Brian Robertson writes
Hi all. We are Brian and Sue, just moved into a new house with a
large(ish) garden. We want to turn a big portion of it into a vegetable
patch (Initially about 20ft x 20ft with lots of other space for pots
and grow gags, possibly double that in time) and would be interested to
know what people think we should start with. We want to put the
emphasis on actually being able to fill our bellies rather than growing
stuff that flavours our food and isn't an essential. So things like
potatoes and carrots and cucumbers come to mind, rather than garlic and
chives, etc. It's a south facing garden and a real sun trap.

We can think about crop rotation, etc, later on, but for the minute,
what would people recommend us to go at as a happy balance between
learning about gardening and eating lots of organic food?

You're just about in time this year for runner beans, especially if you
buy plants not seed. Swiss chard will give you leaves for the autumn and
through the winter, purple sprouting grows easily and seems to go on for
ever. Next year, add french beans, broad beans.

Carrots definitely taste (and keep) better home grown. Other roots which
are straightforward are parsnips and beets.

Forget cucumbers - they really need a greenhouse.

Potatoes are a problem - they're easy, but you can eat so many of them
that what you grow in a garden doesn't begin to meet your requirements.
--
Kay