Starting an urban vegetable garden

Where to begin when you start, too much to think about, too much to plan, what to plant, not enough space!? These are all the thoughts one normally has entering their mind when they decide to grow veggies, and it can end up being quite overwhelming. So, we decided to buy everything and figure it out as we go along.

I started by doing some research, taking advice from others, lots of Google searches and simply trial and error, yes sadly there have been a few not so successful attempts at different ideas. But that’s the fun right? Until we put so much hard work into it and then break down in tears, not to worry this has not happened….yet.

I am writing all my posts in past tense as my updates relate to last week’s progress and failures.

Just before our lockdown cam in the UK we had been watching what was happening across Europe and guessed it would be our turn next. So one weekend I dashed down to the nearest huge garden centre to stock up on plants and necessary supplies.

After looking what was on sale and analysing my current not so advanced skills and knowledge relating to growing veggies, I decided to buy everything! We bought one of every vegetable they were selling, because if I had a little extra time I might as well give it all a go! Plus they had great offers on for buying a few at a time, very helpful.

All my previous garden tools, gloves and other bits were so old they couldn’t be used so I decided to also buy some gloves, secateurs, support canes, natural twine, a green house which was son 70% sale, loads of compost, plant food and a spade. I knew we already had plenty leftover pots from the years of collecting and a few from friends and family, but I decided to buy a few large sized 10L as these are a great size for anything. I must admit that pots can be quite expensive, I am lucky to have already had quite a few

🌱 Handy hint:

If you want to grow veggies - take all the pots for free from those that offer them or no longer need them, they will come in handy!

So what veggies did we choose?

· Butterhead lettuce

· Red leaf lettuce

· Cabbage

· Cauliflower

· Broccoli

· Parsnips

· Carrots

· Pack choi

· Mini cucumbers

· Broad beans

· Radishes

· Oregano

· Mint

· Strawberries

· Parsley

· Basil

· A chilli plant

So excited when arriving home everything was unpacked straight away and I got to work. The temperature outside was quite chilly as spring has not yet arrived, so I spread old sheets and towels out and sorted everything indoors. Much more comfortable, but such a mess!

You can see from my pictures the weird mix of pots and planters I had, the troughs were very handy and easy to more around, but I also did not follow any planting guidelines in relation to distances, as I was not planting these outdoors in ground, because literally our garden was not useable to grow plants and still full of building supplies. So most things which should have been planted 40cm apart were only 20cm apart, but I knew they were still small, I just wanted them in the soil, give them some water so they have the best chance of surviving, with the plan of repotting them a week or 2 later.

Once all potted, I sat them out in the garden to get some sun and used the only watering bucket I had to water them all (we had not yet even bought a hosepipe!) But we had loads of spare pallets which were great for preparing a flat area to place them all. By the evening I move all the plants into our spare room, which I had prepared with our picnic table, a tarpaulin and more palettes. I did not want to leave them outside over night as the air was definitely too cold and I wanted all my babies to survive.

The whole process of potting dividing, moving and watering was a whole days works, as we went to the garden centre first thing in the morning, because I knew if would take a while to sort all the plants, but I couldn't be more happier with my start.

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