On 23 Feb, 16:30, Maxim wrote:
Hello,

I have a 5 x 2m space which is filled with compost, this space used to
be a sandpit for when i was young and i decided it was time for a
change and now that i am 14 years of age, my parents helped me in
filling the space with fine multi purpose compost. It has a depth of
about id say 40 cm. What id like to ask, is what would you, from
personal experience suggest that i plant this year, i prefer plants
that i can harvest later on. Given that i live in North London in a
quite sub-urban environment, and the 5 x 2m space that i have, which
plants would you recommend i try. I am quite experienced and have
already planted many plants last year, some even tropical such as a
banana tree, unfortunately my spce calcualtions went wrong and i didnt
end up with much harvest!

My first thought is that 5x2M would make for an interesting gauge O
railway, or a wicked gauge 00, and you could plant minature conifers
to make some scenery. http://www.hornby.com/livesteam/. I'm nearly
60 and still want to do that.

But if you prefer farming to diaramas, I'd have thought that squash or
melons would do well and would give both a satisfying harvest and
lots of green matter to compost. I like "spaghetti marrows" which do
this neat trick of stringing up after you cook them. It's always good
to grow a couple of peppers or jalapinos in a corner, and a row of
herbs would take up less than one tenth of your space.

'main crops' like carrot, potato, parsnip hardly seem worth it in our
supermaket culture - go for things that you cannot get fresh enough:
broad beans fresh are a revelation. cos lettuce. white or pink
radish. celeriac. you'd use up hardly any space - maybe 0.3m x 2m
for a small trial of each to see what you enjoy growing. There is
always next year.

you could devote maybe 2mx2m to a fruit cage - raise a frame from
cheap wood or even canes, cover with netting to keep the birds out,
and plant raspberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants. You can't expect
a bumper crop the first year, except for strawberries, which would
love your location if it is sunny enough. Plant 3 varieties to give a
longer cropping season.

There is a huge amount of "beginners" advice on the web. The FAQs for
uk.rec.gardening (the usenet group upon which gardenbanter is
parasitic) is a good place to start. Then there are sites like
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/
www.rhs.org.uk/

Your plot is not very different in size from some allotments, and some
people manage to feed a family of 4 off an allotment all year. Have
you considered joining the local allotment association? It's a good
place for cheap seeds, bulk buying materials, and getting advice.

On which subject, do not patronise the garden sections of big DIY
chains, which bring in plants from all over the world and sell them as
commodities. Find a good, independant, privately owned garden centre
and use them - the prices won't be so very different, the plants will
already be accusomed to your local climate and probably chosen to suit
the soil types, and you will get intelligent and worthwhile advice.