Veggielorna wrote:
I am very new to gardening, I would like to start growing my own
organic veg for my family but I don't have or likely to have the funds
for a Greenhouse. Is it really possible for me to grow veg without
having to start it all off in a greenhouse??

I'd suggest abandoning gardenbanter, which is parasitic on
nntp://uk.rec.gardening, and joining us direct. If you don't know how
to access usenet, there is an online client at
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.rec.sheds until you get going. You
will be made most welcome...

Most veg can be sown directly and will grow perfectly. I know that
some people start runner beans, marrows etc. in pots and plant out,
but I suspect that is as much to do with letting them get established
before the slugs have access to them as with encouraging germanation.
In my family they have always been sown directly and worked perfectly
well.

Tomato plants can be started on the kitchen windowsill and planted out
into growbags in the garden, or into the soil. People use greenhouses
to extend the growing period and maximise production. You don't need
to do either.

I would have thought that vegetable gardening is the area that needs a
greenhouse least.

The issue of protecting seedlings from slugs is a big one though, and I
am sure you can get lots of advice on that here. I'd grow things up to
at least 3 inch height, possibly 6 inch, in pots on a window sill or
even on a garden table that has slug access prevention, before risking
them in the soil. Then surround them with ashes, broken egg shells,
anything really abrasive, while they get established. Even slug
pellets if you have no organic ambitions.

The best slug-proof table I ever saw was my Grandfather's. He had an
old kitchen table with tubular metal legs. Each leg was stood in a
small enamel pudding basin, which he kept topped up with water.

To get you going without the precautions, you can buy ready-started
tomato and runner bean plants at nurseries, hardware stores, village
shops, all over the country at the right time of year!