Idiots guide to produce growing

I've had good luck with garlic, various herbs and spinach in a shady garden...the spinach went wild!!

Have a look here

https://www.swansonsnursery.com/blog/shade-tolerant-vegetables-herbs

and here

https://www.gardenersworld.com/garden-advice/ - you have to drill into the menus a bit but there's loads of articles.

Not saying it's comprehensive but something to get started.

For example: https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/diy/how-to-make-a-wooden-planter/

And here:

https://www.gardenersworld.com/garden-advice/harvesting-storing/?page=2

You could try Charles Dowding's site. His Youtube is a bit of a monster but with a little  persistence he'll guide you through setting up no dig and what to sow month by month.

Link to his website: https://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/

Sowing timeline at top of page: https://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/education/sowing-timeline

Loads of other info under the advice section.

Enjoy!

Onions from sets are easy to grow, as are beans and swiss chard. Strawberries also a good crop but don't expect too many in the first year.
Also for low maintenance plant some rhubarb, gooseberries are great and you rarely find them in the shops. I also really like to grown squashes as the make great curries and chutney.
Plant something you want to eat and don't sweat too much over the ones that don't grow or the slugs eat.
As for kit a trowel helps and a propagator for the windowsill but yoghurt pots in a plastic bag work.
I usually try to buy organic seeds. I often use this web shop which sells small quantities at reasonable prices:
https://premierseedsdirect.com/

Or get heritage varieties from Real Seeds. Their website is also good for what to plant when:
https://www.realseeds.co.uk/

We have a fig tree  trained on a west facing fence. Decent crop of figs. We are near Glasgow so not warm or sunny by UK standards.  The fence it is on doesn't get sun until 1pm.   I look on it as a good green foliage plant with the bonus of a bit of fruit. Good thing is it doesn't seem prone to any pests or diseases like some fruit trees/bushes are and needs no attention other than cutting it back when it gets too big.

This year I'm planting blueberries in pots. Pots because I don't have much space apart from the patio.  Means they get the correct soil - .  Ericaceous compost. They like an acid soil.  If your garden can grow azelias or rhododendrons then you could grown blueberries in the ground. The advantage being they won't need regular summer watering like pots.

Word is they are pretty trouble free to grow as well. Any fruit bush or tree won't produce much in the first year or two but thereafter  will be worth having.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/blueberries/grow-your-own

Another easy one is potatoes. Easy to grow. You won't save money but it is nice getting new potatoes in the pan 5 minutes after they are out the ground.

Garlic is a good one, get one thats good in our damp climes, though, such as a picardy wight, rather than a random one from the supermarket...

Bloody lovely and jucy and garlicy! Your fingers will absolutley reek after chopping it though!

The Garden Expert series of books by Dr DG Hessayon were the always recommended book series, and that was from two people who had Diplomas in Horticulture (My brother, and my other brother's best mate), because they have enough essential information to grow things, and covered the common issues you're likely to face, without going into details that you don't really need to know.

Both those people, although they had to buy many books containing far more detailed information, said the Expert series covered everything you'd deal with on a day to day basis, and for normal gardening you'd never need to know the detailed information.

I've still got a few of the original versions, but the only one likely to be of use to you is The Garden DIY expert, as it has a few pages on containers/planters, but I think that was covered in the normal Garden Expert book. You'd be welcome to it for the cost of postage (And the others I've still got, but they're unrelated to growing produce)

Spuds are a good first crop, fairly idiot proof and they break up the soil well for future years

you really want to maximise as much sun as possible. Try and work out which area will get the most sun and plant there. I have a low 1m fence on my southern boundary and it really limits growth in its shade

Raised planters are worth considering to get out of the shade

I've always taken the view of trying to grow things which are less readily available. Thing like spuds, onions and carrots are cheap to buy and readily available. We have a lot of soft fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, plums, cherries) which do really well here in Fife, but for the veg go for things like chicory or globe artichokes which are not so easy to pick up in the shops.

Oh, also courgettes. Piece of piss to grow and you get loads.

Cook down with garlic and olive oil then add cream and Parmesan for an ace pasta sauce

Chard is easy and surprisingly versatile. Spinach is good and just keeps going. Cavalo Nero, still going and still picking, I thought the really cold -7 snap had done for it but it's bounced back.
Go geraniums for pretty and tasty, you can "caper" the seeds. Courgettes need to be segregated or they take over.
I'm rubbish at gardening but these gave bumper crops.

Yeah some sort of spinach/chard type leafy salad plant...grows like crazy and you can use it in/on pretty much anything.

Been thinking about a couple of raised beds this year as well. When do you need to plant most of this stuff? Not built the beds yet!

The clock is ticking. March for a lot of stuff.
https://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/education/sowing-timeline

When do you need to plant most of this stuff?

Depends what you are growing, early spring for planting most stuff but it depends...

For example:

https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/what-to-plant-september/

‘Grow your own vegetables’ by joy Larkcom is still my reference after 10 years of pro horticulture.
Charles Dowding is awesome but lots of detail that might seem overwhelming at first.

don’t get to complicated in your first year. Remember that plants like to grow. Failure is how you learn; fail better next year. Don’t bother growing stuff that’s easily obtainable; use space for stuff you can’t get elsewhere or tastes better fresh.

Moles seeds for standard stuff. Real Seeds for rarer/heritage/funkier things.

OP - if you've got access to a load of pallets then remember to use some of them to make a compost bin. If you've got space then two or three smaller ones will be quicker and easier to work with than one bigger heap.

Spuds+1

Nothing fancy, I've grown from a couple of spuds that sprouted on their own in the depths of the food cupboard. A bucket and soil is all you need

Carrots need a fine soil to grow straight, otherwise they end up like a gnarled hand with fingers. Protect them from low-flying carrot fly and you're set (sorry)

The basics ^^ will give you a good idea of the sort of space and the amount of care that they'll need

you really want to maximise as much sun as possible.

This, crops need light to grow. In your first year watch carefully what parts of the garden get several hours direct sun, March-Sept. These are your best bets for future beds and elsewhere for compost bins.

cheers guys, there's some really great stuff in here, the planting and sowing calendars are a useful thing, and being aware that most of my stuff will be partially shaded due to the size of the garden and surrounded by fence/house

I'm going to start ASAP by getting some pallets home and getting them assembled into something useful, I'm thinking raised planters and then an extra vertical pallet on the back with which i can make smaller areas for stuff like herbs, strawberries et

starting with one at the south fence/ back gate so i can get a composter set up on top of some of it, figure its better to have a composter on a bed rather than on hardstanding.

Guano is useful. Grow exotic spuds like pink fir apple. I didn't have much luck with fruit, the birds would get at it or get caught up in the nets. Onions, garlic, courgettes are all easy.