and helpful allotment web sites and forums. Good luck.

[changilass]

Thats a great link just been playing about with the planning tool and it looks good, now I have to go out and take some measurements lol

[gardeninginagale]

Undine, you have had some excellent advice already, particularly from Aldtimer and Birdie Wife.

I endorse everything they say, and would only add this -

Get a wee polytunnel. When I say wee, what I really mean is get the biggest you can afford. Not only does it allow you to grow tomatoes and cucumbers in summer, it also lets you grow early crops of beetroot, onions, carrots, etc.

I have already sown beetroot, carrots and onions in my wee PT. They will be harvested before the tomatoes need to go in.

And dwarf French beans are a gamble outdoors in Caithness. But in a wee polytunnel, they crop to fill the freezer!