Crops

[2+bump]

What crops would you suggest for a beginner?

Just wondering if there's anything really easy to grow, I'm due another baby in the autumn so will have my hands full growing myself to tend to needy crops

[theabsinthefairy]

Nice easy stuff is pumpkins, courgettes, salads and cucumbers and onions, but I don't know how much you will fancy all that bending down! Try growing courgettes and cucumbers up poles to make life easier, and peas and beans. Obviously don't know you space/garden etc etc etc. And herbs in pots are nice and easy but very rewarding.

Monika

[2+bump]

Thats great thanks, yeah I love my herbs, was the first thing I grew.

Our garden is fairly huge, we have quite a big area we can fence off just for our veggies

[theabsinthefairy]

If you have room chuck in some cabbages, caulis and broccoli, none of which require masses of work, but are easy to harvest - thinking in autumn that veggie gardening may be last thing on your mind!! So if your other little one ?? can help, things like pumpkins etc are quite tolerant and easy to identify and so easy for kids to get involved with.

[2+bump]

DS should be nearly 3 by then so could possibly get him in his wellies and get my hubby to supervise. Bending may be difficult by then as I get to the size of a house with pregnancy

Cabbages and broccoli would go down well but none of us are too fussy for caulis, thanks for the tip

[contadino]

I'm no nutritionalist, but if you have a bump, what about something that's loaded with the minerals that are pretty absent from shop-bought veg. Isn't iron normally welcome to those with a bump? If so, brocolli, chard or spinach, or my fave - cima di rapa/rapini (Real Seeds have a selection of seeds.) All maintenance/pest free. The only bending would be to pick it.

[vegbox-recipes]

I'm a total newbie myself, 2+, and so far I have planted broad beans, lettuce and tomatoes. Also have spinach seeds ready to go into pots along an outside window sill, and butternut squash. In fact, I have a lot more BNS seeds than I need - I could post you some? I hear they'll grow almost anywhere with a bit of manure under them ...

[contadina]

And if you really can't be doing with bending down, howsabout getting your other half sorting you out with some raised beds? I've got some old fridge freezers dotted around (you can disguise them fairly easily) and have chard, lettuce, celery, chicory and parsley growing in them at present. In the summer I grew so much basil in them that there's enough pesto in the fridge to last a couple of years.

[MuddyWitch]

Runner beans are great 'cos the look good, grow UP & grow fast, so your little one can play 'Jack & the Bean Stork'. There are several good varieties available from places like garden centres or W1ilkins0ns. Some have red flowers, some white & some sriped & the beans too come in a variety of colours.

Make a simple frame for them to grow up by getting your OH to bang two post into the ground then attaching a cross bar, from this you can hang strings, or put lengths of bamboo up to it.

MW

[Millymollymandy]

If I was you I wouldn't bite off more than I could chew - so why not think about what veg you really really like, and any that can be either frozen (like runner beans) or store well like pumpkins/squash. Just do a little bit this year as you will still get satisfaction but without it becoming a huge chore which you really don't need! (believe me it can become a chore, especially if you get a hot dry summer and have to do loads of watering - not to mention all the weeding!).

[Millymollymandy]

Oops sorry just checked and you're in Perthshire so possibly strike off the hot summer although you might get a dry one. Weeds will still grow though!

[2+bump]

thank you all for the fab ideas. i definately wont be biting of more than i can chew, with having a 2 year and 1 year old already, i've already got my hands pretty full. i'll definately be choosing the low maintenance options, and raised beds are a great idea, i'll see what i can come up with last year i did spinach in a pot and it did really well with very little attention so that will definately be getting done this year and much more of it