Starting Out
Home Vegetable Gardening 🏆
Course 1 · Chapter 1 · Starting Out: Light, Space and the Year
Growing your own vegetables needs less than most people think: a few hours of sun, some soil or a big pot, and a rough idea of the calendar. This chapter covers what to grow first, how much light and space plants need, whether to use a plot or containers, and how the gardening year runs in a cool, northern climate. Later chapters cover soil, compost, sowing, planting out, watering, pests, easy crops and planning a full season.
What Do You Want to Grow?
Start with vegetables you actually eat. A crop you do not like is wasted effort, however easy it is. Some crops are also much more forgiving than others, so a first year goes better if most of what you grow comes from the easy end of the list.
| Crop | Difficulty | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Radishes | Very easy | Ready in a few weeks from seed |
| Salad leaves | Very easy | Can be cut repeatedly; grow in a pot |
| Potatoes | Easy | Tolerate poor soil; can be grown in a bag |
| Runner and French beans | Easy | Large seeds, heavy crops |
| Courgettes | Easy | A single plant gives a lot of fruit |
| Carrots | Moderate | Need loose, stone-free soil |
| Tomatoes | Moderate | Need warmth and regular feeding; blight risk |
| Cauliflower | Harder | Fussy about water and spacing |
Light, Space and Shelter
Light is the one thing you cannot add later. Most vegetables want direct sun for much of the day: the figure usually quoted for fruiting crops such as tomatoes, beans and courgettes is at least six hours (check). Leafy crops and some roots cope better with part shade.
Sun
Watch the site for a day. Note which parts are sunny in the morning, at midday and in the afternoon, and when trees or walls cast shade.
Shelter
Strong wind damages tall plants and dries soil. A fence, hedge or wall that filters the wind helps, but avoid solid shade.
Water
Put the plot within reach of a tap or water butt. A bed you must carry cans to is a bed you will neglect in a dry spell.
Access
Beds should be narrow enough to reach the middle from the edge without stepping on the soil.
Plot or Containers
You do not need a garden. Many crops grow well in containers on a patio, balcony or even a sunny windowsill, with the trade-off that pots dry out quickly and need more frequent watering and feeding.
| Option | Good for | Drawback |
|---|---|---|
| Open ground | Potatoes, beans, courgettes, brassicas | Soil may be poor or weedy at first |
| Raised bed | Almost anything; good drainage, easy access | Cost of timber and soil to fill it |
| Large pots and bags | Potatoes, tomatoes, salad, herbs | Dry out fast; need regular feeding |
| Windowsill | Herbs, cress, microgreens, seedlings | Small harvests only |
The Gardening Year
In a cool, northern climate such as Scotland the growing season is shorter than in the south, and the last spring frost decides when tender plants can go outside. Dates vary by place and by year, so the table gives only a rough pattern (check against local advice).
| Season | Main jobs |
|---|---|
| Winter | Plan, order seed, tidy tools, dig or mulch beds if the soil is workable |
| Early spring | Sow tender crops indoors; chit early potatoes; sow hardy crops under cover |
| Late spring | Sow outdoors, harden off seedlings, plant out after the last frost |
| Summer | Water, weed, feed, harvest, and sow quick crops again |
| Autumn | Clear spent crops, lift roots, add compost, sow green manures |
Tools and Costs
A small kit is enough: a spade or fork, a hand trowel, a watering can with a rose, a rake, and a pair of secateurs or scissors. Seeds, compost and a few pots come on top of that. Costs vary by shop, so none are quoted here.
Not Yet Verified, and Sources
- Source. This chapter is written from general knowledge of vegetable growing; I did not read a specific source while writing it. Nothing here is quoted from a text.
- Marked (check). The six-hour sunlight figure, the south-facing advice and the seasonal pattern for a cool climate. Check these against local advice, such as a local allotment society or a regional growing guide.
- Illustrations. The notebook dates are invented to show the layout.
Exercises
List five vegetables you actually like to eat. Using the difficulty table, mark which are easy, and pick your first three crops with a one-line reason for each.
Survey a possible growing spot (a garden corner, balcony or windowsill) at three times of day. Record how much direct sun it gets, what shades it, how sheltered it is and how far it is from water, then say whether it suits a fruiting crop.
Draw up a first-year notebook table like the one in the chapter for your three crops, with sowing, planting-out and first-harvest columns. Then decide whether you would use open ground, a raised bed or containers, and give two reasons.
Quick Reference
- Start with: three or four crops you like to eat
- Easy first crops: radishes, salad leaves, potatoes, beans, courgettes
- Light: about six hours of sun for fruiting crops (check)
- Site checks: sun, shelter, water, access
- Options: open ground, raised bed, large pots, windowsill
- Year: plan in winter, sow in spring, tend in summer, clear in autumn