Starting up your own vegetable garden can be a daunting process. Have a look at these practical tips to help you grow your own vegetables. Based on my own experience in my own small, urban garden these will help you to succeed when you first embark on your gardening adventure. For advice on the tools you need to begin your garden, have a look at my article https://suepshouse.com/5-basic-gardening-tools-to-get-you-started/

This is a huge tip if you want to be successful. It is easy to get lose focus when you first plan your garden and wander off round the local garden centre. So many seeds, so little time! While I don’t for a minute want to dampen your enthusiasm, think about it carefully. Even if you have a half acre garden, that you are just dying to go and dig up, the maintenance of such a large space early in your gardening career can easily become overwhelming.

When choosing which vegetables you want to start with, consider what you actually eat. Perhaps you absolutely adore potatoes fresh from the ground or can’t wait to be able to pick your own peas and eat them from the pod. Those are the vegetables you should begin with. Other easy to grow vegetables (and herbs) include:

• spinach
• courgettes
• spring onions
• mint
• parsley
• French beans
• radishes
• beetroot
• lettuce (particularly cut and come again varieties

Most of these can easily be grown in pots and containers if needed.

Whatever you do don’t stay in isolation. Gardening is not a competitive sport. There are lots of highly experienced people out there, on the internet or in books, more than willing to share their knowledge with new gardeners.

Have a good look around and try to choose someone who is gardening in a similar climate to you. While we love looking at other gardeners around the world, if you want direct advice it will be more accurate coming from someone in your zone.

Every area in the world has an estimated first and last frost date. Just as it sounds, this will tell you when the first frost is likely to appear and when the last frost is likely to disappear. These areas are divided into zones which are numbered. These dates give you a clear indication of the most productive growing time in your area. For example, I live in Yorkshire which is in the north of England which is Zone 9. When you start to grow your own vegetables having this knowledge can help you work out optimum planting times.

An interactive map for this in the UK is can be found at https://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-united-kingdom-last-frost-date-map.php where you can zoom in on your area. Plantmaps.com also has a similar map for America.

This may seem obvious but it is super important to get this right. If you have space then a must is to get one (or maybe several) water butts. These are not expensive to buy and can also be found for sale second hand. Take care to wash any new or used water butt out before use. This will get rid of any residual material before you fill up.

Water butts can easily connect to the gutters on your house, shed or garage and will fill up when it rains. Obviously the water you use from these has fallen straight from the sky so is great for any plants.

You may also need to use water from the tap at times. Not everyone has the space for a water butt and even if you have one they can run out during a dry spell. Try to ensure you have an outside tap you are able to attach a hose to. This will make watering much easier when your other water sources run dry.

Another great tip is, particularly if you have a large plot, to put containers of water in different places. This reduces the distance you may need to carry a watering can, making life as a gardener much more straight forward.

The two main methods for starting any plant is to grow either from seed or from a seedling (sometimes known as starts). Seedlings are simply seeds which have been germinated and grown on to develop a small version of the final plant.

Which of these you choose to you will depend on two criteria. How simply you would like to begin and what time of year is it?. If it is still early in springtime you might choose to grow your plants from seed. This will involve getting the conditions right for germination and, if you are a complete novice, you might find this a challenge.

An alternative is to visit you garden centre or local nursery to choose from their range of seedlings. The advantage of using seedlings is that they are already germinated so you are able to miss one step of the growing process out altogether. One drawback is that there are a small number of plants which need to be sown directly if you are to have healthy plants. This includes carrots and parsnips.

This next tip is very straightforward. Grow what you enjoy eating.

Producing your own food can be very exciting but also takes work. If you are going to invest time and effort into producing the best you can then you should be able to enjoy eating it at the end. Don’t grow parsnips if you don’t like eating them, particularly when you first start out. You can grow vegetables for your friends when you have gained confidence and are happy to give up the space.

Finally, gardening should be an enjoyable hobby. Yes there will be times when you despair that the slugs have eaten the juicy shoots off your newly sprouted seedlings. There may also be times when you feel like you should wrap your tomatoes up in bubble wrap to prevent them getting blight (please don’t!). But ultimately you will be the winner. You will be able to look a the food you have produced and know you did that. Then sit back and enjoy whatever creation you make from them.